The campaign against Dong Zhuo began with a grand alliance of warlords, united by a righteous cause: to rescue the Han emperor from a tyrant. Yet, the moment the coalition entered the ruined capital of Luoyang, that unity shattered. While Dong Zhuo’s atrocities horrified the realm, it was not his cruelty, but the discovery of the Imperial Seal and the ambition it ignited, that truly set the warlords on the path to open conflict. This episode, dramatized in Romance of the Three Kingdoms and referenced in historical texts like Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), marks a pivotal turning point—not from the defeat of a tyrant, but from the betrayal of a shared cause.
Dong Zhuo’s Burning of Luoyang
Faced with the advancing coalition of regional lords, Dong Zhuo, though a ruthless warlord, felt fear. To consolidate his power and escape the coalition’s reach, he decided to abandon Luoyang and move the imperial court to Chang’an.
His retreat was an act of pure devastation. He ordered the palaces and temples burned, the tombs of emperors looted, and the wealth of the capital seized. Over one million civilians were forcibly relocated westward; countless perished from exhaustion, starvation, or violence along the way. Luoyang, once the glorious heart of the Han Empire, was reduced to smoldering ruins.
As recorded in historical annals, Dong Zhuo’s actions were not merely strategic but symbolic of his utter contempt for imperial authority and human life. His brutality shocked the realm, yet it was only the prelude to a deeper betrayal.
The Coalition’s Failure: Greed over Righteousness
When the coalition forces finally entered the ruined capital, they found no pursuit necessary—Dong Zhuo had already fled. This was their golden opportunity to strike and end his tyranny. Yet, instead of uniting to chase him, the warlords succumbed to infighting, personal ambition, and fear.
Chen Shou’s Sanguozhi notes the lack of coordination and decisive leadership among the lords. They set up camp, feasted, and argued over strategy, allowing Dong Zhuo to entrench himself in Chang’an. The righteous alliance quickly disintegrated into a loose confederation of self-serving warlords.
It was in this atmosphere of moral collapse and political vacuum that the true catalyst for future chaos emerged.
Sun Jian’s discovery of the Imperial Seal
Amid the ashes of the imperial palace, Sun Jian, the Administrator of Changsha, was tasked with clearing the ruins. According to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 6, his soldiers discovered the Heirloom Seal of the Realm at the bottom of a well.
This seal, carved from the legendary Heshi Bi jade, was the ultimate symbol of imperial legitimacy, passed down through dynasties since the Qin. Its discovery was not just a treasure find—it was a divine omen of sovereignty.
Sun Jian, a man of ambition and martial prowess, was overcome with joy. Secretly, he resolved to keep the seal and return to his base in Jiangdong, laying the foundation for his own imperial aspirations. He ordered his men to guard the secret at all costs.
The Accusation: Sun Jian vs. Yuan Shao
But betrayal came from within. A defector from Sun Jian’s army carried the news to Yuan Shao, the nominal leader of the coalition. Yuan Shao, already envious of Sun Jian’s battlefield successes and now sensing a threat to his own authority, confronted Sun Jian publicly.
At a gathering of the warlords, Yuan Shao demanded the seal’s return, accusing Sun Jian of theft. Sun Jian, realizing the peril, swore a solemn oath:
“If I, Sun Jian, have secretly taken the Imperial Seal, may I and my entire family perish on the battlefield!”
— Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 6
The tension was palpable. Sun Jian, backed by his loyal troops, threatened to withdraw from the coalition entirely. Faced with the prospect of losing a key military commander, Yuan Shao had no choice but to let the matter drop—for now.
Yuan Shao’s Vengeance and the Rise of Rivalry
Yuan Shao, however, would not let the insult pass. He secretly wrote to Liu Biao, the Governor of Jing Province, urging him to intercept and kill Sun Jian on his return journey, and to seize the Imperial Seal.
Liu Biao complied. He set an ambush near Xiangyang, catching Sun Jian’s forces off guard. Surrounded and outnumbered, Sun Jian fought with legendary courage, cutting through enemy lines and breaking the encirclement. Yet the battle was costly, and it forged a bitter, lasting enmity between the Sun and Liu families—a feud that would echo through the next generation, involving Sun Ce, Sun Quan, and Liu Biao’s successors.
The Legacy: A Spark in the Darkness
This sequence of events—Dong Zhuo’s tyranny, the coalition’s failure, Sun Jian’s discovery, and the ensuing betrayal—was more than a series of isolated incidents. It was the unraveling of the last vestige of Han unity.
The Imperial Seal, meant to symbolize one emperor, one realm, instead became a catalyst for fragmentation. Sun Jian’s ambition, Yuan Shao’s jealousy, and Liu Biao’s complicity revealed that the warlords were not fighting to restore the Han, but to carve their own fiefdoms from its corpse.
While Dong Zhuo’s burning of Luoyang was an act of overt barbarity, the silent theft of the seal and the war it inspired marked the true beginning of the Three Kingdoms era—a time when power, not principle, would dictate the fate of the empire.
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