The General-in-Chief He Jin, who means to wipe out the eunuchs, plans to summon armies from the provinces to Luoyang. Cao Cao objects. Handing the ringleaders of the eunuchs to a single jailer would be enough, he says, so why call in outside armies? When He Jin will not listen, Cao Cao withdraws, saying that the man who throws the world into chaos will surely be He Jin. He Jin falls into the eunuchs’ trap and is killed inside the palace, and at the end of the turmoil Dong Zhuo of Xiliang marches into Luoyang with a great army.
Dong Zhuo gathers the officials in the Wenming Garden and announces that he will replace the emperor. While everyone else keeps silent, Ding Yuan, Inspector of Jing Province, alone pushes back his table, steps out, and cries that it must not be done. Dong Zhuo draws his sword, but behind Ding Yuan stands his adopted son Lu Bu, glaring and holding a crescent halberd, and Dong Zhuo cannot strike. Dong Zhuo sends Li Su, who comes from the same district as Lu Bu, with Red Hare, a horse said to cover a thousand li in a day, and with gold, pearls and a jade belt. That night Lu Bu cuts off Ding Yuan’s head, and the next day he brings it to Dong Zhuo and takes him as his father.
In the ninth month of that year, Dong Zhuo pulls the emperor down and sets up the nine-year-old Prince of Chenliu. Not long after, he kills the deposed emperor and the empress dowager as well. Around this time the Minister Wang Yun invites the old officials to his house for his birthday, and after a few rounds of wine he covers his face and weeps. It was not really his birthday, he says, but he called them together in grief that Han is perishing at Dong Zhuo’s hands. Everyone weeps with him, and then one man claps his hands and laughs out loud.