The Three Kingdoms Era - Fall of Dong Zhuo

So we started with the Rise of Dong Zhuo, progressed to the opposition to Dong Zhuo, and so this blog post will be about... you guessed it, the fall of Dong Zhuo.

A very fictitious version of the events described below can be seen in episodes six and seven of the 1994 edition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which can be found here and here.

Anyway, so in 191 Dong Zhuo moved the Imperial Capital from Luoyang (which he burnt to the ground) to Chang'an, the old capital of the Western Han Dynasty. During this time, he grew increasingly paranoid, and as such had his adopted son and general Lu Bu trail him everywhere, keeping him safe from harm. However, gradually Lu Bu began to resent Dong Zhuo, first due to a tendency of Dong Zhuo to throw a halberd at Lu Bu when angry. Secondly, since he had been having an amorous affair with one of Dong Zhuo's chambermaids, he was afraid of being caught.

As such, when Interior Minister Wang Yun encouraged him to betray his adopted father, he did so in May 192, greeting Dong Zhuo at the palace gates with a dozen trusted men. When the leader of this group stepped forward and stabbed Dong Zhuo, Dong cried for Lu Bu to save him, but Lu Bu said simply "This is an Imperial Order" and then killed him. It's said that Dong Zhuo's corpse was left in the streets, and that the official guarding the corpse lit a candle that burnt for days from the fat of the corpse.

After his death, all members of the Dong clan were executed, including the dictators 90 year old mother.

Wang Yun

In Fiction

Obviously, this didn't make for the greatest of stories, so when Luo Guanzhong wrote the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the downfall of Dong Zhuo was expanded on a bit. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Interior Minister Wang Yun began to plot to assassinate Dong Zhuo with help from Diao Chan, a song girl who he had raised as a daughter. Inviting Lu Bu over to his place one evening, Wang Yun asked Diao Chan to tend to Lu Bu, who was immediately impressed by her beauty. Wang Yun promised to marry Diao Chan to him.

Diao Chan

A few days later, Wang Yun held a feast for Dong Zhuo, and again had Diao Chan tend to the tyrant, who took her home to be his concubine. When Lu Bu found out the next morning, he spied in on Dong Zhuo's bedroom, and, Diao Chan being aware that the general was there, pretended to cry and be sad.

A month later, Dong Zhuo caught Lu bu staring at Diao Chan, and threw him out of the house.

One day while Dong Zhuo was meeting Emperor Xian, Lu Bu snuck inside the residence and meet with Diao Chan, who pleaded for him to rescue her from Diao Chan. Lu Bu hugged her and comforted her with words. Dong Zhuo then walked in on them, causing Lu Bu to turn and flee. Dong grabbed the halberd and hurled it at Lu Bu, who managed to dodge.

After this, Lu Bu got more and more dissatisfied with Dong Zhuo, and eventually plotted to kill him with assistance with Wang Yun. Luring Dong Zhuo to palace by saying that the Emperor wished to abdicate in favour of him, Lu Bu and soldiers killed the tyrant, with Lu Bu saying that "I have an Imperial Decree to slay the rebel!" before cutting off his head.

As mentioned above, there was a chambermaid that Lu Bu was having an affair with, but the character of Diao Chan was most likely an invention by Luo Guanzhong for his novel.