Romance of the Three Kingdoms


Chapter 1
Three heroes swear brotherhood in the peach garden
Against Yellow Turbans heroes win their first merit

A lyric runs:
    The Yangtze eastward rolls its endless flow,
    Whose waves have washed the heroes long ago.
    A turn of head, and all their labor vain:
    The right, the wrong, the conqueror, the slain.
    Yet ageless still the verdant mountains stand,
    How oft the sunset's blaze has stained the land!
    The hoary fishers, woodmen on the shore,
    Watch springtime breezes, autumn moons pass o'er.
    With cloudy wine, glad friends together meet;
    All deeds of ages melt in laughter sweet.

Such is the way of the realm: long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. At the close of Zhou the Seven States warred, until Qin swallowed them all. When Qin fell, Chu and Han contended in their turn, and Chu gave way. Han rose when Gaozu cut down the white serpent and took up arms, and held the realm entire; Guangwu restored it in a later age, and the line ran on to Emperor Xian, in whose day it broke into three kingdoms. The disorder may be traced to the two emperors Huan and Ling. Huan shut away men of virtue and gave his trust to eunuchs. When he died and Ling came to the throne, the Grand General Dou Wu and the Grand Tutor Chen Fan governed as regents. In those days the eunuch Cao Jie and his fellows had the run of the palace. Dou Wu and Chen Fan laid a plan to destroy them, but their counsel leaked, and were destroyed themselves. From that day the eunuchs knew no check.

On the full moon of the fourth month, the second year of Jianning, the Emperor held court in the Wende Hall. He had scarcely taken his seat when a gale sprang up in the corner of the hall, and a great green serpent dropped from the roof-beams and coiled upon the throne. The Emperor started back and fell; his attendants bore him within, and the officials scattered. In a moment the serpent was gone. Then thunder and rain broke, with hail behind them, and did not cease till midnight, wrecking houses beyond counting. In the second month of the fourth year, Luoyang quaked, and the sea rose over the coast and swept its people away. In the first year of Guanghe a hen turned cock. On the first of the sixth month a black vapour more than ten zhang long flew into the Wende Hall, and in the seventh month a rainbow was seen in the Jade Hall, while the cliffs at Wuyuan broke apart. Such portents came thick, and of more kinds than one.

By edict the Emperor asked his ministers the cause of these calamities. The Court Counselor Cai Yong sent up an upright memorial: the rainbow and the hen that turned cock came of women and eunuchs meddling in government. The Emperor read it, sighed, and rose to change his robes. Cao Jie, standing behind him, stole a look at the paper and carried every word to his fellows. They contrived a charge against Cai Yong and had him sent back to his village. In time ten of them leagued together in their villainy — Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong, Feng Xu, Duan Gui, Cao Jie, Hou Lan, Jian Shuo, Cheng Kuang, Xia Yun, Guo Sheng — and were called the Ten Attendants. Zhang Rang the Emperor honored above the rest and addressed as Father. Government rotted by the day, till the realm's heart turned to revolt and brigands rose in swarms.


In the commandery of Julu lived three brothers: Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang. Zhang Jiao had been a scholar who failed the examinations for office. He was in the hills one day gathering herbs when he came upon an old man, green of eye and young of face, leaning on a staff of goosefoot wood. The old man called him into a cave and put into his hands three Heavenly scrolls. "These are the Essential Arts of Taiping," he said. "With them you are to preach in Heaven's stead and deliver the world. Let another purpose stir in you, and the retribution will be certain." Jiao bowed and asked his name. "I am the Old Immortal of Nanhua," he answered, and with the word he turned to a breath of clear wind and was gone.


Zhang Jiao studied the book day and night until he could call up the wind and summon rain, and men named him the Taiping Daoist. In the first month of the first year of Zhongping, plague walked the land. Jiao went about with charmed water, healing the sick, and gave himself the name of Great Worthy Master. Five hundred disciples and more followed him, drifting like cloud through the four quarters, each of them able to use charms and chants. More came in daily, till Jiao set them in six-and-thirty divisions — the greater above ten thousand men, the lesser six or seven thousand — and put a captain over each, with the title of General. They spread words: "The Azure Heaven is dead; the Yellow Heaven shall rise." And again: "The year stands at jiazi; the realm shall have great fortune." Every house was bidden write those two characters in white clay upon its gate. Through the eight provinces of Qing, You, Xu, Ji, Jing, Yang, Yan, and Yu, houses served the name of the Great Worthy Master Zhang Jiao. Jiao sent one of his party, Ma Yuanyi, secretly with gold and silk, to win the eunuch Feng Xu for their man inside. To his brothers he said: "The hardest thing to come by is the heart of the people. It would be a pity not to ride this tide and take the realm." So yellow banners were sewn in secret and a day set for the rising, while the disciple Tang Zhou was sent with a letter for Feng Xu. He rode instead to the chancery and laid the whole plot bare. The Emperor called up the Grand General He Jin, who took Ma Yuanyi and struck off his head. Feng Xu and the rest were gathered in and thrown into prison.


Word came to Zhang Jiao that he was discovered, and he was under arms the same night. He took the style of General of Heaven, and named Zhang Bao General of Earth and Zhang Liang General of Men. To the crowds he declared: "The fortune of Han is run out, and a great sage is come. Bow to the will of Heaven and rejoice in Taiping." From every quarter the common people bound the yellow scarf about their heads and came over to him, some four or five hundred thousand of them. The rebel power swelled beyond measure, and the imperial troops broke at the rumor of it. He Jin asked an edict of the Emperor with all speed, bidding every district look to its defenses and win merit against the rebels. Three Generals of the Household — Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song, and Zhu Jun — went out with picked troops, each by his own road.


Now the first of Zhang Jiao's armies came down upon the borders of You Province. Its Grand Administrator was Liu Yan, a man of Jingling in Jiangxia and a descendant of Prince Gong of Lu. He heard what was coming upon him and called in the Colonel Zou Jing to take counsel. "They are many and we are few," said Jing. "Your Excellency should raise men at once to meet them." Liu Yan agreed, and put out a call for volunteers. The writ came to Zhuo county, and there it drew out a hero.


The man was no great reader; he was easy and mild by nature, sparing of speech, and neither joy nor anger came into his face; but his mind had always run on great designs, and he loved above all to make friends of the bold spirits of the realm. He stood seven chi and five cun. His ears came down to his shoulders and his hands below his knees, and his eyes could look upon his own ears; his face was like jade in a cap, his lips as though rouged. He came of Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan, and through him of Emperor Jing of Han; his name was Liu Bei, his style Xuande. Liu Sheng's son Liu Zhen had been made Marquis of Zhuolu in the days of Emperor Wu, and lost the title afterwards when his gold for the imperial sacrifice was found wanting, and so this branch of the house was left behind in Zhuo county. Liu Bei's grandfather was Liu Xiong, his father Liu Hong, who was put forward as a Xiaolian and held some small office, but died young. Liu Bei was left fatherless as a boy, and served his mother dutifully; the house was poor, and they lived by selling straw sandals and weaving mats. Their village was Lousang. Southeast of the house stood a mulberry more than five zhang high, that from afar showed like the canopy of a carriage. A reader of faces had once said: "Out of this house will come a man of rank."


As a child Liu Bei played with the village boys under that tree, and told them: "When I become the Son of Heaven, I shall ride in a canopy like this." His uncle Liu Yuanqi wondered at the words. "This is no common boy," he said. He saw Liu Bei's family in poverty and helped them often. At fifteen his mother sent him away to study. He sat under Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi, and among his friends was Gongsun Zan. He was eight-and-twenty when Liu Yan's proclamation went up. He read it that day and let go a long sigh. A voice behind him said sharply: "What is all this sighing, when a true man should be lending the country his strength?"


Liu Bei turned. The man stood eight chi, with a leopard's head and great round eyes, a swallow's jaw and a tiger's whiskers; his voice was thunder and his carriage a running horse. Liu Bei asked the name of so strange a figure. "Zhang is my surname, Fei my name, Yide my style," said he. "My people have been in Zhuo Commandery many generations and hold a fair estate there. I sell wine and butcher pigs, and I like to make friends of bold men everywhere. I asked because I saw you sigh over the proclamation just now." "I am of the imperial house of Han," said the other, "Liu Bei by name. The Yellow Turbans are up, and I would gladly break them and give people peace; but I sighed because I have not the means." "I have money by me," said Zhang Fei. "Let us raise a company out of the villages and go into this great business together. What do you say?" It pleased Liu Bei well, and the two went off to a village tavern to drink.


They were still at their wine when a big man pushed a barrow up to the door, set it down, and came in and sat. "Wine here, and be quick," he called. "I am for the city to take service." Liu Bei looked at him. He was nine chi tall, with a beard of two chi, a face like a ripe date and lips as though rouged, the eyes of a red phoenix and brows like silkworms at rest, and a presence stately and commanding. Liu Bei made room for him at the table and asked his name. "Guan is my surname, Yu my name. My style was Shouchang, later changed to Yunchang. I am from Jieliang in Hedong. There was a bully at home who traded on his power to grind the people, and I killed him; I have been five or six years on the road since. I heard there was a levy here against the rebels, and I have come to enlist." Liu Bei told him his purpose, and Guan Yu was glad of it. Together they went out to Zhang Fei's farm to lay their plans.


"Behind my farm," said Zhang Fei, "there is a peach garden, and the blossom is at its height. Let us sacrifice there tomorrow to Heaven and Earth, and the three of us be made brothers, of one heart and one strength; then we may look to great things." Liu Bei and Guan Yu agreed at once. Next day they made ready in the garden a black bull, a white horse, and all else the rite asked for, and the three burned incense, bowed twice, and swore together: "We, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, being of three surnames, are this day made brothers. Of one heart and strength, we will succor the distressed and hold up the falling; above we will serve the state and below give the people peace. We ask not birth in the same year and month, but pray to die together on one same day. August Heaven and Sovereign Earth, look upon these hearts. If any turn from his faith or forget his debt, let Heaven and man cut him down." The oath made, they bowed to Liu Bei as eldest, Guan Yu next, Zhang Fei youngest. The sacrifice done, they killed an ox and set out wine, and gathered the brave men of the countryside — above three hundred came in — and drank deep in the peach garden. Next day they got their arms in order; only horses were lacking.


While they were casting about for them, word came that two strangers with a train of men were driving a herd of horses up to the farm. "Heaven is with us," said Liu Bei, and the three went out to meet them. They proved to be great merchants of Zhongshan, Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, who went north every year to trade in horses and had turned back this season because of the rising. Liu Bei brought them in, set wine before them, and told them his purpose — to put down the rebels and give the people peace. The merchants were delighted, and made him a present of fifty good horses, with five hundred liang of gold and silver and a thousand jin of good steel for his armory. Liu Bei thanked them and saw them off, and set good smiths to work. For himself they forged a pair of swords; for Guan Yu the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, also called the Frost Fair Blade, weighing eighty-two jin; for Zhang Fei a steel-pointed spear of one zhang eight. Each had his suit of mail. Five hundred men and more of the countryside came in, and with these they went to Zou Jing, who brought them before the Grand Administrator Liu Yan. When they had made their bows and given their names, Liu Bei spoke of his descent, and Liu Yan in great delight recognized him as his nephew.


Within a few days came word that the Yellow Turban captain Cheng Yuanzhi was upon Zhuo Commandery with fifty thousand men. Liu Yan sent Zou Jing out with the three brothers and their five hundred soldiers to break him. They marched gladly, and came up with the rebels under Mount Daxing, a host with their hair loose and yellow scarves bound across their brows. The two lines faced one another. Liu Bei rode out between Guan Yu on his left and Zhang Fei on his right, and raising his whip he cried: "Rebels against the throne, lay down your arms while you may!"


Cheng Yuanzhi in his rage sent out his lieutenant Deng Mao. Zhang Fei leveled the Serpent Spear and rode straight at him; his arm rose, the point took Deng Mao in the breast, and the man went over backwards out of the saddle. Cheng Yuanzhi saw him fall, whipped his horse forward and came at Zhang Fei with his saber up. But Guan Yu swung the great blade and flew to meet him, and Cheng Yuanzhi took fright at the sight of him. He had no time to put up his guard, and the blade came down and cut him in two. Men of later days praised the pair in a poem:
    Two heroes show their mettle on this morn,
    One tries the spear, the other blade well-borne.
    In the first fight, dread power they unfold;
    When realms are three, their names shall be enrolled.


The rebels saw their captain cut down, threw away their arms and ran. Liu Bei waved his men on after them; the surrendered were past counting, and they came home with a full victory. Liu Yan rode out himself to meet them and rewarded the soldiers. Next day a dispatch came from Gong Jing, Grand Administrator of Qing Province: the Yellow Turbans had ringed his city about and it was near falling, and he begged for relief. Liu Yan took counsel with Liu Bei, who said: "Let me go." So Liu Yan put five thousand men under Zou Jing, who marched with Liu Bei and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to Qing Province. The rebels saw the relief come up, split their force and fought them in a scramble. Liu Bei had too few men to prevail, and drew back thirty li and camped. "They are many and we are few," he said to Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. "Nothing but a surprise will win this." So Guan Yu took a thousand men into ambush on the left of the hill and Zhang Fei a thousand on the right, and the gong was to be the signal for both to come out together.


Next day Liu Bei and Zou Jing went forward with drums beating and a great shouting. The rebels came out to meet them, and Liu Bei drew off. They followed hard, thinking him beaten, and no sooner were they over the ridge than the gong sounded through his ranks. The two companies broke from left and right, Liu Bei wheeled about and came at them again, and caught between the three the rebel host went to pieces. They were driven right up to the walls of the provincial city, where Gong Jing led out his militia to join the fight. The rebels were cut down in great numbers, and the siege of Qing Province was raised. A later poet wrote of Liu Bei:
    He planned and reckoned with a power divine;
    Where dragons fly, two tigers must resign.
    His maiden field a mighty triumph showed;
    Though poor, he'd share the realm by fate bestowed.


When Gong Jing had feasted the troops, Zou Jing would have gone home. "I hear that the General of the Household Lu Zhi is engaged with the rebel chief Zhang Jiao at Guangzong," said Liu Bei. "I was his pupil once, I would go to him." So Zou Jing took his army back, and Liu Bei with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei led his own five hundred to Guangzong. He came into Lu Zhi's camp, made his bow in the tent and told his errand. Lu Zhi was well pleased, and kept him at headquarters to wait on orders.


Zhang Jiao had a hundred and fifty thousand men, Lu Zhi fifty thousand, and the two lay facing each other at Guangzong, neither yet prevailing. Lu Zhi said to Liu Bei: "I hold the rebels here. His brothers Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao are at Yingchuan, drawn up against Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun. Take your own men — I will add a thousand of the imperial troops — and go to Yingchuan for news, and we will fix a day to close upon them." Liu Bei took his orders and rode for Yingchuan through the night. Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun were holding the rebels there, and the rebels, getting the worst of it, had fallen back on Changshe and pitched their camp among the long grass. "They have camped in the grass," said Song to Jun. "Fire will serve." So every man was set to bind a bundle of straw, and they lay hidden. That night a great wind rose. After the second watch the fires were set all together, and Song and Jun each led his troops against the camp. As the flame went up to heaven, the rebels broke in terror, horses unsaddled and men unarmored, and ran every way. The killing lasted till daylight, when Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao gathered the remnant and cut a road out.


Of a sudden a troop of horse under red banners came up and barred the way. At the head of it rode a general seven chi tall, with small eyes and a long beard, a Cavalry Commandant and a man of Qiao Commandery in the Principality of Pei: Cao Cao by name, Mengde by style. His father Cao Song had been born a Xiahou, and took the name of Cao as the adopted son of the Attendant Cao Teng. His childhood name was Aman, and Jili besides. As a child Cao loved hunting, and singing and dancing, and he was full of shifts and stratagems. He had an uncle who could not bear his wild ways and complained of him to Cao Song, who reproved him. Then the boy hit on a trick. When his uncle next came by, he dropped to the ground and played the palsy. The uncle ran in alarm to Cao Song, who came in haste and found the boy as well as ever. "Your uncle says you have the palsy," said Cao Song. "Are you cured already?" "I never had it," said Cao. "My uncle has no love for me, and this is how he serves me." Cao Song believed him, and after that would not hear a word the uncle brought against the boy, who ran wild at his pleasure.


Qiao Xuan, a man of that day, said to him: "The realm is going into disorder, and none but a man born for such an age can save it. That man may be you." He Yong of Nanyang, after seeing him, said: "The house of Han is falling; the man who will settle the realm is this one." Xu Shao of Runan was famous for his reading of men. Cao went to him and asked what manner of man he was. Shao would not answer. Cao pressed him, and Shao said: "An able minister in an age of order; in an age of chaos, a treacherous hero." The words delighted him. At twenty he was raised as a Xiaolian, made a Gentleman of the Palace, and appointed Northern Commandant of Luoyang. On taking office he hung ten and more cudgels painted in five colors at the four gates of the district, and whoever broke the law was beaten with them, however great his house. The uncle of the Attendant Jian Shuo was taken walking abroad at night with a sword, and Cao, who was on the round, had him beaten like the rest. After that nobody within the walls or without dared offend, and his name went a long way. He was afterwards made Magistrate of Dunqiu, and when the Yellow Turbans rose he was given the rank of Cavalry Commandant and five thousand horse and foot, and came to Yingchuan to join the fighting. He came just as Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao were running, fell on them and made a great slaughter, took ten thousand heads and more, and carried off banners and gongs and horses past reckoning. The brothers fought their way clear at last. Cao paid his respects to Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, and went straight off after them.


Liu Bei meanwhile was coming up to Yingchuan with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. They heard the noise of the killing and saw the firelight on the sky, and hurried forward, but the rebels were broken and gone before they came. Liu Bei found Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun and gave them Lu Zhi's message. "Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao are at the end of their strength," said Song. "They will make for Guangzong and Zhang Jiao. Ride there tonight and help him."


Liu Bei turned his troops about at once. Halfway along the road he met a party of soldiers guarding a prison cart; the prisoner in it was Lu Zhi. He came out of the saddle in his astonishment and asked the reason. "I had Zhang Jiao ringed in and all but broken," said Lu Zhi, "but he works sorcery, so I could not finish him at once. The court sent the Yellow Gate eunuch Zuo Feng down to look into the siege. He asked me for a bribe. I told him the army was short of grain; where was I to find money to flatter the Emperor's envoy? Zuo Feng took it ill. He reported at court that I sat behind high walls, would not fight, and let the men's spirit rot. So the court in its rage sends the General of the Household Dong Zhuo to take over my army, and me to the capital for trial."


Zhang Fei heard it out and was for cutting down the escort and setting Lu Zhi free. Liu Bei stopped him. "The court has its own judgment. Would you be so rash?" The soldiers closed round Lu Zhi and took him off. "General Lu is arrested and another will have the army," said Guan Yu. "We shall have nobody to lean on there. Better go back to Zhuo for the present." Liu Bei took his advice and marched north.


They had not marched two days when a great shouting broke out behind the hills. Liu Bei rode up a high bank with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to look. The Han army was in full rout, and behind it, filling the hills and covering the fields, came the Yellow Turbans, with General of Heaven written large on their banners. "That is Zhang Jiao," said Liu Bei. "We must fight at once."


The three whipped their horses forward and brought their men out. Zhang Jiao had just beaten Dong Zhuo and was following up his advantage when the three came in upon him; his army fell into confusion and ran fifty li and more. They had saved Dong Zhuo, and went back with him to his camp, where he asked them what offices they held. "We are commoners," said Liu Bei. Dong Zhuo held them cheap and gave them no courtesy. Liu Bei went out; but Zhang Fei was in a fury. "We went into the bloody work ourselves and pulled the fellow out of it, and this is how he uses us! If I do not kill him, my rage will never cool." And he took up his sword and made for the tent. Truly:
    The ways of men, by gain and power led,
    Forget the hero in a common stead.
    How shall we find a Zhang Fei, fierce to slay
    All ingrate hearts upon the earth today?
Whether Dong Zhuo kept his life, the next chapter will tell.



Chapter 2
Zhang Fei in rage whips the Investigator
He Jin plots to destroy the eunuchs

Now Dong Zhuo, styled Zhongying, was a man of Lintao in Longxi, Grand Administrator of Hedong, arrogant by nature. He had slighted Liu Bei that day, and Zhang Fei, his temper up, would have cut the man down. Liu Bei and Guan Yu held him back. "The man is the court's own officer. Who are you to kill him?" Zhang Fei said: "If I do not kill the wretch, I must stay and take his orders instead, and that I cannot stomach! If my two brothers will stay here, I go elsewhere alone!" "We three swore to live and die together," said Liu Bei. "How should we part? Better we all go elsewhere." "That will ease my anger a little," said Zhang Fei.

So the three marched their men through the night and joined Zhu Jun, who treated them handsomely. They put their armies together and went on against Zhang Bao. Cao Cao was at that time with Huangfu Song against Zhang Liang, and they fought a great battle at Quyang. Zhang Bao had eighty or ninety thousand men camped behind the hills. Zhu Jun made Liu Bei his vanguard and sent him against them, and Zhang Bao sent out his lieutenant Gao Sheng to offer battle. Liu Bei set Zhang Fei on him, and Zhang Fei put his horse forward with his spear levelled, and in a few bouts ran Gao Sheng through and out of the saddle. Liu Bei waved his men on to the charge. Then Zhang Bao, still mounted, loosed his hair, took sword in hand, and began his sorcery. Wind and thunder broke out, and a black vapour came down from the sky with what seemed an endless host riding in it. Liu Bei pulled his men back in haste, his ranks broke in confusion, and he came off the field beaten. He took counsel with Zhu Jun. "He works sorcery," said Zhu Jun. "Tomorrow we kill pigs and sheep and dog, take their blood, and set men in hiding along the hilltop. When the rebels come on in pursuit, we pour it down from the high ground, and his art can be broken."

Liu Bei took his orders and told off Guan Yu and Zhang Fei with a thousand men apiece to lie hidden on the high ridge behind the hill, the blood of pigs and sheep and dogs and all manner of filth ready to hand. Next day Zhang Bao came out with flags shaking and drums beating to offer battle, and Liu Bei rode out to meet him. They were at it when Zhang Bao began his spell: wind and thunder broke, sand flew and stones rolled, a black vapour filled the sky, and men and horses came pouring down out of it. Liu Bei turned his horse and fled, and Zhang Bao drove his men after him. As they came over the crest the signal cannon went off among the men in hiding, and the filth was flung down all together. Paper men and straw horses came tumbling out of the air to the ground; the wind and thunder stopped at once, and no more sand flew. Zhang Bao saw the spell broken and would have drawn off, but Guan Yu came out on the left and Zhang Fei on the right, with Liu Bei and Zhu Jun on his heels behind, and the rebel host was broken. Liu Bei caught sight of the banner of the General of Earth and rode hard after it. Zhang Bao took to the wilds, and an arrow of Liu Bei's caught him in the left arm. He got away with the shaft still in him into Yangcheng, and there shut himself up. Zhu Jun ringed the city about and laid siege to it, and sent men for news of Huangfu Song.

The scouts came back with the whole of it. Huangfu Song had won a great victory. After Dong Zhuo's repeated defeats the court had put Huangfu Song in his place; by the time he came up Zhang Jiao was dead and Zhang Liang had the command of his people, holding out against the imperial army. Huangfu Song beat him seven times running and cut him down at Quyang. Zhang Jiao's coffin was opened, the body mutilated and the head struck off and sent to the capital, and the rest surrendered. The court had raised Huangfu Song to General of Chariots and Cavalry with the governorship of Ji Province, and he had memorialized further that Lu Zhi had merit and no fault, so that Lu Zhi was restored to his old office. Cao Cao too was rewarded, with the chancellorship of Jinan, and marched away that same day to take it up. On this news Zhu Jun pressed his men forward and threw everything against Yangcheng. The rebels came to desperate case, and their own officer Yan Zheng stabbed Zhang Bao, brought in his head, and surrendered. So Zhu Jun pacified several commanderies and sent up word of the victory.

Three more of the Yellow Turban remnant were up by now — Zhao Hong, Han Zhong and Sun Zhong — who had gathered tens of thousands, burned and plundered wherever they came, and gave out that they were avenging Zhang Jiao. The court ordered Zhu Jun to take his victorious army straight against them. The rebels held Wancheng, and Zhu Jun brought his men up to attack it. Zhao Hong sent Han Zhong out to fight, and Zhu Jun sent Liu Bei with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei against the southwest corner. Han Zhong took the whole of his best troops to the southwest to meet them, while Zhu Jun himself loosed two thousand armored horse straight at the northeast. The rebels, afraid for the city, left the southwest in haste and turned back; Liu Bei fell on their rear and broke them, and they fled into Wancheng. Zhu Jun divided his men and ringed the place on all four sides. Grain ran out within, and Han Zhong sent a man out to offer surrender, which Zhu Jun would not have. "Gaozu won the realm because he knew how to take a surrender and welcome the submissive," said Liu Bei. "Why refuse Han Zhong?" "That was one age and this is another," said Zhu Jun. "In the days of Qin's fall and Xiang Yu the realm was in confusion and the people had no settled master, so surrender was invited and submission rewarded, to draw men in. Now all within the seas is one, and only the Yellow Turbans are in revolt. Allow them to surrender and nothing is left that encourages men to good: a brigand plunders at will while he is winning and gives himself up the moment he loses. That feeds the brigand's appetite, and it is no good policy." "You are right not to take their surrender," said Liu Bei. "But we have the place hooped round like an iron cask. They beg to surrender and cannot, so they must fight to the death — and ten thousand of one mind are not to be withstood, let alone the tens of thousands in there who have already given their lives up for lost. Better draw off from the east and the south and attack only the northwest. They will abandon the city and run, with no heart left for fighting, and may be taken as they go."

Zhu Jun thought well of it, drew his men off the eastern and southern faces, and threw them all at the northwest. Sure enough, Han Zhong led out his men, abandoned the city and ran for it. Zhu Jun with Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei brought the whole army down on him, shot Han Zhong dead, and the rest scattered every way.

They were still in pursuit when Zhao Hong and Sun Zhong came up with the rest of the rebels and engaged them. Zhu Jun saw how strong Zhao Hong was and drew off for the time, and Zhao Hong took the chance to retake Wancheng. Zhu Jun camped ten li away and was making ready to attack when a body of horse appeared out of the east. At its head rode a man with a broad brow and a wide face, a tiger's body and a bear's loins, a man of Fuchun in Wu Commandery: Sun Jian by name, Wentai by style, and descended from Sun Wu. At seventeen he had gone with his father to Qiantang and seen a dozen pirates on the bank, sharing out a merchant's goods. "These can be had," he said to his father, and went up the bank sword in hand, shouting and signalling to right and left as though calling men on. The pirates thought the government troops were upon them, dropped the whole of the plunder and ran; Sun Jian went after them and killed one. His name was known through commandery and county from that day, and he was put forward for a colonelcy. Afterwards, when the sorcerer Xu Chang of Kuaiji rebelled and styled himself the Yangming Emperor with tens of thousands at his back, Sun Jian and the commandery Major raised a thousand brave men and more, joined the provincial forces, and broke him, cutting down Xu Chang and his son Xu Shao. The Inspector Zang Min memorialized his service, and he was made Assistant Magistrate of Yandu, and after that of Xuyi and of Xiapi. Now, with the Yellow Turbans up, he had gathered the young men of his district, some merchants and travellers, and fifteen hundred picked men from the Huai and the Si, and had come to join the fighting.

Zhu Jun was delighted. He set Sun Jian on the south gate and Liu Bei on the north, took the west himself, and left the east open for the rebels to run by. Sun Jian was first up the wall, cut down a score of them, and the rest broke. Zhao Hong spurred at him with his lance levelled; Sun Jian sprang down from the wall, took the lance out of his hands, ran him out of the saddle with it, then mounted Zhao Hong's horse and rode up and down killing. Sun Zhong brought his men out by the north gate straight into Liu Bei, with no heart for fighting and nothing in mind but flight. Liu Bei drew and loosed, and the arrow took Sun Zhong and tumbled him from his horse. Zhu Jun's main body came up behind and cut them down, taking tens of thousands of heads, and those who surrendered were past counting. The whole line of Nanyang, a dozen commanderies and more, was pacified. Zhu Jun marched back to the capital, and by edict was made General of Chariots and Cavalry and Prefect of Henan. He memorialized the services of Sun Jian and Liu Bei and the others. Sun Jian had friends at court, was given a Major's post in another commandery, and went off to take it up. But Liu Bei waited day after day and got nothing.

The three went about low in spirits, and were walking the street one day when the carriage of a court officer named Zhang Jun came by. Liu Bei stopped him and told him what he had done in the field. Zhang Jun was aghast, and went straight in to the Emperor. "The Yellow Turbans rose, and the root of it was the Ten Attendants selling offices and titles, employing none but their own and punishing none but their enemies, till the realm fell into confusion. Cut down the Ten Attendants now, hang their heads in the southern suburb, send envoys to proclaim it through the realm and reward those who have served, and all within the four seas will be quiet of itself." The Ten Attendants told the Emperor that Zhang Jun was making a fool of his sovereign, and the Emperor had his guards put the man out. Then they talked it over among themselves. "This comes of the men who did good service against the Yellow Turbans and got no posts for it, and now the grudge is out. Have the ministry enter them for small posts for the present; there is time enough to deal with them later." So Liu Bei was made Defender of Anxi County in Zhongshan, Dingzhou, and was to take up the post by a set day. He disbanded his troops to their villages, kept only a score of his own people about him, and came with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to Anxi. In a month of governing the county he had not touched so much as a hair of the people's, and they were all won over to him. From the day he took office he ate at one table with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and slept in one bed with them. When he sat in company, the two of them stood in attendance beside him the day through and never wearied of it.

He had not been four months in the county when an edict came down that all who held office by military merit were to be weeded out, and Liu Bei feared he was among them. The Investigator came on his round to the county just then. Liu Bei went out beyond the wall to meet him and bowed; the Investigator kept his seat on his horse and answered with a slight motion of his whip, at which Guan Yu and Zhang Fei both took fire. At the posting house the Investigator took the high seat facing south, and Liu Bei stood below the steps. After a long while the Investigator asked him what his origin was. "I am descended from Prince Jing of Zhongshan," said Liu Bei. "From Zhuo Commandery onward I have cut down Yellow Turbans in thirty engagements and more, great and small, and for that small service I was given this post." The Investigator shouted at him: "You lie about your imperial kindred and invent your services! The court's edict has just come down to weed out corrupt and worthless officers like you!" Liu Bei murmured assent and withdrew. Back in the county he took counsel with his clerks. "The Investigator throws his weight about for nothing but a bribe," said a clerk. "I have not touched a hair of the people's," said Liu Bei. "Where am I to find him money?" Next day the Investigator had the clerks up first, and tried to force them to swear that the Defender had oppressed the people. Liu Bei went several times himself to beg them off, but the gatemen turned him back every time.

Now Zhang Fei had drunk a few cups to drown his gloom, and was riding past the posting house when he saw fifty or sixty old men at the gate weeping. He asked what was the matter, and they answered: "The Investigator is forcing the clerks to ruin Lord Liu. We came to plead for him and were not let in — the gatemen drove us off and beat us!" A great rage took Zhang Fei. His round eyes stared, he ground his teeth, and he was out of the saddle and into the posting house before the gatemen could stop him. He went straight through to the back hall, where the Investigator sat in the chair with the county clerks bound on the floor. "Robber of the people!" Zhang Fei roared at him. "Do you know who I am?" Before the Investigator could get a word out Zhang Fei had him by the hair, hauled him out of the posting house and up to the hitching post before the county office, tied him fast to it, broke off a willow switch, and laid it on across both his legs with a will, breaking a dozen switches one after another.

Liu Bei was still sitting over his trouble when he heard the uproar in front of the office and asked what it was. "General Zhang has a man tied up before the office and is beating him." He hurried out to look, and the man tied there was the Investigator. He asked in alarm what had happened. "A robber of the people like this deserves to be beaten to death!" said Zhang Fei. "Lord Xuande, save my life!" cried the Investigator. Liu Bei was a merciful man after all, and called sharply to Zhang Fei to hold his hand. Guan Yu came round from the side. "Brother, you have won great merit again and again and have only a county Defender's post for it, and now an Investigator insults you. A thicket of thorns is no place for a phoenix to roost. Kill the man, I say, give up the office and go home, and look to something larger." So Liu Bei took the seal and ribbon and hung them about the Investigator's neck. "For the harm you have done the people you have earned death, but for this once I spare you. Here are the seal and ribbon. From this hour I am gone!" The Investigator reported to the Grand Administrator of Dingzhou, who sent a statement up to the provincial office, and officers went out to arrest them. The three went to Daizhou and put themselves under Liu Hui, who, seeing that Liu Bei was of the imperial house, kept them hidden in his own home.

The Ten Attendants, with the power now in their hands, agreed among themselves that any man who would not go with them should be destroyed. Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang sent to the officers who had broken the Yellow Turbans to demand gold and silk, and memorialized the dismissal of all who refused. Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun would give nothing, and were stripped of office for it. The Emperor further made Zhao Zhong General of Chariots and Cavalry, and Zhang Rang and twelve more were made full marquises. Government rotted further and the people murmured. Then Ou Xing raised a rising in Changsha, and Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun rebelled in Yuyang, the one calling himself Son of Heaven and the other Grand General. Urgent memorials came thick as snow, and the Ten Attendants hid every one of them and reported nothing.

One day the Emperor was drinking with the Ten Attendants in the back garden when Liu Tao, Counselor Remonstrant, came straight up before him and broke into weeping. The Emperor asked the cause. "The realm may be lost within a day, and Your Majesty sits drinking with eunuchs!" said Liu Tao. "The country is at peace. Where is the danger?" "Brigands are up on every side and overrunning the provinces, and the whole of it comes of the Ten Attendants selling office, preying on the people and deceiving their sovereign. Every honest man has left the court. The ruin is before your eyes!" The Ten Attendants took off their caps and threw themselves down before the Emperor. "If the great ministers will not have us, we cannot live. We beg leave to go home to our fields with our lives, and we will give up our whole estates to the charges of the army." And they wept bitterly. The Emperor turned on Liu Tao in anger. "You have your own attendants about you. Why will you not let me have mine?" And he called the guards to take the man out and behead him. Liu Tao cried aloud as they took him: "I do not grudge my death! I grieve for the house of Han — four hundred years and more, and all of it ended in a morning!"

The guards hustled Liu Tao out and were about to strike when one of the great ministers called to them to stop. "Hold your hands until I have spoken to His Majesty." It was Chen Dan, Minister of the Masses, and he went straight in to the Emperor. "What is Counselor Liu's crime, that he is to be put to death?" "He slandered my attendants and affronted my person." Chen Dan said: "The people of the realm would eat the flesh of the Ten Attendants, and Your Majesty honors them as father and mother. They have not an inch of merit among them, and every one of them is made a full marquis. Feng Xu besides was in league with the Yellow Turbans and would have risen inside the palace. If Your Majesty will not look into himself now, the altars of the land will come down before your eyes!" "Feng Xu's treason was never made out," said the Emperor. "Are there not one or two loyal men among the Ten Attendants?" Chen Dan beat his head against the steps as he pleaded. The Emperor in anger had him dragged away, and he and Liu Tao were both put in prison, where the Ten Attendants murdered them that same night. Then they forged an edict making Sun Jian Grand Administrator of Changsha, to put down Ou Xing.

In under fifty days word of victory came: Jiangxia was pacified. Sun Jian was made Marquis of Wucheng by edict, and Liu Yu was made Governor of You Province and sent with troops to Yuyang against Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun. Liu Hui of Daizhou recommended Liu Bei to Liu Yu by letter. Liu Yu was glad of him and made him a Commandant, and he led his men straight to the rebels' nest, fought them several days together, and broke their spirit. Zhang Chun was a cruel man and nothing besides, and his soldiers turned: an officer of his own tent stabbed him, brought in the head, and came over with the men under him. Zhang Ju, seeing all was lost, hanged himself, and Yuyang was wholly pacified. Liu Yu memorialized Liu Bei's great service, and the court pardoned him the whipping of the Investigator, made him Assistant Magistrate of Xiami, and then promoted him Defender of Gaotang. Gongsun Zan set out his earlier services in a memorial besides, and recommended him as Major of a Detached Division and acting Magistrate of Pingyuan County. At Pingyuan Liu Bei had money and grain and horses and men about him, and built up his old standing again. Liu Yu, for his part in putting down the rebels, was made Grand Commandant.

In the sixth year of Zhongping, in the fourth month of summer, the Emperor lay gravely ill, and called the Grand General He Jin into the palace to settle what should come after. He Jin had risen out of a butcher's household: his sister went into the palace as a Noble Lady, bore a son, Bian, and was made Empress; his own power and high office came of that. The Emperor had favored a Lady Wang besides, who bore a son, Xie; Empress He in her jealousy poisoned her, and the boy was brought up in the palace of Empress Dowager Dong. The Empress Dowager was the Emperor's own mother, wife of Liu Chang, Marquis of Jiedu. When Emperor Huan died without a son, it was Liu Chang's son who had been brought in and set on the throne, and that was Emperor Ling. On succeeding to the great line he brought his mother into the palace and honored her as Empress Dowager.

Empress Dowager Dong had often urged the Emperor to make Prince Xie heir apparent, and he too doted on the boy and meant to name him. Now, as he lay gravely ill, the Attendant Jian Shuo urged him: "If Xie is to be set up, He Jin must be killed first, to cut off future trouble." The Emperor thought well of it, and summoned He Jin to the palace. He Jin came as far as the palace gate, where Major Pan Yin said to him: "You must not go in. Jian Shuo means to murder you." He Jin took fright, hurried back to his own house, and called the great ministers together, meaning to destroy the eunuchs root and branch. One of those sitting there rose. "The power of the eunuchs goes back to the reigns of Chong and Zhi, and it has spread so wide through the court that it cannot all be cut away. If the secret leaks, your whole clan will be destroyed. I beg you to consider it closely." He Jin looked, and it was Cao Cao, a Colonel. "What does a stripling like you know of the great affairs of state?" he said sharply.

He was still hesitating when Pan Yin came in. "The Emperor is dead. Jian Shuo and the Ten Attendants have agreed to keep the death secret and send out a forged summons calling Imperial In-law He into the palace, to cut off future trouble, and then set the prince Xie on the throne."

He had not finished when the summons came, calling He Jin in at once to settle the succession. Cao Cao said: "Today we must first set the succession right, and deal with the traitors after." "Who will stand with me to set up the rightful lord and put down the traitors?" said He Jin. A man stepped out. "Give me five thousand picked men. I will cut my way in through the gates, set up the new sovereign, destroy the eunuchs to the last of them, sweep the court clean, and give the realm peace!" He Jin looked at him: it was the son of Yuan Feng, Minister of the Masses, and nephew of Yuan Wei — Yuan Shao by name, Benchu by style, at that time Director of Retainers. He Jin was delighted, and told off five thousand of the Imperial Guard. Yuan Shao put on his full harness, and He Jin brought in thirty great officers and more — He Yong, Xun You, Zheng Tai and the rest — one behind another. Before Emperor Ling's coffin they raised the heir apparent Bian to the throne.

When the officials had made their acclamation and their bows, Yuan Shao went into the palace to take Jian Shuo. Shuo fled in a panic into the imperial garden and was killed in the shade of the flowers by the Attendant Guo Sheng, and the guards under his command all came over. "The eunuchs are a faction," said Yuan Shao to He Jin. "The chance is here today. Destroy them all." Zhang Rang and the others saw their danger and hurried in to Empress Dowager He. "It was Jian Shuo alone who laid the plot against the Grand General at the beginning, and no business of ours. Now the Grand General listens to Yuan Shao and would destroy us all. We beg Your Majesty's pity!" "Have no fear. I will protect you." She sent out word summoning He Jin, and spoke to him privately. "You and I came of poor and humble stock. Without Zhang Rang and the rest, how should we be enjoying this greatness? Jian Shuo was the wicked one, and he has paid for it. Why do you listen to others and want every eunuch killed?"

He Jin heard her out, went away, and told the officers: "Jian Shuo plotted against my life, and his family shall be destroyed to the last of them. There is no call to slaughter the others." "If the grass is cut and the root left," said Yuan Shao, "it will be the death of you." "My mind is made up. No more of it." And they all withdrew.

Next day the Empress Dowager made He Jin joint head of the Secretariat and gave office to all the rest. Empress Dowager Dong called Zhang Rang and the others in to take counsel. "It was I who raised He Jin's sister up in the beginning. Today her child sits on the throne, and every officer within the palace and without is of the He family's party. Their power is too great. What am I to do?" Zhang Rang said: "Your Majesty may hold court and govern from behind the screen. Raise the prince Xie to a princedom; give the Imperial In-law Dong Zhong high office and the command of troops; use us in places of trust — and the great design may be carried through."

Empress Dowager Dong was delighted. Next day she held court and issued her decree: Xie was made Prince of Chenliu, Dong Zhong General of Agile Cavalry, and Zhang Rang and the rest were given a share in the government. Empress Dowager He, seeing how Dong engrossed the power, set out a feast in the palace and invited her to it. When the wine was half done she rose, lifted her cup, bowed twice, and said: "We are both of us women. It is not fitting that we should meddle in government. In the old days Empress Lü held great power, and a thousand of her clan were put to the sword for it. We should keep to the deep seclusion of the palace and leave the great affairs of the court to the ministers and elders to settle, for the state's good. I beg you will hear me." Empress Dowager Dong flared out at her. "You poisoned Lady Wang out of a jealous heart. Now you lean on your son's throne and your brother He Jin's power, and dare to speak out of turn! I have only to order the General of Agile Cavalry to take your brother's head off, and it is done as easily as turning over a hand!" "I gave you good counsel," said Empress Dowager He, angry in her turn, "why round on me for it?" "Butchers' and wine-sellers' brats! What understanding should you people have?"

The two palaces fell to quarrelling, and Zhang Rang and the rest persuaded them each back to her own apartments. That night Empress Dowager He called He Jin in and told him what had passed. He Jin went out and called the Three Ducal Ministers into council. At the morning court the officers were to memorialize that Empress Dowager Dong, being by origin the consort of a provincial marquis, ought not to live on in the palace, but should be moved to Hejian and settled there, and should be out of the capital that same day. Men were sent to start her on the road; at the same time the palace guard was told off to surround the house of Dong Zhong, General of Agile Cavalry, and demand his seal of office. Dong Zhong saw how it stood and cut his own throat in the back hall. His household raised the wailing for him, and the soldiers drew off. Zhang Rang and Duan Gui, seeing the Dong branch broken, set about buying He Jin's younger brother He Miao with gold and pearls and curiosities, and his mother the Lady of Wuyang with him, to go in to the Empress Dowager morning and evening and cover for them with fair words. So the Ten Attendants came back into favor.

In the sixth month He Jin had Empress Dowager Dong poisoned secretly at the posting house at Hejian, brought her coffin back to the capital, and buried her at Wenling. He then pleaded sickness and kept indoors. Yuan Shao, Director of Retainers, came in to him. "Zhang Rang and Duan Gui have put it about that you poisoned the Empress Dowager and are plotting for the throne. Destroy the eunuchs now, or the ruin will come later. Dou Wu meant to destroy them once; his plan leaked, and the ruin fell on him instead. Today your brothers and your retainers and officers are all able men, and if you set them to it the work is as good as done. Heaven is giving you the moment, and it must not be let slip." "Let me think it over," said He Jin. One of those about him reported it privately to Zhang Rang, who passed it to He Miao with more bribes besides; and He Miao went in to the Empress Dowager. "The Grand General, who should be supporting the new sovereign, shows no mercy and thinks of killing only. Now he would kill the Ten Attendants too, with no cause at all. This is the road to disorder." And she listened to him.

Not long after, He Jin came in to tell the Empress Dowager that he meant to destroy the eunuchs. "It is the old usage of Han that the eunuchs have charge of the palace," she said. "The late Emperor has only just left the world, and you would put the old servants to death. That is no way to honor the ancestral temple." He Jin was by nature irresolute; he heard her out, said yes, and came away. Yuan Shao met him and asked how the great business stood. "The Empress Dowager will not have it. What is to be done?" "Summon the bold men of the provinces and bring their troops to the capital, and destroy the eunuchs to the last. With matters so urgent, the Empress Dowager will not be able to refuse." "An excellent plan!" said He Jin, and sent out the call to the garrisons to come up to the capital.

Chen Lin the Registrar spoke against it. "It will not do! The proverb says that to cover your eyes and catch sparrows is to cheat yourself. If a small creature cannot be had by cheating, what of the great business of the state? General, you have the imperial authority behind you and the forces in your hand; you have a dragon's majesty and a tiger's stride, and may raise or cast down whom you will. To destroy the eunuchs would be no more than fanning a great furnace to singe a hair. Only let it be done quickly — use your power and decide at once — and Heaven and man are with you. But to send out a summons instead, and bring the great men of the provinces up against the gates of the capital, the bold gathered together, each with a mind of his own: that is what they call turning the spear about and handing another the hilt. It cannot succeed, and will breed disorder instead." He Jin laughed. "A coward's view!" Then a man at his side clapped his hands and laughed aloud. "It is as easy as turning over a hand. Why so much talk?" It was Cao Cao. Truly:
    Would he sweep out the knaves that vex the throne,
    He must heed counsel wiser than his own.
What Cao Cao had to say, the next chapter will tell.


Chapter 3
At Wenming Garden Dong Zhuo roars at Ding Yuan
With gold and pearls Li Su wins over Lü Bu

Cao Cao said to He Jin that day: "The mischief of eunuchs is no new thing. But rulers should never have lent them power and favor, and let it come to this. If they are to be punished, cut off the chief offender — one jailer is enough for the work. What need of all this calling up of troops from outside? Try to kill them to the last man and the design is sure to get out. I say it must fail." "Does Mengde too harbor some purpose of his own?" said He Jin angrily. As he withdrew Cao Cao said: "The man who throws the realm into disorder will be He Jin." So He Jin sent his messengers out in secret with the sealed edicts, riding through the night to the garrisons.


Dong Zhuo was at this time General of the Vanguard, Marquis of Aoxiang and Inspector of Xiliang. He had won nothing against the Yellow Turbans, and the court would have called him to account for it, but a bribe to the Ten Attendants saved him; afterwards he attached himself to the great men of the court, rose to high office, and held two hundred thousand of the armies of the west, with a disloyal heart in him all the while. The edict came, to his delight. He mustered his men and sent them off division by division, left his son-in-law Niu Fu, a General of the Household, to hold Shaanxi, and marched on Luoyang himself with Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji and Fan Chou. Dong Zhuo's son-in-law and counselor Li Ru said: "We have the edict, but there is much in it that is not above board. Send up a memorial. Then we come openly and with good warrant, and the great design may be carried through." Dong Zhuo was well pleased, and sent one up. The substance of it ran: "Your servant has heard that rebellion in the realm never ceases, and that the whole of it comes of Zhang Rang and the Yellow Gate Attendants, who flout the constant law of Heaven. It is said that to stop a pot boiling it is better to take away the firewood than to ladle the water, and that to lance an abscess, though it hurt, is better than to nurse the poison. Your servant makes bold to enter Luoyang with bell and drum and rid the court of Zhang Rang and his fellows, to the great good of the altars and the great good of the realm!"


He Jin received the memorial and showed it to the ministers. Zheng Tai, an Imperial Clerk, spoke against it: "Dong Zhuo is a wolf. Bring him into the capital and he will eat men." "You see danger everywhere," said He Jin. "You are no man to plan a great business with." Lu Zhi urged the same. "I know Dong Zhuo of old — a kindly face and a savage heart. Let him once inside the palace and there will be mischief for certain. Better stop him from coming at all, and spare ourselves the disorder."


He Jin would not listen, and Zheng Tai and Lu Zhi both gave up their offices and went, with more than half the great men of the court after them. He Jin sent to meet Dong Zhuo at Mianchi, and there Dong Zhuo halted his troops and did not stir. Zhang Rang and the rest heard that the provincial troops had come. "This is He Jin's doing," they said among themselves. "Strike first, or our clans will be wiped out." So they laid fifty men with swords and axes in hiding inside the Jiade Gate of the Changle Palace, and went in to Empress Dowager He. "The Grand General has forged an edict and called provincial troops up to the capital to destroy us. We look to Your Majesty's pity to save us." "Go to the Grand General's residence and ask his pardon," said the Empress Dowager. "If we go to his house," said Zhang Rang, "we shall be ground to dust, flesh and bone together. We beg Your Majesty to summon the Grand General into the palace and bid him let the matter drop. If he will not hear you, let us die here in your presence."


So the Empress Dowager sent out her summons, and He Jin set off the moment it came. Chen Lin the Registrar spoke against it: "This summons of the Empress Dowager's is the Ten Attendants' work for certain. You must not go. Nothing but harm can come of it." "The Empress Dowager summons me. What harm should there be?" said He Jin. Yuan Shao said: "Now that the plot is out and the matter known, General, would you still walk into the palace?" "Call the Ten Attendants out first, and then you may go in," said Cao Cao. He Jin laughed. "A child's view. I hold the power of the realm in my hand. What dare the Ten Attendants do?" "If you are set on going, we will bring armed men as escort, against anything unlooked for," said Yuan Shao.


So Yuan Shao and Cao Cao each picked five hundred of their best men and gave the command of them to Yuan Shao's brother Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu put on his full harness and drew the men up outside the Qingsuo Gate, while Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, swords at their sides, brought He Jin as far as the front of the Changle Palace. There a Yellow Gate eunuch came out with the Empress Dowager's word: "Her Majesty summons the Grand General alone. No one else may come in." Yuan Shao and Cao Cao and the rest were held at the palace gate, and He Jin walked in with his head high. At the door of the Jiade Hall Zhang Rang and Duan Gui came out to meet him, their men closed round him on both sides, and a great fear took He Jin. Zhang Rang rated him in a hard voice: "What was Empress Dong's crime, that she should be poisoned out of the way? When the mother of the realm was buried, you pleaded sickness and would not come! You are a butcher's brat, and it was we who commended you to the Son of Heaven and made your fortune; yet instead of repaying it you plot our deaths! You call us foul; who then is clean?" He Jin lost his head and looked for a way out, but every gate was shut, and the men in hiding came out together and hacked him in two. A later poet sighed over him:
    The house of Han was sinking to its fate,
    And witless He Jin sat among the great.
    Oft warned by loyal men, he scorned them all,
    And took the sword's edge in the palace hall.


When Zhang Rang and the rest had killed He Jin, Yuan Shao waited a long while outside and saw nothing of him, and called out at the palace gate: "Your carriage is waiting, General!" For answer they threw He Jin's head over the wall and proclaimed: "He Jin plotted treason and has been put to death. The rest of you were forced into his following and are pardoned." Yuan Shao raised a great shout: "The eunuchs have murdered a great minister! Let whoever would kill the wicked crew come out and fight!" Then Wu Kuang, one of He Jin's officers, set fire to the Qingsuo Gate from outside, and Yuan Shu broke into the palace courts with his men and killed every eunuch he found, high or low. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao hacked through the bars and went in after them. Zhao Zhong, Cheng Kuang, Xia Yun and Guo Sheng were run down in front of the Cuihua Tower and chopped to a pulp. The flames in the palace went up to heaven. Zhang Rang, Duan Gui, Cao Jie and Hou Lan carried off the Empress Dowager, the young Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu to the inner apartments, and fled by the back way to the North Palace.


Lu Zhi had given up his office but had not yet left the capital. Seeing the palace in uproar, he put on his mail, took a dagger-axe and stood below the gallery. From a distance he saw Duan Gui hustling the Empress Dowager along, and roared out: "Traitor Duan Gui! How dare you carry off the Empress Dowager!" Duan Gui turned and ran. The Empress Dowager jumped from a window, and Lu Zhi got to her in time and brought her off safe. Wu Kuang fought his way into the inner court and found He Miao coming out with a drawn sword. "He Miao had a hand in his own brother's murder," he shouted. "Let us kill him together!" "Cut the traitor down!" the men answered with one voice. He Miao turned to run, but they ringed him round and cut him to pieces. Yuan Shao then sent soldiers out in parties to kill the households of the Ten Attendants, old and young alike, and not one was left alive; many a beardless man was killed in error. Cao Cao meanwhile put out the fires in the palace, begged the Empress Dowager to take the government in hand for the time, sent troops after Zhang Rang, and set men to look for the young Emperor.


Zhang Rang and Duan Gui, meanwhile, had carried the young Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu off through the smoke and fire, and ran with them all night as far as Mount Beimang. About the third watch a great shouting rose behind them and horse and foot came up, with Min Gong, an officer of the central division of Henan, at their head, crying: "Halt, traitors!" Zhang Rang saw there was no escape, and threw himself into the river and drowned. The Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu did not know what was behind the noise, and dared not call out, but lay hidden in the rough grass of the bank. The horsemen scattered to search, but did not find where the Emperor was.


The Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu lay there till the fourth watch. The dew came down, they were faint with hunger, and they clung to one another and wept, swallowing their sobs in the grass for fear of being heard. "We cannot stay here long," said the Prince of Chenliu. "We must find some other way out." So the two knotted their clothes together and climbed the bank. Thorns grew thick on every side, and in the dark no road showed. They were at their wits' end when of a sudden a swarm of fireflies came up in their hundreds, and their light went circling before the Emperor. "Heaven is helping us two brothers!" said the Prince of Chenliu. They followed the fireflies, and little by little a path appeared. By the fifth watch their feet were too sore to carry them further. Beside the hill was a heap of straw, and the two lay down at the foot of it. In front of the heap stood a farm. That night its master had dreamed of two red suns falling behind his house; he woke in alarm, threw on his clothes and went out to look about him, and saw a red light shooting up to the sky above the straw heap behind the farm. He hurried over, and there they were, lying beside the straw.


"Whose sons are you two boys?" asked the master of the farm. The Emperor dared not answer. The Prince of Chenliu pointed to him. "This is the Emperor who reigns today. He fled here out of the disorder the Ten Attendants have made. I am his brother, the Prince of Chenliu." The man was astonished, and bowed twice. "I am Cui Yi, brother of Cui Lie, who was Minister of the Masses in the last reign. I have lived hidden here since I saw the Ten Attendants selling offices and hounding good men." He helped the Emperor into the house and knelt to set food and wine before him.


Min Gong, meanwhile, had overtaken Duan Gui and seized him, and asked where the Son of Heaven was. Duan Gui said they had parted on the road and he did not know where he had gone. So Min Gong killed him, hung the head at his horse's neck, divided his men to search in every direction, and rode on alone along the road. He came by chance to Cui Yi's farm. Cui Yi saw the head and asked about it, and Min Gong told him the whole of it; so Cui Yi brought him in to the Emperor, and sovereign and servant wept together. "The country cannot be a single day without its lord," said Min Gong. "I beg Your Majesty to return to the capital." There was only one lean horse on the farm, and they saddled it for the Emperor; Min Gong and the Prince of Chenliu rode another between them. They had not gone three li from the farm when Wang Yun, Minister of the Masses, Yang Biao, Grand Commandant, Chunyu Qiong, Colonel of the Left Army, Zhao Meng, Colonel of the Right Army, Bao Xin, Colonel of the Rear Army, and Yuan Shao, Colonel of the Central Army, came up with several hundred men and horse and met the imperial party; there was weeping on all sides. Duan Gui's head was sent ahead to be shown in the capital, good horses were brought for the Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu, and they rode back to the city with a press of men about them. There had been a rhyme among the children of Luoyang before this:
    Emperor is emperor none,
    Prince is prince no more;
    Car on car, horse on horse, to Beimang pour.
Thus was the prophecy fulfilled.


They had not gone many li more when banners darkened the sun and dust hid the sky, and a body of troops came up. The officials turned pale, and the Emperor was badly frightened. Yuan Shao spurred out and asked who they were. Out from the shadow of the embroidered flags flew a general, who called in a hard voice: "Where is the Son of Heaven?" The Emperor shook and could not speak. The Prince of Chenliu reined his horse forward. "Who comes there?" he said sharply. "Dong Zhuo, Inspector of Xiliang." "Have you come to guard the imperial carriage, or to seize it?" "I have come to guard it." "Then since you come to guard it, and the Son of Heaven is here, why are you not off your horse?" Dong Zhuo was taken aback. He scrambled down in haste and made his bow at the left of the road. The Prince of Chenliu spoke to him and put him at his ease, and from first to last there was not a word out of place. Dong Zhuo wondered at him privately, and from that hour he had it in mind to set another on the throne.


That day they came back to the palace and saw Empress Dowager He, and all of them wept bitterly. When the palace was gone through, the Heirloom Seal of the Realm was missing. Dong Zhuo camped his army outside the walls and came into the city every day with his mailed horse, riding through the streets as he pleased, and the people lived in dread. He went in and out of the palace itself with hardly a show of deference. Bao Xin, Colonel of the Rear Army, came to Yuan Shao and told him that Dong Zhuo certainly meant mischief and should be put down at once. "The court is only just settled," said Yuan Shao. "We must not move lightly." Bao Xin went to Wang Yun and said the same. "Let it wait till we have talked it over," said Wang Yun. So Bao Xin took his own troops and went off to Mount Tai.


Dong Zhuo drew over the troops that had served He Jin and his brother, until the whole of them were in his hand. "I have a mind to put down the Emperor and set up the Prince of Chenliu," he said privately to Li Ru. "What do you say?" "The court is without a master," said Li Ru. "If it is not done now, delay will bring a change. Tomorrow call the officials together in the Wenming Garden and tell them the Emperor is to be changed. Cut down whoever will not have it. Today is the day to make your authority good."


Dong Zhuo was pleased. Next day he laid out a great feast and invited the whole of the nobility, and not one of them dared stay away, for they all feared him. He waited until the officials were assembled, then came slowly down to the garden gate, dismounted, and walked to his place with his sword on. When the wine had gone round several times he had it stopped and the music silenced, and said in a hard voice: "I have something to say. Let the officers hear it in silence." Every man turned his ear. "The Son of Heaven is lord of all the people," said Dong Zhuo, "and without presence and dignity he cannot serve the ancestral temple and the altars of the land. The Emperor who now reigns is a weakling. He is not the equal of the Prince of Chenliu, who is quick and fond of his books and fit to take the great seat. I mean to put down the Emperor and set up the Prince of Chenliu. What do the ministers say?" Not one dared make a sound. Then a man pushed back the table and standing before the feast he cried: "It shall not be! Who are you, that you dare talk so high? The Son of Heaven is the late Emperor's lawful son and has done no wrong. What right have you to talk of putting down an emperor? Would you be a usurper?" Dong Zhuo looked: it was Ding Yuan, Inspector of Jing Province. "Who follows me lives; who crosses me dies!" Dong Zhuo roared at him, and drew his sword to cut Ding Yuan down.


Just then Li Ru saw the man standing behind Ding Yuan — of a lofty bearing and a commanding presence, holding a crescent-bladed halberd, his eyes blazing. Li Ru stepped up quickly. "This is a drinking party, and no place to talk of state affairs. Tomorrow at the council hall will be soon enough to debate it in the open." The company all urged Ding Yuan to his horse, and he rode away. Dong Zhuo turned to the officials. "Have I not spoken justly?" Lu Zhi answered: "Your Excellency is wrong. In the old days Tai Jia was unfit to rule, and Yi Yin banished him to the Tong palace; the Prince of Changyi had been twenty-seven days on the throne and had done above three thousand wicked things, so Huo Guang announced it in the ancestral temple and put him down. The Emperor who now reigns is young, but he is quick and humane and wise, and has not a hair's weight of fault in him. You are an Inspector of an outer commandery, have had no share in the government, and have none of the great gifts of Yi Yin or Huo Guang. By what right would you force through a change of emperors? The sage says: 'With Yi Yin's purpose it may be done; without Yi Yin's purpose it is usurpation.'" Dong Zhuo in a great rage drew his sword and came at him to kill him. Peng Bo, a Court Counselor, spoke up: "Lu Zhi of the Secretariat is looked up to throughout the land. Cut him down first, and I fear the whole realm will take fright." At that Dong Zhuo held his hand. Wang Yun, Minister of the Masses, said: "A matter of deposing and enthroning is not to be settled over wine. Let us debate it another day." So the officials all dispersed. Dong Zhuo stood at the garden gate with his hand on his sword, and saw a man wheeling his horse up and down outside, a halberd in his hand. He asked Li Ru who it was. "That is Ding Yuan's foster son," said Li Ru. "Lü is his surname, Bu his name, Fengxian his style. You had better keep out of his way, my lord." So Dong Zhuo went into the garden out of sight.


Next day word came that Ding Yuan had brought his army outside the walls and offered battle. Dong Zhuo in anger led his own men out with Li Ru to meet him. The two lines drew up facing, and there was Lü Bu with a gold coronet binding his hair, a battle robe figured with a hundred flowers, a coat of beast-hide mail and a jewelled belt with lions worked upon it; he put his horse forward with his halberd levelled and rode out before the line at Ding Yuan's side. Ding Yuan pointed at Dong Zhuo and cursed him: "The country is in misfortune, the eunuchs have played with power, and the people are in the mire for it. You have not an inch of merit to your name. How dare you talk idly of putting down an emperor and throwing the court into confusion?"


Before Dong Zhuo could answer, Lü Bu flew at him on his horse. Dong Zhuo turned and ran, Ding Yuan brought his army on after him, and Dong Zhuo's men were badly beaten. He fell back more than thirty li, made his camp and called his people together. "Lü Bu is no ordinary man," he said. "If I had him, what trouble could the realm give me?" A man came out from the front of the tent. "My lord, set your mind at rest. Lü Bu and I are from the same village, and I know him for a brave man without judgment, who forgets his honor at the sight of a profit. My tongue shall bring him in with folded hands. What do you say to it?"


Dong Zhuo was delighted. He looked, and it was Li Su, an officer of the Tiger Guards. "How will you work on him?" "I hear you have a famous horse, my lord, called Red Hare, that goes a thousand li in a day," said Li Su. "Let me have the horse, and gold and pearls besides, to bind his heart with profit. Then I will put my arguments to him, and Lü Bu will turn against Ding Yuan and come over to you for certain." Dong Zhuo asked Li Ru whether the plan would serve. "You would have the realm, my lord," said Li Ru. "What is one horse to grudge?" Dong Zhuo gave the horse gladly, and a thousand liang of gold with it, several dozen bright pearls, and a jade belt.


Li Su took the presents and rode to Lü Bu's camp, where the pickets closed round him. "Tell General Lü quickly that an old friend has come to see him," he said. The soldiers took in word, and Lü Bu had him brought in. "Brother, no ills since we parted, I hope!" said Li Su. Lü Bu bowed. "It is long since we met. Where are you living now?" "I hold the post of General of the Tiger Guards. I was glad past telling to hear that you are upholding the altars of the land. I have a good horse that goes a thousand li in a day and crosses water and climbs hills as on level ground; he is called Red Hare, and I have brought him as a gift to you, brother, to aid a tiger's strength." Lü Bu had the horse led up to look at. Red he was from head to foot, the red of burning coal, without a hair of another color on him, a zhang long from head to tail and eight chi high from hoof to neck; and when he neighed and roared he seemed ready to mount the sky or plunge into the sea. A later poet wrote of the Red Hare:
    A thousand li at speed, and dust-clouds fly;
    Through flood and hill the purple mists roll by.
    The silken rein is snapped, the jade bit shakes;
    A fire-dragon from the ninth heaven breaks.


Lü Bu was overjoyed with the horse and thanked Li Su. "Brother, you give me such a steed. How am I to repay it?" "I came for honor's sake," said Li Su. "What repayment should I seek?" Lü Bu set wine before him. When the wine was in them Li Su said: "You and I see little of each other, brother, but I meet your father often enough." "You are drunk!" said Lü Bu. "My father has been many years out of the world. How should you be meeting him?" Li Su laughed aloud. "Not he. I mean your father of today, Inspector Ding." Lü Bu looked abashed. "I am with Ding Jianyang because I have no choice." "You have it in you to hold up the sky and bridle the sea, brother," said Li Su. "Who within the four seas does not look up to you? Rank and fame and riches are in your reach, as easy as putting your hand in a bag. Why talk of having no choice, and stand under another man?" "I have not found my master, that is all," said Lü Bu. Li Su smiled. "A good bird chooses its tree to roost in, and a wise servant chooses his lord to serve. Be slow to see your chance, and repentance will come too late." "You are at court," said Lü Bu. "Who do you see there that is the hero of the age?" Li Su answered: "I have looked them all over, and there is not one the equal of Dong Zhuo. He honors the worthy and is courteous to men of talent, his rewards and punishments are clear, and he will come to great things in the end." "I would follow him," said Lü Bu, "but I have no way to reach him."


Li Su brought out the gold and the pearls and the jade belt and laid them before him. Lü Bu was startled. "What is all this for?" Li Su had the attendants sent out of the room. "Lord Dong has long admired your great name, and sent me with these. The Red Hare is his gift too." "If Lord Dong holds me so dear, how am I to repay him?" said Lü Bu. "A man of small ability like myself is a General of the Tiger Guards," said Li Su. "If you go to him there is no saying how high you will stand." "Yet I have not a grain of merit to bring him as a present on first meeting." "The merit is there for the turning of a hand, if only you are willing." Lü Bu sat a long while over it. "I have a mind to kill Ding Yuan and bring my men over to Dong Zhuo. What do you say?" Li Su said: "If you will, brother, there can be no greater service! But the business will not bear delay. Settle it quickly."


Lü Bu promised Li Su to come over the next day, and Li Su took his leave. That night about the second watch Lü Bu walked into Ding Yuan's tent with a sword in his hand. Ding Yuan was reading by candlelight, and looked up as he came in. "What brings my son here?" "I am a man in my own right," said Lü Bu. "Why should I be your son?" "Fengxian, what has changed your heart?" Lü Bu went forward and took Ding Yuan's head off at a stroke, then shouted to those about him: "I have killed Ding Yuan for his cruelty! Let those who will follow me stay. Those who will not may go!" More than half the soldiers dispersed.


Next day Lü Bu carried Ding Yuan's head to Li Su, who took him in to Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo was overjoyed and set wine before him, and bowed to him first. "General, to have you today is like a parched field getting sweet rain." Lü Bu seated him and made his own bow. "If you will not refuse me, let me do you reverence as my foster father." Dong Zhuo gave him golden armor and a brocade robe, and they drank deep and parted. From that day Dong Zhuo's power and prestige grew greater still. He took the office of General of the Vanguard upon himself, made his brother Dong Min General of the Left and Marquis of Hu, and made Lü Bu Cavalry Commandant, General of the Household and Marquis of the Capital Village. Li Ru pressed him to settle the matter of the deposition quickly, so Dong Zhuo set out a feast in the palace, gathered the nobility, and had Lü Bu stand guard on either hand with a thousand men in mail.


That day Yuan Wei, the Grand Tutor, came with the whole body of officials. When the wine had gone round a few times Dong Zhuo drew his sword. "The Emperor who now reigns is dull and weak, unfit to serve the ancestral temple. I shall do as Yi Yin and Huo Guang did before me: put him down to be Prince of Hongnong and set up the Prince of Chenliu as Emperor. Whoever will not have it dies!" The ministers were terrified, and not one dared answer. Then Yuan Shao, Colonel of the Central Army, stepped straight out. "The Emperor has not been long on the throne and has done nothing to forfeit it. You would put down the son of the Empress and set up the son of a lesser consort. What is that but treason?" Dong Zhuo said in a rage: "The business of the realm lies with me! Who dares refuse? Do you think my sword not sharp?" Yuan Shao drew his own. "Your sword is sharp. But mine no less!" And the two faced each other. Truly:
    Ding Yuan stood for the right, and first lay dead;
    Yuan Shao now bares his blade, and risks his head.
Whether Yuan Shao kept his life, the next chapter will tell.