In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, both Liu Bian and Liu Xie were princes and competitors for the imperial throne. Why did He Jin, when supporting Liu Bian as emperor, not kill the competitor Liu Xie, while Dong Zhuo, when supporting Liu Xie, killed the competitor Liu Bian?
Why did Dong Zhuo replace Emperor Shao with the Prince of Chenliu? Let us first examine how Dong Zhuo himself proposed this change of emperor.