History of Three Kingdoms 5

The Death of Doing Zhuo

The warlords to the East we're fighting with each other fiercely. As for the poor Emperor Xian of Han(189-220AD,the last Emperor of Eastern Han), no one cared whether he was dead or alive.

Seeing that the warlords could not be counted on, the courtiers could only seek to assassinate Dong Zhuo from the inside.

So under Xun You's(one of the best strategist of late Han period) planning, Wu Fu, a commandant, stepped forward to be the assassin.

Wu Fu hid his sword in his clothes and went to meet Dong Zhuo, who received him cordially, and the two of them had a good talk, and then Dong Zhuo not only went out to see him off, but also put his arm around Wu Fu's shoulder in a very cordial manner.

Wu Fu saw the opportunity and suddenly drew his sword and stabbed Dong Zhuo, although Dong Zhuo was fat, he was a soldier and reacted very quickly, he retreated a few steps and dodged Wu Fu's stab!

Wu Fu was killed on the spot, Xun You was also arrested , since then, Dong Zhuo, who felt that no one could be trusted, became more and more temperamental, cruel and tyrannical, especially towards the bureaucrats from big scholarly clans, and was even more full of suspicion.

At that time, among the ministers in the imperial court, the one who was most trusted by Dong Zhuo was Wang Yun(王允）, who was also from a scholarly clan, and was promoted by Dong Zhuo to be the Chancellor of Masses(司徒） , became the second most important person after Dong Zhuo.

When Dong Zhuo was not in Chang'an(capital), the government was handed over to Wang Yun, but to his surprise, Wang Yun also wanted to get rid of himself and take the supreme power in his place.

Having learnt that there was a conflict between Dong Zhuo and his foster son Lyu Bu, Wang Yun secretly summoned Lyu Bu to meet him, who had long had the intention of opposing Dong Zhuo, so the two of them hit it off and secretly plotted.

April 192 A.D., Emperor Xian of Han met with all the officials of the court at the Weiyang Hall(未央宫), and Dong Zhuo entered the court in a carriage wearing a court dress; Lyu Bu ordered Li Su,his general, to hide in ambush at the north gate, while he himself accompanied to guard.

As soon as Dong Zhuo's carriage entered the door, Li Su suddenly rushed out with his halberd and stabbed Dong Zhuo, because Dong Zhuo also wore a layer of iron armour within his court dress, Li Su's strength was limited, and his halberd did not penetrate the iron armour, so Dong Zhuo was only injured in the arm and not in any way hurt!

Dong Zhuo turned around and shouted “where is Lyu Bu?!", Lyu Bu arrived in response and stabbed Dong Zhuo with an iron spear, running Dong Zhuo's iron armour back and forth, killing him instantly.

Tian Yi, a Recorder， and one of Dong Zhuo's servants came forward to hold Dong Zhuo's body, but they were immediately stabbed by Lyu Bu, so the scene was silent and no one dared to come forward any more.

Afterwards, Wang Yun slaughtered the whole clan of Dong Zhuo, and took over the administration of the government, and Lyu Bu was appointed as a Marquis ofcoun(温侯）.

Dong Zhuo, the lord who set the precedent for warlordism at the late Han period, bid a hasty farewell to the stage of history.

With the traitor dead, the court was in jubilation. The long night of the Han Empire seemed to have ushered in a ray of light, and the 12-year-old Emperor Xian of Han could finally put an end to his nightmare and welcome the dawn.

But what he didn't expect was that instead of the good life he had imagined, the more terrible suffering had just begun.