There once was a Han in the west,
And now there is one in the east.
If only the deer2 will flee to Chang'an,
The world will again be at peace.
I take it that the words 'a Han in the west' refer to the founder of our dynasty, the Supreme Ancestor,3 who inaugurated the first of twelve consecutive reigns in Chang'an, the western capital. The words 'a Han in the east,' however, refer to the founder of the Later Han,4 who inaugurated another twelve glorious reigns in Luoyang, the eastern capital. Now the spheres of Heaven which hold men's fortunes have circled back to their starting positions. Thus, Your Excellency, if you transfer the court to Chang'an, all will be well. "Delighted with Li Ru's proposal, Dong Zhuo said," You have shown me the way. " Immediately, he led Lü Bu back to Luoyang to decide how to move the capital.
Dong Zhuo assembled the civil and military officials in the great hall of the palace and declared: "For Luoyang, eastern capital of the Han during the last two hundred years, the allotted span of time now draws to a close. But in Chang'an I can see a reviving spirit and thus shall convey the royal presence to the west. Let each of you make the necessary preparations." Minister of the Interior Yang Biao objected: "The whole Guanzhong region5 is devastated. We will throw the common people into panic if we abandon the imperial family temples and mausoleums here for no good reason. It is easy enough to disturb the peace of the realm; nothing is harder than preserving it. I only hope that the prime minister will reflect carefully." Angrily, Dong Zhuo shot back, "Are you going to stand in the way of the dynasty's plan for survival?"
Grand Commandant Huang Wan said, "I agree with Minister of the Interior Yang. At the end of Wang Mang's usurpation, in the reign period Recommencement [Geng Shi, a.d. 23-25], the Red Eyebrow rebels burned Chang'an, reducing the city to rubble. After the exodus, of every hundred inhabitants only one or two remained. So I would question the wisdom of abandoning this city of palaces and dwellings for a wasteland." To this objection Dong Zhuo replied, "Here, east of the land within the passes, rebellion is rife. Anarchy is loose in the land. Chang'an, however, is well protected by the forbidding Yao Mountains and Hangu Pass. What's more, it is close to the region west of the Longyou Hills, where timber, stone, brick, and tile are readily obtainable. A new palace shouldn't take more than a month to construct—so enough of your absurd arguments." At this point Minister of Works6 Xun Shuang also protested: "If the capital is moved, the population will be thrown into commotion." "I am planning for an empire!" Zhuo bellowed. "I can't be bothered about the ruck." That day he deprived the three critics of rank, reducing them to commoner status.
As Dong Zhuo left the palace in his carriage, he noticed Zhou Bi, now the imperial secretary, and Wu Qiong, commandant of the City Gates, saluting from the roadside. Dong Zhuo asked their business. "They say," responded Zhou Bi, "that the prime minister plans to move the capital to Chang'an, so we have come to state our objections." Outraged, Dong Zhuo retorted, "Once before I listened to you two, when you advised me to put Yuan Shao in office. Now he has rebelled! And you are part of his faction!" He had the two beheaded outside the city gates. The following day he ordered the transfer of the capital to begin.
Li Ru came to suggest a measure. "We are short of funds and food," he said to Dong Zhuo, "and Luoyang has many rich householders. Any that we can link to Yuan Shao and the other rebels should be executed along with their clans and factions. We'll reap a fortune from the property we confiscate." Dong Zhuo approved, and on his authority five thousand crack troops raided several thousand of the wealthiest houses. The soldiers put signs on the topknot of each captive reading "Traitor and Rebel." Then they executed whole families and seized their goods.
At the same time Li Jue and Guo Si began the forced evacuation of Luoyang's millions. Military squads interspersed among the people drove them, pushing and pulling, on toward Chang'an. Untold numbers fell by the wayside. The soldiers were free to rape and plunder. The cries and outcries of the people resounded between Heaven and earth. Stragglers were pressed forward or killed outright by an army unit of three thousand that followed behind.
When Dong Zhuo was ready to leave the city he ordered all dwellings—in addition to the ancestral temples and imperial quarters—burned to the ground. The northern and southern palaces went up in flames, and all the chambers of the Palace of Lasting Happiness were reduced to ashes. On Dong Zhuo's orders Lü Bu dug up the crypts of former emperors and empresses and looted their treasures. Dong Zhuo's soldiers despoiled the tombs of officials and civilians alike and loaded the gold and jewels, silks, and other valuables onto several thousand carts; then Zhuo forced the Emperor and his women to leave for Chang'an. (This occurred in April, A.D. 190.)
As soon as Zhao Cen, Zhuo's commander, learned that Luoyang had been abandoned, he surrendered the barrier at the River Si. Sun Jian rushed in to occupy it. Xuande and his brothers cut through Tiger Trap Pass, and the lords followed. Sun Jian rode on ahead to Luoyang. He saw flames in the sky and thick smoke covering the ground—for two or three hundred li no fowl, no dogs, no sign of human life. Sun Jian ordered the fires put out and told the lords to pitch their camps in the wasteland.
Meanwhile Cao Cao came to Yuan Shao and said, "The traitors' flight offers a perfect opportunity to attack their rear. Why are you holding back?" "The men are fatigued," Yuan Shao replied, "I doubt it would be to our advantage." "Dong Zhuo has destroyed the imperial dwellings and abducted the Emperor," said Cao. "People everywhere are in shock, uncertain where their allegiances belong. It is the final hour for this criminal. We can gain control in a single battle. Why wait?" But the leaders of the confederation, too, were reluctant to act. "Who can work with such worthless men!" Cao cried angrily. Attended by only his six commanders—Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Li Dian, and Yue Jin—he led some ten thousand men in pursuit of Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo reached Yingyang, where Governor Xu Rong received him. Li Ru cautioned Dong Zhuo, "We are hardly out of Luoyang and must guard against pursuit. Have the governor place an ambush by that row of hills that screens the city. If Yuan Shao's men come, let them through. Wait till I strike, then cut them off and surprise them from behind. That way nobody will dare follow them." Dong Zhuo agreed and sent Lü Bu with his best men to cover the rear.
Lü Bu was moving into position when Cao Cao's troops arrived. "Just as Li Ru foresaw," said Lü Bu with a laugh and deployed his forces. Cao Cao rode into the open, shouting, "Traitor! You have violated the Emperor's person and driven the people from their homes. Where do you think you're going?" "Coward turncoat!" swore Lü Bu in reply. "How dare you!" Xiahou Dun raised his spear and charged Lü Bu. As the warriors came to grips, Li Jue swung his contingent in from the left. Cao Cao commanded Xiahou Yuan to counter Li Jue. To the right more yells rang out as Guo Si and his company joined the battle. Cao Cao answered by sending Cao Ren to check Guo Si. But the three armies overpowered Xiahou Dun and drove him back to his lines. Then Lü Bu's crack armored cavalry fell upon Cao Cao's force, inflicting a heavy defeat and beating it back toward Yingyang.
Near the second watch the fleeing soldiers reached a barren hill. The moon rose bright and full. The scattered forces had barely reorganized and begun digging holes in the ground to cook their evening meal when fierce shouts erupted on all sides of them. Governor Xu Rong's ambush was sprung. Cao Cao laid the whip to his horse and fled blindly, only to run into Xu Rong himself. Cao turned sharply away, but Xu Rong shot him in the upper arm. Cao rode for his life over the slopes of the hill, the arrow fixed in his flesh. Two soldiers lying in wait hurled their spears, hitting Cao's horse. Cao rolled off the stricken beast, and the two men seized him. But at that moment Cao Hong raced over, cut down the two captors, and helped Cao Cao to his feet.
"My fate is sealed," said Cao. "Save yourself, good brother." "Get on my horse," Cao Hong answered. "I can go by foot." "How will you manage when the rebels catch up?" asked Cao Cao. "The world can do without Cao Hong," was the reply, "but no
t without you, my lord."7 "If I survive," said Cao, "it will only be by your sacrifice." So saying, Cao Cao mounted. Hong removed his armor and outer garments and let his sword hang behind him as he hurried after the escaping Cao Cao. Toward the fourth watch they came to a wide river. Hearing the harsh yells of the pursuers, Cao Cao said, "We will die here." Cao Hong helped him down, removed his war gown and helmet and waded across, bearing Cao Cao on his back. As they crawled ashore, Lü Bu's men arrived on the other side and fired arrows across the water.
Cao Cao, drenched, continued his flight. Dawn broke. He traveled another thirty li before stopping at the foot of a low hill. Suddenly a party of soldiers charged up. It was Governor Xu Rong again; he had crossed upstream and kept up the chase. Cao Cao was panic-stricken, but Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, and several dozen horsemen arrived at the same moment. "Hands off our lord!" Xiahou Dun cried. Xu Rong started to attack, but Xiahou Dun felled him with a stroke of his blade, and killed or scattered his men. Soon after, Cao Ren, Li Dian, and Yue Jin caught up with Cao Cao, a reunion that brought both joy and dismay. Some five hundred of them regrouped and returned to Henei district. Dong Zhuo's armies proceeded toward Chang'an.
When the confederacy under Yuan Shao moved into the abandoned capital of Luoyang, Sun Jian, having put out the fires in the imperial grounds, established headquarters inside the city wall on the site of the Hall of Paragons. He ordered the rubble cleared from the palace precincts and all the sacred tombs that had been opened by Dong Zhuo resealed. Where the royal ancestral temple had stood Sun Jian had three crude halls built and then invited the lords to set up the tablets of the deceased emperors and to perform the grand sacrifice of three animals.8 After the ceremony all dispersed, and Sun Jian returned to his camp. The moon shone and the stars sparkled as he sat in the open, his hand on his sword, studying the heavenly pattern. He saw a whitish aura enveloping the circumpolar stars. "The imperial star is dim," he sighed. "Traitors have wrecked the dynasty and cast the people into misery. The capital lies in ruin." As he spoke, tears crept from his eyes.
A soldier drew Sun Jian's attention to a rainbow-like light coming out of a well to the south of the Hall of Paragons. Sun Jian told his men to go down with a torch and find the source. They fished up a woman's body, still preserved. She was dressed as a lady of the palace, and round her neck hung a small brocade pouch. Inside the pouch they found a vermillion box with a gold lock, and inside the box a jade seal, three or four inches around. The top was formed of five intertwined dragons. A gold inlay filled a chip on one corner. Eight characters in ancient seal script read: "By Heaven's mandate: long life and everlasting prosperity."
Sun Jian asked his adviser, General Cheng Pu, about the stone treasure.
Cheng Pu replied, "This is the seal of state. It confirms the devolution of authority from ruler to ruler. Long ago Bian He spied a phoenix perched on a rock in the Jing Mountains. He presented the rock to the King of Chu. They broke it open and found this jade. In the twenty-sixth year of the Qin dynasty9 the First Emperor ordered a jade cutter to carve the seal; and Li Si, the First Emperor's prime minister, personally inscribed those eight words in seal script on its bottom surface. Two years later, when the Emperor was touring the Dongting Lake, high waves nearly engulfed his boat. He threw the jade into the water, and the waves subsided. Eight years after the incident, while in Huayin the Emperor came upon someone on the road holding out the seal to the royal attendants. 'I am returning this to His Majesty,' the man said and then disappeared.
"The following year the First Emperor died. Later Ziying, grandson of the First Emperor, presented the seal to the Supreme Ancestor.10 Two hundred years later, when Wang Mang usurped the dynasty, the mother of the dethroned ruler struck two of the rebels, Wang Xun and Su Xian, with the seal and chipped the corner. The break was later filled in with gold. Guang Wu11 obtained the jade in Yiyang, and it has been transmitted through succeeding reigns until this day.
"Recently, the deposed Emperor Shao was forcibly taken to the Beimang burial grounds during the upheaval caused by the Ten Eunuchs, and on the way back home he lost the treasured seal. If Heaven has placed it in your hands, it means that the throne is destined to be yours. But now we must not remain in the north too long. Let us return to our homeland southeast of the Yangzi and set our course from there."
"My thinking exactly," responded Sun Jian. "Tomorrow I shall take my leave, pleading ill health." Having reached this decision, Sun Jian imposed a vow of silence on the soldiers who had recovered the seal.
One of those present, however, was a townsman of Yuan Shao's, who, anxious to advance himself, slipped away from Sun Jian's camp and reported what he had seen to the war-ruler. Shao rewarded the informer generously and hid him in the army. The next day, Sun Jian came before Yuan Shao to take his leave and said, "I have an ailment that requires my return to Changsha. I come, my lord, to bid goodbye." With a smile Yuan Shao responded, "I know all about your 'ailment.' A severe case of 'royal seal,' is it not?" Sun Jian turned pale. "What makes you say such a thing?" he said. "We mustered our armies," Yuan Shao went on, "to bring traitors to justice and to rid the ruling house of its scourge. To that house the seal belongs. If it has come into your hands, you should leave it with me as leader of the confederation, here in front of the whole body of lords. After Dong Zhuo has been duly executed, it shall be returned to the court. For what purpose would you want to carry it away?"
"How could the seal have come into my possession?" Sun Jian asked. "Where is the object you found in the well by the Hall of Paragons?" countered Yuan Shao. "I have no such object," Sun Jian insisted. "Why are you harassing me this way?" "Make haste and produce it," Yuan Shao said flatly, "or suffer consequences of your own making." Pointing to Heaven, Sun Jian declared, "If I am concealing this treasure, may I die by sword or arrow." The assembled lords said, "If he gives such an oath, surely he cannot have the seal."
Yuan Shao then had the soldier who witnessed the incident brought forward. "When you pulled the woman from the well," Yuan Shao demanded of Sun Jian, "was this man present?" Sun Jian angrily drew his sword, menacing the soldier. Yuan Shao drew also, saying, "If you kill him, you are deceiving me!" Behind Yuan Shao, generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou had bared their swords, while behind Sun Jian, generals Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, and Han Dang had their weapons out. The lords tried to stop the quarrel, but Sun Jian took to his horse and left Luoyang with his entire army. Still outraged, Yuan Shao dispatched a letter to Liu Biao, imperial inspector in Jingzhou,12 requesting him to intercept Sun Jian and seize the seal.
The following day Yuan Shao was informed that Cao Cao had pursued Dong Zhuo, engaged his forces at Yingyang, and had returned in defeat. Shao's men met Cao, and Yuan Shao called the lords together and served wine, hoping to hearten Cao Cao. During the repast Cao Cao sighed and said to Yuan Shao, "When I first rose to our great cause, to which these loyal lords have rallied, I intended for Benchu [Yuan Shao's style] to keep watch over the Meng ford with his Henei troops; and for my commanders based at Suanzao to guard Chenggao, hold Aocang Mountain, and close the Huanyuan and Daigu passes, thus securing the entire capital region. I meant for Gonglu [Yuan Shu's style] to post his Nanyang army in Dan and Xi counties, enter the pass at Wu, and let the western capital districts know the might of our arms. My objective was not so much to give battle as to dig in and make a show of force with decoys, demonstrating that the situation was turning in our favor. As fighters in the Emperor's cause, we could have swiftly chastised those who rose against him. But immobilized by hesitation, we have lost the confidence of the realm, and it makes me deeply ashamed." There was no reply Yuan Shao could make, and the assembly adjourned.
The separate and conflicting ambitions of Yuan Shao and the various lords had shown Cao Cao that they would achieve nothing, so he took his troops to Yangzhou. Gongsun Zan, too, said to Xuande and his brothers, "Yuan Shao has no future; the lords will turn against him in the long run. We might as well go home." Gongsun Zan decamped and went north. Wh
en he came to Pingyuan, he enjoined Xuande to remain as lord of the fief, and he went on to secure his own territory and replenish his forces.
In Yuan Shao's camp dissension was evident. Qiao Mao, governor of Dongjun, refused Liu Dai, governor of Yanzhou, a loan of grain. In retaliation Liu Dai raided Qiao Mao's camp, killed him, and took over his troops. Yuan Shao, seeing the confederation breaking apart, pulled up his own camps and left the capital to go east.
Riding south to his fief in Changsha, Sun Jian had to pass through Jingzhou, the province under the jurisdiction of Imperial Inspector Liu Biao (Jingsheng), a native of Gaoping in Shanyang and a relative of the imperial family. From his youth, Liu Biao had had a wide circle of friends and was one of a group of outstanding men from the area, the Eight Paragons of Jiangxia. Who were the other seven?
1. Chen Xiang (Zhonglin), from Runan
2. Fan Pang (Mengbo), also from Runan
3. Kong Yu (Shiyuan), from the fief of Lu
4. Fan Kang (Zhongzhen), from Bohai
5. Tan Fu (Wenyou), from Shanyang
6. Zhang Jian (Yuanjie), also from Shanyang
7. Cen Zhi (Gongxiao), from Nanyang
In addition, Liu Biao was assisted by Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue of Yanping as well as Cai Mao of Xiangyang.
On receipt of Yuan Shao's letter, Liu Biao ordered Kuai Yue and Cai Mao to take ten thousand men and intercept Sun Jian. When the two forces met, Sun Jian demanded, "Why do you prevent me from passing?" Kuai Yue responded, "Why are you, a subject of the Han, carrying off the imperial seal? Leave it with me and you may pass." Sun Jian was outraged and ordered Huang Gai into battle. Cai Mao, brandishing his sword, took to the field. After a few clashes Huang Gai scored a blow with his whip on the armor plate over Cai Mao's chest, forcing him to retreat. Carried by the momentum of the victory, Sun Jian pushed across the line. At that moment Liu Biao himself led his men out as gongs and drums resounded in unison behind a hill.
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