“Go to the General and confess your faults,” said the Empress.
“If we did, then should we be cut to mincemeat. Rather summon the General into your presence and command him to cease. If he will not, then we pray but die in your presence.”
The Empress issued the requisite command, and He Jin was just going to her when Counselor Chen Lin advised him not to enter, saying, “The eunuchs are certainly behind the order and mean your harm.”
But He Jin could only see the command of the Empress and was blind to all else.
“Our plot is no longer a secret;” said Yuan Shao, “still you may go if you are ready to fight your way in.”
“Get the eunuchs out first,” said Cao Cao.
“Silly children!” said He Jin. “What can they do against the man who holds the forces of the empire in the palm of his hand?”
Yuan Shao said, “If you will go, then we will come as a guard, just as a precaution.”
Whereupon both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao chose five hundred best men under their command, at whose head they placed a brother of Yuan Shao, named Yuan Shu.
Yuan Shu, clad in mail, drew up his troops outside the palace entrance, while Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, holding swords, went as escort. When He Jin neared the palace, the eunuchs said, “The orders are to admit the Imperial Guardian and none other.”
So the escort was detained outside. He Jin went in proudly. At the Gate of Grand Virtue, he was met by Zhang Rang and Duan Gui, and their followers quickly closed in around him. He Jin began to feel alarmed. Then Zhang Rang in a harsh voice began to revile him.
“What crime had Empress Dong committed that she should have been put to death? And when the Mother of the Country was buried, who feigned sickness and did not attend? We raised you and your paltry, huckstering family to all the dignity and wealth you have, and this is your gratitude! You would slay us. You call us sordid and dirty; who is the cleaner?”
He Jin was panic stricken and looked about for a way to escape, but the eunuchs closed him in, and then the assassins appeared and cut He Jin into halves.
Closing the days of the Hans, and the years of their rule were near spent,
Stupid and tactless was He Jin, yet stood he highest in office;
Many were they who advised him, but he was deaf as he heard not;
Wherefore fell he a victim under the swords of the eunuchs.
So He Jin died. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao waited long. By and by, impatient at the delay, they called through the gate, “Thy carriage waits, O General!”
For reply the head of He Jin was flung over the wall. A decree was proclaimed: “He Jin has contemplated treachery and therefore has been slain. It pardons his adherents.”
Yuan Shao shouted, “The eunuchs have slain the High Minister. Let those who will slay this wicked party come and help me!”
Then one of He Jin's generals, Wu Kuang, set fire to the gate. Yuan Shu at the head of his guards burst in and fell to slaying the eunuchs without regard to age or rank. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao broke into the inner part of the palace. Four of the eunuchs — Zhao Zhong, Cheng Kuang, Xia Yun, and Guo Sheng — fled to the Blue Flower Lodge where they were hacked to pieces. Fire raged, destroying the buildings.
Four of the Ten Regular Attendants — Zhang Rang, Duan Gui, Cao Jie, and Hou Lan — led by Zhang Rang carried off the Empress, Emperor Bian, and Prince Xian of Chenliu toward the north palace.
Lu Zhi, since he had resigned office, was at home, but hearing of the revolution in the Palace he donned his armor, took his spear, and prepared to fight. He saw the eunuch Duan Gui hurrying the Empress along and called out, “You rebel, how dare you abduct the Empress?”
The eunuch fled. The Empress leaped out of a window and was taken to a place of safety.
General Wu Kuang burst into one of the inner halls where he found He Miao, sword in hand.
“You also were in the plot to slay your own brother,” cried Wu Kuang. “You shall die with the others.”
“Let us kill the plotter against his elder brother!” cried many.
He Miao looked around; his enemies hemmed him in on every side. He was hacked to pieces.
Yuan Shu bade his soldiers scatter and seek out all the families of the eunuchs, sparing none. In that slaughter many beardless men were killed in error.
Cao Cao set himself to extinguish the fires. He then begged Empress He to undertake the direction of affairs, and soldiers were sent to pursue Zhang Rang and rescue the young Emperor and the young Prince of Chenliu.
Meanwhile, Zhang Rang and Duan Gui had hustled away the Emperor and the Prince. They burst through the smoke and fire and traveled without stopping till they reached the Beimang Hills. It was then the third watch. They heard a great shouting behind them and saw soldiers in pursuit. Their leader, Min Gong, a commander in Henan, was shouting “Traitors, stop, stop!”
Zhang Rang, seeing that he was lost, jumped into the river, where he was drowned.
The two boys ignorant of the meaning of all this confusion and terrified out of their senses, dared not utter a cry; they crept in among the rank grass on the river bank and hid. The soldiers scattered in all directions but failed to find them. So they remained till the fourth watch, shivering with cold from the drenching dew and very hungry. They lay down in the thick grass and wept in each other's arms, silently, lest any one should discover them.
“This is no a place to stay in;” said Prince Xian, “we must find some way out.” So the two children knotted their clothes together and managed to crawl up the bank. They were in a thicket of thorn bushes, and it was quite dark. They could not see any path. They were in despair when, all at once, millions of fireflies sprang up all about them and circled in the air in front of the Emperor.
“God is helping us,” said Prince Xian.
They followed whither the fireflies led and gradually got into a road. They walked till their feet were too sore to go further, when, seeing a heap of straw near the road, they crept to it and lay down.
This heap of straw was close to a farm house. In the night, as the farmer was sleeping, he saw in a vision two bright red suns drop behind his dwelling. Alarmed by the portent, he hastily dressed and went forth to look about him. Then he saw a bright light shooting up from a heap of straw. He hastened thither and then saw two youths lying behind it.
“To what household do you belong, young gentlemen?” asked the farmer.
The Emperor was too frightened to reply, but his companion said, “He is the Emperor. There was a revolution in the palace, and we ran away. I am his brother Prince of Chenliu.”
The farmer bowed again and again and said, “My name is Sui Lie. My brother Sui Yi is the former minister of the interior. My brother was disgusted with the behavior of the eunuchs and so resigned and hid away here.”
The two lads were taken into the farm, and their host on his knees served them with refreshment.
It has been said that Min Gong had gone in pursuit of Eunuch Duan Gui. By and by Min Gong overtook Duan Gui and cried, “Where is the Emperor?”
“He disappeared. I do not know where he is.”
Min Gong slew Duan Gui and hung the bleeding head on his horse's neck. Then he sent his troops searching in all directions, and he rode off by himself on the same quest. Presently he came to the farm. Sui Lie, seeing what hung on his horse's neck, questioned him and, satisfied with his story, led him to the Emperor. The meeting was affecting; all were moved to tears.
“The state cannot be without its ruler,” said Min Gong. “I pray Your Majesty return to the city.”
At the farm they had but one sorry nag and this they saddled for the Emperor. The young Prince was taken on Min Gong's charger. And thus they left the farm. Not beyond one mile from the farm, they fell in with other officials and several hundred guards and soldiers made up an imposing cavalcade. In the cavalcade were Wang Yun, Minister of the Interior; Yang Biao, Regent Marshal; Chunyu Qiong, Commander of the Left Army; Zhao Meng, Commander of the Right Army; Bao Xin, Commander of the Rear Army; and Yuan Shao, Commander of the Central Army. Tears were shed freely as the ministers met their Emperor.