Dong Zhuo

Dong Zhuo.

Dǒng Zhuō ( Chinese  董卓 , IPA ( standard Chinese) [ [d̥ʊŋ214 d̥ʐ̥u̯ɔ5] ], * April 139 ; † May 22, 192 ) was a general and prime minister of the Chinese Empire at the time of the Three Kingdoms . In 189 he took power in the state for a short time, but later he was murdered by his adopted son and companion Lü Bu .

Life

Before the uprising of the Yellow Turbans

Dong Zhuo was born in Lintao (临洮). His father, Dong Junya, was a military commander in Yingchuan. Dong Zhuo also joined the Chinese military as a young man. According to tradition, here he proved to be a brave, physically strong soldier and a very good archer. In 165 he became an officer under General Zhang Huan. In 167 he put down a Qiang revolt in Bingzhou (并 州). For this he was rewarded with 9,000 rolls of fine silk , which he shared with his subordinates.

After gradual advancement in the imperial army, he was defeated and demoted in 184 by rebels of the Yellow Turban. But when Han Sui rebelled in Liangzhou (凉州), he was appointed general and given the task of putting down the uprising. In the battle, Han Sui, whom the Qiang had joined, outnumbered him, but by a ruse by Dong Zhuo, Han Sui was repulsed: After Dong Zhuo's return route was cut off, Dong had his men build a dam in a nearby river. After his army crossed the drained river, they pierced the dams and escaped.

Dong Zhuo was then appointed Front General and Governor of Bingzhou Province . However, because he did not want to give up his loyal troops in Liangzhuo, he refused the post.

Rise to power

After the death of Emperor Ling ( 189 ), the Commander-in-Chief He called Jin Dong Zhuo to the capital Luoyang to eliminate the eunuchs . But before Dong Zhuo and his troops arrived, He Jin was murdered at the instigation of the eunuchs, and the city fell into chaos. The eunuchs kidnapped the young emperor , but Dong Zhuo stopped them and brought the emperor back to the palace.

He Jin's half-brother He Miao (何 苗), general of the cavalry and the charioteer, was at the same time suspected of having conspired with the eunuchs, and was killed by his own subjects. The now leaderless troops of He Jin and He Miao were placed under Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo also tricked Lü Bu into betraying Mr. Ding Yuan , who was also called to the capital by He Jin. So Dong Zhuo gained command of all the troops in the capital.

In 190 , Dong Zhuo replaced the young emperor with Han Xiandi , his puppet. He proclaimed himself prime minister. His rule was arbitrary and cruel. Right at the beginning, he obtained a permit to carry a sword at court (which no one had been allowed to do since Xiao He in the 2nd century BC ) and to keep his shoes on. In the history of the three kingdoms it is said that he led an army to Yangcheng, slaughtered all male residents there, brought the women, cattle and all valuables to Luoyang and presented the whole thing as the suppression of a revolt. He is also said to have slept with numerous princesses and concubines of the imperial palace.

Train to Chang'an

In the same year, the whole country's warlords formed a coalition against Dong Zhuo, who then moved the capital to Chang'an in the west. For this purpose he had the graves of the Han emperors opened, robbed and the palace burned down.

After arriving in Chang'an, he appointed his brother Dong Min as "Left General" and all relatives as court officials. He also had a castle built in the land of Mei (260 Li (about 150 km) from Chang'an). He provided this castle with supplies for thirty years. For the next two years he used horrific punishments against the potential opposition; the victims of his arbitrariness numbered in the thousands.

Dong Zhuo also had bronze statues and bells melted down and minted coins with which he flooded the market. The resulting inflation soon made the currency completely worthless.

Downfall

Dong Zhuo made many enemies through his cruelty and arbitrariness. That is why he adopted Lü Bu as his son and always kept him close as a bodyguard.

It is said that when Dong Zhuo was angry, he hurled a halberd at Lü Bu. Although Lü Bu always evaded and Dong Zhuo's temper quickly cooled, he developed a subliminal hatred of his adoptive father. Furthermore, Lü Bu, who was guarding the residence, developed a relationship with one of Dong Zhuo's maids, whom he always feared discovery.

In 192 , Interior Minister Wang Yun persuaded him to murder Dong Zhuo. Together with the cavalry captain Li Su , Lü Bu paid his respects to his father. They stabbed Dong Zhuo to death. His body was left in the street and placed under guard. Anyone who approached him should be killed.

literature

• Chen Shou: San Guo Zhi . Yue Lu Shu She, Changsha 2002, ISBN 7-80665-198-5 .
• Luo Guanzhong: San Guo Yan Yi . Yue Lu Shu She, Changsha 1986, ISBN 7-80520-013-0 .
• Lo Kuan-chung, CH Brewitt-Taylor (translator): Romance of the Three Kingdoms . Tuttle Publishing, Boston et al. 2002, ISBN 0-8048-3467-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rafe de Crespigny: A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD), Leiden / Boston 2007, p. 157
2. ↑ 自此 每夜 入宫 ， 奸淫 宫女 ， 夜宿 龙 床。 "宫女" = "妃" = concubine (ctext.org/sanguo-yanyi/ch4/ens?searchu=%E5%A5%B8%E6%B7 % AB% E5% AE% AB% E5% A5% B3) .