1
竇武字游平，扶風平陵人，安豐戴侯融之玄孫也。 父奉，定襄太守。 武少以經行著稱，常教授於大澤中，不交時事，名顯關西。
Dou Wu, styled Youping, came from Pingling in Fufeng; he was a fourth-generation descendant of Dou Rong, Marquis Dai of Anfeng. His father Dou Feng had served as governor of Dingxiang. From his youth Dou Wu was known for scholarship and upright conduct; he taught students amid the wetlands, kept clear of politics, and his reputation spread through the Guanxi region.
2
延熹八年，長女選入掖庭，桓帝以為貴人，拜武郎中。 其冬，貴人立為皇后，武遷越騎校尉，封槐里侯，五千戶。 明年冬，拜城門校尉。 在位多辟名士，清身疾惡，禮賂不通，妻子衣食裁充足而已。 是時羌蠻寇難，歲儉民飢，武得兩宮賞賜，悉散與太學諸生，及載肴糧於路，飩施貧民。 兄子紹，為虎賁中郎將，性疏簡奢侈。 武每數切厲相戒，猶不覺悟，乃上書求退紹位，又自責不能訓導，當先受罪。 由是紹更遵節，大小莫敢違犯。
In 165 CE his eldest daughter was chosen for the imperial harem; Emperor Huan elevated her to honored consort and named Dou Wu a gentleman attendant at court. That same winter she became empress; Dou Wu rose to colonel of the swift cavalry and received the title Marquis of Huaili with a fief of five thousand households. The following winter he was named colonel of the city gates. In office he recruited eminent scholars, kept himself scrupulously clean and detested corruption, refused illicit gifts, and saw to it that his family had only what they needed. With Qiang and southern tribes raiding and famine stalking the land, Dou Wu took every gift from the two palaces and gave it to the Imperial Academy students, and he had food carted along the roads to feed the destitute. His nephew Dou Shao commanded the palace tiger guard; he was careless by temperament and lived lavishly. Dou Wu remonstrated with him sharply time and again, but the young man did not reform; Dou Wu then memorialized asking that Shao be dismissed and declared himself unfit as a mentor, offering to accept punishment first. After that Dou Shao minded his conduct, and everyone in the household obeyed without exception.
3
時國政多失，內官專寵，李膺、杜密等為黨事考逮。 永康元年，上疏諫曰：
The government was adrift, eunuchs held unchecked favor, and men such as Li Ying and Du Mi were rounded up in the partisan prosecutions. In 167 CE he presented a memorial of remonstrance that began:
4
書奏，因以病上還城門校尉、槐里侯印綬。 帝不許，有詔原李膺、杜密等，自黃門北寺、若盧、都內諸獄，繫囚罪輕者皆出之。
After submitting it, he cited illness and tendered the seals of his posts as colonel of the city gates and Marquis of Huaili. The emperor refused his resignation and issued an edict pardoning Li Ying, Du Mi, and their associates; minor offenders were freed from the eunuch-run North Prison, Ruolu, and the metropolitan jails.
5
其冬帝崩，無嗣。 武召侍御史河閒劉儵，參問其國中王子侯之賢者，儵稱解瀆亭侯宏。 武入白太后，遂徵立之，是為靈帝。 拜武為大將軍，常居禁中。 帝既立，論定策功，更封武為聞喜侯； 子機渭陽侯，拜侍中； 兄子紹鄠侯，遷步兵校尉； 紹弟靖西鄉侯，為侍中，監羽林左騎。
That winter Emperor Huan died without a son to succeed him. Dou Wu called in the attendant censor Liu Shu of Hejian and asked which of the imperial clansmen there was fit to rule; Liu Shu recommended Liu Hong, Marquis of the Jiedu pavilion. Dou Wu laid the matter before the empress dowager; Liu Hong was summoned and enthroned as Emperor Ling. Dou Wu was named grand general and took up permanent residence inside the palace. Once the new emperor was enthroned, those who had settled the succession were rewarded, and Dou Wu received a further enfeoffment as Marquis of Wenxi; his son Dou Ji became Marquis of Weiyang and a palace attendant; his nephew Dou Shao was enfeoffed as Marquis of Hu and promoted to colonel of the footsoldiers; Dou Shao's younger brother Dou Jing was made Marquis of Xixiang, served as palace attendant, and oversaw the left wing of the Feathered Forest guard.
6
武既輔朝政，常有誅翦宦官之意，太傅陳蕃亦素有謀。 時共會朝堂，蕃私謂武曰：「中常侍曹節、王甫等，自先帝時操弄國權，濁亂海內，百姓匈匈，歸咎於此。 今不誅節等，後必難圖。」 武深然之。 蕃大喜，以手推席而起。 武於是引同志尹勳為尚書令，劉瑜為侍中，馮述為屯騎校尉； 又徵天下名士廢黜者前司隸李膺、宗正劉猛、太僕杜密、廬江太守朱宇等，列於朝廷； 請前越巂太守荀翌為從事中郎，辟潁川陳寔為屬：共定計策。 於是天下雄俊，知其風旨，莫不延頸企踵，思奮其智力。
As chief minister Dou Wu meant to purge the eunuchs, and Grand Tutor Chen Fan had long nursed the same design. When they met at court, Chen Fan took Dou Wu aside and said, "Cao Jie, Wang Fu, and their fellow eunuchs have twisted the levers of power since the previous reign; the empire is in turmoil and the people lay every ill at their door. If we do not cut them down now, we will never manage it later." Dou Wu agreed wholeheartedly. Chen Fan was elated; he pushed himself up from his seat. Dou Wu then appointed allies to key posts: Yin Xun as director of the secretariat, Liu Yu as palace attendant, and Feng Shu as colonel of garrison cavalry; he recalled celebrated men who had been cashiered—among them the former metropolitan commandant Li Ying, the director of the imperial clan Liu Meng, the grand coachman Du Mi, and the governor of Lujiang Zhu Yu—and seated them again at court; he named the former governor of Yuegui, Xun Yi, as staff supervisor and recruited Chen Shi of Yingchuan as an aide, and with them he hammered out a strategy. Word of their purpose spread, and bold men across the empire strained to join them, eager to lend mind and muscle to the cause.
7
會五月日食，蕃復說武曰：「昔蕭望之困一石顯，近者李、杜諸公禍及妻子，況今石顯數十輩乎！ 蕃以八十之年，欲為將軍除害，今可且因日食，斥罷宦官，以塞天變。 又趙夫人及女尚書，旦夕亂太后，急宜退絕。 惟將軍慮焉。」 武乃白太后曰：「故事，黃門、常侍但當給事省內，典門戶，主近署財物耳。 今乃使與政事而任權重，子弟布列，專為貪暴。 天下匈匈，正以此故。 宜悉誅廢，以清朝廷。」 太后曰：「漢來故事世有，但當誅其有罪，豈可盡廢邪？」 時中常侍管霸頗有才略，專制省內。 武先白誅霸及中常侍蘇康等，竟死。 武復數白誅曹節等，太后冘豫未忍，故事久不發。
A solar eclipse in the fifth month gave Chen Fan his opening. He urged Dou Wu: "Xiao Wangzhi fell to one Shi Xian; Li Ying, Du Mi, and their circle lost even their families—and today we face dozens of Shi Xians. I am eighty, yet I mean to help you root out this evil; use the eclipse as heaven's warning and sweep the eunuchs from office to answer the portent. Lady Zhao and the women secretaries who haunt the empress dowager day and night must be removed at once. General, this rests with you." Dou Wu laid the case before the empress dowager: "By established practice, eunuchs of the Yellow Gate and regular attendants should stick to palace service—guarding doors and handling petty accounts. Instead they dabble in state affairs and wield real power; their kinsmen fill every office and grow rich by extortion. That is why the realm is in an uproar. They ought to be purged wholesale so the court can be cleansed." The empress dowager replied, "Han has always used eunuchs at court; execute the guilty if you must, but you cannot abolish the institution root and branch." The eunuch Guan Ba was clever and ruthless and dominated the inner palace. Dou Wu obtained permission to execute Guan Ba, Su Kang, and their clique, and they were put to death. When Dou Wu repeatedly asked leave to move against Cao Jie, the empress dowager wavered, and the great purge never came.
8
至八月，太白出西方。 劉瑜素善天官，惡之，上書皇太后曰：「太白犯房左驂，上將星入太微，其占宮門當閉，將相不利，姦人在主傍。 願急防之。」 又與武、蕃書，以星辰錯繆，不利大臣，宜速斷大計。 武、蕃得書將發，於是以朱宇為司隸校尉，劉祐為河南尹，虞祁為洛陽令。 武乃奏免黃門令魏彪，以所親小黃門山冰代之。 使冰奏素狡猾尤無狀者長樂尚書鄭駱，送北寺獄。 蕃謂武曰：「此曹子便當收殺，何復考為！」 武不從，令冰與尹勳、侍御史祝瑨雜考駱，辭連及曹節、王甫。 勳、冰即奏收節等，使劉瑜內奏。
In the eighth month Venus blazed in the western sky. Liu Yu, who was versed in astrology, took it as a dire sign and wrote the empress dowager: "Venus has struck the left rein-star of the House constellation; the commander star has entered the Purple Palace—an omen of sealed palace gates, peril for ministers and generals, and villains at the ruler's elbow. You must act before it is too late." He sent a separate letter to Dou Wu and Chen Fan: the heavens were out of joint—a bad sign for high ministers—and they should strike without delay. With that letter in hand, Dou Wu and Chen Fan prepared to move: they named Zhu Yu metropolitan commandant, Liu You governor of Henan, and Yu Qi magistrate of Luoyang. Dou Wu had the Yellow Gate commandant Wei Biao removed and replaced him with his own man, the junior eunuch Shan Bing. He had Shan Bing impeach Zheng Luo, secretary at Changle Palace, as the worst of the slippery eunuchs, and Zheng was packed off to the North Prison. Chen Fan told Dou Wu, "Arrest those wretches and behead them; why bother with a trial?" Dou Wu disagreed and had Shan Bing, Yin Xun, and the attendant censor Zhu Jin question Zheng Luo until his testimony implicated Cao Jie and Wang Fu. Yin Xun and Shan Bing memorialized for warrants against Cao Jie and his party, while Liu Yu carried the plea inside the palace.
9
時武出宿歸府，典中書者先以告長樂五官史朱瑀。 瑀盜發武奏，罵曰：「中官放縱者，自可誅耳。 我曹何罪，而當盡見族滅？」 因大呼曰：「陳蕃、竇武奏白太后廢帝，為大逆！」 乃夜召素所親壯健者長樂從官史共普、張亮等十七人，喢血共盟誅武等。 曹節聞之，驚起，白帝曰：「外閒切切，請出御德陽前殿。」 令帝拔劍踊躍，使乳母趙嬈等擁衛左右，取棨信，閉諸禁門。 召尚書官屬，脅以白刃，使作詔板。 拜王甫為黃門令，持節至北寺獄收尹勳、山冰。 冰疑，不受詔，甫格殺之。 遂害勳，出鄭駱。 還共劫太后，奪璽書。 令中謁者守南宮，閉門，絕複道。 使鄭駱等持節，及侍御史、謁者捕收武等。 武不受詔，馳入步兵營，與紹共射殺使者。 召會北軍五校士數千人屯都亭下，令軍士曰：「黃門常侍反，盡力者封侯重賞。」 詔以少府周靖行車騎將軍，加節，與護匈奴中郎將張奐率五營士討武。 夜漏盡，王甫將虎賁、羽林、廄騶、都候、劍戟士，合千餘人，出屯朱雀掖門，與奐等合。 明旦悉軍闕下，與武對陳。 甫兵漸盛，使其士大呼武軍曰：「竇武反，汝皆禁兵，當宿衛宮省，何故隨反者乎？ 先降有賞！」 營府素畏服中官，於是武軍稍稍歸甫。 自旦至食時，兵降略盡。 武、紹走，諸軍追圍之，皆自殺，梟首洛陽都亭。 收捕宗親、賓客、姻屬，悉誅之，及劉瑜、馮述，皆夷其族。 徙武家屬日南，遷太后於雲臺。
Dou Wu had spent the night at home; a clerk with access to the draft memorial tipped off Zhu Yu, the record-keeper of Changle Palace. Zhu Yu stole a look at Dou Wu's memorial and swore, "If some eunuchs deserve death, kill those few. What have the rest of us done to earn wholesale slaughter?" He then shouted, "Chen Fan and Dou Wu have asked the empress dowager to depose the emperor—that is treason of the highest order!" That night he rounded up seventeen trusted bravoes from Changle, among them Gong Pu and Zhang Liang, and they cut their palms and swore to kill Dou Wu and his allies. Cao Jie heard the alarm, roused the boy emperor, and said, "Trouble is brewing outside; come with us to the front hall of Deyang Palace." He had the emperor brandish a sword and bustle along while Zhao Rao the wet nurse and others hemmed him in; they seized the palace tallies, sealed every inner gate, and took control. They herded the secretariat staff in at sword point and forced them to draft edicts on wooden slips. Wang Fu was named Yellow Gate commandant and sent with imperial credentials to the North Prison to arrest Yin Xun and Shan Bing. Shan Bing refused the order as spurious; Wang Fu cut him down on the spot. Yin Xun was killed and Zheng Luo freed. They rushed back, seized the empress dowager, and wrested the imperial seals from her. Palace ushers were posted in the Southern Palace; its gates were shut and the elevated walkways that linked the palaces were blocked. Zheng Luo and others, credentials in hand, led attendant censors and ushers to arrest Dou Wu and his party. Dou Wu rejected the edict as forged, galloped to the footsoldiers' camp, and with Dou Shao shot the envoys dead. He rallied several thousand men from the five northern legions at the capital guard post and told them, "The eunuchs have risen in revolt; whoever fights hardest will be enfeoffed and richly rewarded." A forged edict named Zhou Jing of the lesser treasury acting chariot-and-cavalry general, gave him the baton of command, and ordered him and the Xiongnu colonel Zhang Huan to lead the five camps against Dou Wu. At cockcrow Wang Fu marched more than a thousand tiger guards, Feathered Forest troopers, stable grooms, capital patrols, and halberdiers to the Vermilion Bird side gate and linked up with Zhang Huan's force. At daybreak they drew up their full strength below the palace towers opposite Dou Wu's men. Wang Fu's ranks swelled; his men shouted across the lines, "Dou Wu is the traitor! You are palace guards meant to watch the emperor—why follow a rebel? The first to come over will be rewarded!" The northern camp had always feared the eunuchs, and Dou Wu's soldiers began drifting over to Wang Fu. By midmorning his army had almost entirely melted away. Dou Wu and Dou Shao fled, were run to ground by government troops, and killed themselves; their heads were spiked at the Luoyang guard post. Their kin, clients, and in-laws were hunted down and executed to the last person; Liu Yu and Feng Shu were extirpated along with their entire clans. Dou Wu's family was banished to Rinan in the far south, and the empress dowager was confined on the Cloud Terrace.
10
當是時，凶豎得志，士大夫皆喪其氣矣。 武府掾桂陽胡騰，少師事武，獨殯斂行喪，坐以禁錮。
The eunuchs had won; the scholar-officials were broken in spirit. Hu Teng of Guiyang, who had studied under Dou Wu in his youth and served on his staff, alone buried his patron and observed mourning for him; he was punished with lifelong disqualification from office.
11
武孫輔，時年二歲，逃竄得全。 事覺，節等捕之急。 胡騰及令史南陽張敞共逃輔於零陵界，詐云已死，騰以為己子，而使聘娶焉。 後舉桂陽孝廉。 至建安中，荊州牧劉表聞而辟焉，以為從事，使還竇姓，以事列上。 會表卒，曹操定荊州，輔與宗人徙居於鄴，辟丞相府。 從征馬超，為流矢所中死。
Dou Wu's grandson Dou Fu, a toddler of two, was smuggled to safety. When the plot came to light, Cao Jie and his faction hunted the child relentlessly. Hu Teng and the Nanyang clerk Zhang Chang spirited Dou Fu into Lingling commandery, spread word that the boy was dead, and Hu Teng raised him as his own son, even arranging a marriage for him when he came of age. Later he was nominated as a filial and incorrupt candidate from Guiyang. During the Jian'an era, Liu Biao, governor of Jingzhou, heard the story, appointed him to his staff, had him take back the name Dou, and memorialized the whole affair to the throne. Liu Biao died before the matter was closed; after Cao Cao took Jingzhou, Dou Fu and his kinsmen moved to Ye, where he received an appointment in the chancellor's bureau. He accompanied the army against Ma Chao and was killed by a stray arrow.
12
初，武母產武而并產一蛇，送之林中。 後母卒，及葬未窆，有大蛇自榛草而出，徑至喪所，以頭擊柩，涕血皆流，俯仰蛣屈，若哀泣之容，有頃而去。 時人知為竇氏之祥。
It is said that when Dou Wu was born, his mother also delivered a snake, which she released into the woods. After her death, before the coffin had been lowered into the grave, a huge serpent crawled from the brush straight to the bier, butted the casket until blood and fluid streamed from its head, writhed as if weeping, then slipped away. Contemporaries took it for a portent of the Dou family's strange fortune.
13
騰字子升。 初，桓帝巡狩南陽，以騰為護駕從事。 公卿貴戚車騎萬計，徵求費役，不可勝極。 騰上言：「天子無外，乘輿所幸，即為京師。 臣請以荊州刺史比司隸校尉，臣自同都官從事。」 帝從之。 自是肅然，莫敢妄有干欲，騰以此顯名。 黨錮解，官至尚書。
Hu Teng's courtesy name was Zisheng. When Emperor Huan toured Nanyang, he named Hu Teng an attendant for the imperial escort. The great families descended with countless carriages and mounts; their demands for labor and supplies were beyond reckoning. Hu Teng memorialized: "The emperor has no realm outside himself: wherever the imperial chariot rests becomes, for the moment, the capital. Let the governor of Jingzhou act with the authority of the metropolitan commandant, and let me serve as his capital attendant—like a metropolitan investigator." The emperor approved. Order was restored: no one dared make arbitrary demands, and Hu Teng won wide renown. After the partisan ban was lifted, he rose to secretary in the secretariat.
14
張敞者，太尉溫之弟也。
Zhang Chang was a younger brother of Grand Commandant Zhang Wen.
15
何進字遂高，南陽宛人也。 異母女弟選入掖庭為貴人，有寵於靈帝，拜進郎中，再遷虎賁中郎將，出為潁川太守。 光和二年，貴人立為皇后，徵進入，拜侍中、將作大匠、河南尹。
He Jin, styled Suigao, came from Wan in Nanyang commandery. A half-sister entered the harem as an honored consort and won Emperor Ling's favor; He Jin became a gentleman attendant, rose twice to command the palace tiger guard, and was then posted as governor of Yingchuan. In 179 CE she was made empress; He Jin was recalled to court as palace attendant, minister of imperial construction, and governor of Henan.
16
中平元年，黃巾賊張角等起，以進為大將軍，率左右羽林五營士屯都亭，修理器械，以鎮京師。 張角別黨馬元義謀起洛陽，進發其姦，以功封慎侯。
In 184 CE, when Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turbans rose, He Jin was named grand general; he encamped the Feathered Forest guards and the five northern legions at the metropolitan guard post and readied arms to secure Luoyang. He Jin uncovered a plot by Ma Yuanyi, a confederate of Zhang Jiao, to strike inside Luoyang, and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Shen for the deed.
17
四年，滎陽賊數千人群起，攻燒郡縣，殺中牟縣令，詔使進弟河南尹苗出擊之。 苗攻破群賊，平定而還。 詔遣使者迎於成皋，拜苗為車騎將軍，封濟陽侯。
In 187 CE thousands of Xingyang raiders torched government offices and killed the magistrate of Zhongmou; the court ordered He Jin's brother He Miao, governor of Henan, to suppress them. He Miao routed the rebels and restored calm. Imperial envoys received him at Chenggao; He Miao was promoted to chariot-and-cavalry general and made Marquis of Jiyang.
18
五年，天下滋亂，望氣者以為京師當有大兵，兩宮流血。 大將軍司馬許涼、假司馬伍宕說進曰：「太公六韜有天子將兵事，可以威厭四方。」 進以為然，入言之於帝。 於是乃詔進大發四方兵，講武於平樂觀下。 起大壇，上建十二重五采華蓋，高十丈，壇東北為小壇，復建九重華蓋，高九丈，列步兵，騎士數萬人，結營為陳。 天子親出臨軍，駐大華蓋下，進駐小華蓋下。 禮畢，帝躬擐甲介馬，稱「無上將軍」，行陳三匝而還。 詔使進悉領兵屯於觀下。 是時置西園八校尉，以小黃門蹇碩為上軍校尉，虎賁中郎將袁紹為中軍校尉，屯騎都尉鮑鴻為下軍校尉，議郎曹操為典軍校尉，趙融為助軍校尉，淳于瓊為佐軍校尉，又有左右校尉。 帝以蹇碩壯健而有武略，特親任之，以為元帥，督司隸校尉以下，雖大將軍亦領屬焉。
In 188 CE disorder spread; court astrologers warned of great armies at the capital and bloodshed in both palaces. His majors Xu Liang and Wu Dang urged He Jin, citing the Grand Duke's Six Secret Teachings: "if the emperor took the field in person, he would overawe the four quarters." He Jin agreed and laid the proposal before the emperor. An edict then ordered He Jin to levy troops from across the empire and hold a grand review below the Pingle Lodge. They built a towering altar with a twelve-tiered, multicolored canopy, and a smaller altar with a nine-tiered canopy; tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry were drawn up in battle order. The emperor rode out to review the host and took station under the great canopy while He Jin stood under the smaller one. When the rites were finished, the emperor personally donned armor and barded horse, styled himself "supreme commander," circled the formation three times, and returned. He was ordered to keep the entire force encamped below the lodge. The court created eight Western Garden colonelcies: the eunuch Jian Shuo as senior colonel, Yuan Shao of the tiger guard as middle colonel, Bao Hong as junior colonel, Cao Cao as marshal colonel, with Zhao Rong and Chunyu Qiong as assistant and deputy colonels, plus left and right colonels. Emperor Ling favored Jian Shuo for his vigor and tactical sense, named him supreme commander over all forces including the metropolitan commandant, and even He Jin the grand general had to answer to him.
19
碩雖擅兵於中，而猶畏忌於進，乃與諸常侍共說帝遣進西擊邊章、韓遂。 帝從之，賜兵車百乘，虎賁斧鉞。 進陰知其謀，乃上遣袁紹東擊徐兗二州兵，須紹還，即戎事，以稽行期。
Jian Shuo controlled the palace armies yet feared He Jin; he and the chief eunuchs persuaded the emperor to send He Jin west against Bian Zhang and Han Sui. The emperor agreed and gave him a hundred war chariots plus the palace tiger guard's axes and halberds as emblems of command. He Jin saw through the ruse and memorialized that Yuan Shao be sent east against forces in Xu and Yan, vowing to march west only after Yuan returned—stalling his departure.
20
初，何皇后生皇子辯，王貴人生皇子協。 群臣請立太子，帝以辯輕佻無威儀，不可為人主，然皇后有寵，且進又居重權，故久不決。
Empress He had borne Prince Liu Bian; Honored Lady Wang had borne Prince Liu Xie. The ministers pressed for a crown prince; Emperor Ling thought Liu Bian too flighty to rule, yet the empress held his favor and He Jin wielded great power, so the choice dragged on unresolved.
21
六年，帝疾篤，屬協於蹇碩。 碩既受遺詔，且素輕忌於進兄弟，及帝崩，碩時在內，欲先誅進而立協。 及進從外入，碩司馬潘隱與進早舊，迎而目之。 進驚，馳從儳道歸營，引兵入屯百郡邸，因稱疾不入。 碩謀不行，皇子辯乃即位，何太后臨朝，進與太傅袁隗輔政，錄尚書事。
In 189 CE, as the emperor lay dying, he entrusted Liu Xie to Jian Shuo. Jian Shuo held the deathbed edict and had long resented the He brothers; when the emperor died he was in the palace and meant to kill He Jin first and place Liu Xie on the throne. As He Jin approached from outside, Pan Yin—Jian Shuo's major but an old friend of He Jin—met him and shot him a warning look. He Jin bolted down a side lane to his camp, marched his men into the hostel where visiting officials lodged, and pleaded illness to avoid entering the palace. Jian Shuo's plot collapsed; Liu Bian succeeded as emperor; Empress Dowager He assumed the regency; He Jin and Grand Tutor Yuan Wei ran the government with authority over the secretariat.
22
進素知中官天下所疾，兼忿蹇碩圖己，及秉朝政，陰規誅之。 袁紹亦素有謀，因進親客張津勸之曰：「黃門常侍權重日久，又與長樂太后專通姦利，將軍宜更清選賢良，整齊天下，為國家除患。」 進然其言。 又以袁氏累世寵貴，海內所歸，而紹素善養士，能得豪傑用，其從弟虎賁中郎將術亦尚氣俠，故並厚待之。 因復博徵智謀之士龐紀、何顒、荀攸等，與同腹心。
He Jin knew the empire loathed the eunuchs and burned to settle scores with Jian Shuo; once in power he quietly planned the eunuch's death. Yuan Shao, who had long nursed the same ambition, sent He Jin's confidant Zhang Jin with this counsel: "the chief eunuchs had held power for years and, with the Dowager of Changle Palace, skimmed illicit gains; He Jin should purge the ranks, promote worthy men, set the realm to rights, and rid the state of this scourge." He Jin accepted the advice. The Yuan house had been honored for generations and commanded loyalty across the empire; Yuan Shao knew how to gather fighting men, and his cousin Yuan Shu, another tiger guard leader, was a man of bravado—so He Jin treated both with lavish favor. He also summoned strategists such as Pang Ji, He Yong, and Xun You and took them into his inner circle.
23
蹇碩疑不自安，與中常侍趙忠等書曰：「大將軍兄弟秉國專朝，今與天下黨人謀誅先帝左右，埽滅我曹。 但以碩典禁兵，故且沈吟。 今宜共閉上閤，急捕誅之。」 中常侍郭勝，進同郡人也。 太后及進之貴幸，勝有力焉。 故勝親信何氏，遂共趙忠等議，不從碩計，而以其書示進。 進乃使黃門令收碩，誅之，因領其屯兵。
Uneasy, Jian Shuo wrote to Zhao Zhong and his fellow eunuchs: "The He brothers monopolize the court; they have joined the partisans of the realm to slaughter the late emperor's household servants and wipe us out. Only my command of the palace troops has stayed their hand—for now. We must seal the inner gates at once and cut them down before they move." Among them was the eunuch Guo Sheng, a fellow townsman of He Jin. He had helped the empress dowager and He Jin rise to power. Guo Sheng sided with the Hes; he and Zhao Zhong rejected Jian Shuo's scheme and handed his letter to He Jin. He Jin had the Yellow Gate commandant arrest Jian Shuo, put him to death, and absorb his troops.
24
袁紹復說進曰：「前竇武欲誅內寵而反為所害者，以其言語漏泄，而五營百官服畏中人故也。 今將軍既有元舅之重，而兄弟並領勁兵，部曲將吏皆英俊名士，樂盡力命，事在掌握，此天贊之時也。 將軍宜一為天下除患，名垂後世。 雖周之申伯，何足道哉！ 今大行在前殿，將軍宜受詔領禁兵，不宜輕出入宮省。」 進甚然之，乃稱疾不入陪喪，又不送山陵。 遂與紹定籌策，而以其計白太后。 太后不聽，曰：「中官統領禁省，自古及今，漢家故事，不可廢也。 且先帝新棄天下，我奈何楚楚與士人對共事乎？」 進難違太后意，且欲誅其放縱者。 紹以為中官親近至尊，出入號令，今不悉廢，後必為患。 而太后母舞陽君及苗數受諸宦官賂遺，知進欲誅之。 數白太后，為其障蔽。 又言：「大將軍專殺左右，擅權以弱社稷。」 太后疑以為然。 中官在省闥者或數十年，封侯貴寵，膠固內外。 進新當重任，素敬憚之，雖外收大名而內不能斷，故事久不決。
Yuan Shao urged He Jin again: "Dou Wu had fallen because word of his plot leaked and the northern legions and the bureaucracy still feared the eunuchs. You are the emperor's uncle, your brothers command crack troops, and your officers are bold literati ready to die for you—the moment is yours; heaven itself favors you. Strike once for the empire and your name will live in history. Even Shen Bo of Zhou would pale beside you! The late emperor lies in state in the front hall; you should take edict command of the palace guard and avoid routine comings and goings in the inner court." He Jin agreed; he stayed away from the lying-in-state on plea of illness and skipped the funeral cortège to the imperial tombs. He and Yuan Shao fixed their strategy and laid it before the empress dowager. She refused: "eunuchs had commanded the inner palace from antiquity to the present; it was Han precedent and could not be abolished. Moreover the late emperor had only just died—was she to stand there fussing like a scholar at council with him?" He Jin could not override his sister, so he settled for executing only the worst offenders. Yuan Shao argued that eunuchs stood closest to the throne and issued orders in his name; unless the institution was rooted out, it would bring disaster later. The empress dowager's mother, the Lady of Wuyang, and He Miao had taken repeated bribes from the eunuchs and knew He Jin meant to kill them. They importuned the empress dowager until she shielded the eunuchs. They also said: "The grand general specializedly kills those at his side and monopolizes power to weaken the altars of soil and grain." The empress dowager began to believe them. The chief eunuchs had served decades behind the gates, held noble titles, and had the inner and outer court bound together in their interest. He Jin, new to supreme power, still feared them; he won praise in the capital yet could not bring himself to act, and the stalemate dragged on.
25
紹等又為畫策，多召四方猛將及諸豪傑，使並引兵向京城，以脅太后。 進然之。 主簿陳琳入諫曰：「易稱『即鹿無虞』，諺有『掩目捕雀』。 夫微物尚不可欺以得志，況國之大事，其可以詐立乎？ 今將軍總皇威，握兵要，龍驤虎步，高下在心，此猶鼓洪爐燎毛髮耳。 夫違經合道，天人所順，而反委釋利器，更徵外助。 大兵聚會，彊者為雄，所謂倒持干戈，授人以柄，功必不成，秖為亂階。」 進不聽。 遂西召前將軍董卓屯關中上林苑，又使府掾太山王匡東發其郡強弩，并召東郡太守橋瑁屯城皋，使武猛都尉丁原燒孟津，火照城中，皆以誅宦官為言。 太后猶不從。
Yuan Shao and his party proposed summoning regional strongmen to march on the capital and intimidate the empress dowager. He Jin agreed. His registrar Chen Lin objected: "the Book of Changes warns against hunting deer without a guide, and the proverb speaks of catching sparrows blindfolded. Small game cannot be taken by trickery; how then could the fate of the state rest on a ruse? You hold imperial authority and the army's heart; you stride like dragon and tiger with every advantage—using you against the eunuchs is like stoking a blast furnace to singe a hair. When action accords with principle, heaven and men alike approve; yet you would lay aside a sure weapon and call in outsiders. Massed armies make the strongest man master—an inverted spear whose haft you hand your enemy; you would not succeed, you would only invite chaos." He Jin would not listen. He summoned Dong Zhuo from the west to camp at Shanglin Park, ordered his clerk Wang Kuang of Taishan to levy crossbowmen, called Qiao Mao, governor of Dong commandery, to Chenggao, and sent the fierce colonel Ding Yuan to set fires at Meng Ford so that the glow lit Luoyang—every move announced as a move against the eunuchs. The empress dowager still refused.
26
苗謂進曰：「始共從南陽來，俱以貧賤，依省內以致貴富。 國家之事，亦何容易！ 覆水不可收。 宜深思之，且與省內和也。」 進意更狐疑。 紹懼進變計，乃脅之曰：「交搆已成，形埶已露，事留變生，將軍復欲何待，而不早決之乎？」 進於是以紹為司隸校尉，假節，專命擊斷； 從事中郎王允為河南尹。 紹使洛陽方略武吏司察宦者，而促董卓等使馳驛上，欲進兵平樂觀。 太后乃恐，悉罷中常侍小黃門，使還里舍，唯留進素所私人，以守省中。 諸常侍小黃門皆詣進謝罪，唯所措置。 進謂曰：「天下匈匈，正患諸君耳。 今董卓垂至，諸君何不早各就國？」 袁紹勸進便於此決之，至于再三。 進不許。 紹又為書告諸州郡，詐宣進意，使捕案中官親屬。
He Miao told his brother: "they had come up from Nanyang as poor men and leaned on the inner court to win rank and riches. Statecraft is never simple! Spilled water cannot be scooped back into the bowl. Think hard on that, and make peace with the palace." He Jin grew only more hesitant. Fearing He Jin would waver, Yuan Shao pressed him: "the snare was set and their purpose known; delay bred treachery—what was he waiting for?" He Jin then named Yuan Shao metropolitan commandant, gave him the baton, and authorized summary executions; and appointed Wang Yun, his staff supervisor, governor of Henan. Yuan Shao set Luoyang's investigators on the eunuchs and prodded Dong Zhuo and the rest to race toward the capital, intent on marching to the Pingle Lodge. The empress dowager panicked and dismissed every chief eunuch and junior Yellow Gate attendant to their suburban quarters, leaving only He Jin's personal agents inside. The dismissed eunuchs flocked to He Jin to beg pardon and await his orders. Jin said to them: "The realm is in an uproar; precisely you gentlemen are the worry. Dong Zhuo was almost there—why not retire at once to their estates?" Yuan Shao begged him to settle accounts then and there—again and again. He Jin refused. Yuan Shao forged orders in He Jin's name to the provinces, commanding the arrest of eunuchs' relatives.
27
進謀積日，頗泄，中官懼而思變。 張讓子婦，太后之妹也。 讓向子婦叩頭曰：「老臣得罪，當與新婦俱歸私門。 惟受恩累世，今當遠離宮殿，情懷戀戀，願復一入直，得暫奉望太后、陛下顏色，然後退就溝壑，死不恨矣。」 子婦言於舞陽君，入白太后，乃詔諸常侍皆復入直。
He Jin's plans leaked day by day, and the eunuchs grew desperate. Zhang Rang's daughter-in-law was the empress dowager's own sister. Rang kowtowed to his daughter-in-law and said, "This old minister has offended; I ought to return to the private household together with my new daughter-in-law. They had served many reigns; leaving the palace grieved them. They begged one last turn of duty to look upon the empress dowager and His Majesty, then they would crawl into their graves content." She relayed the plea to the Lady of Wuyang, who told the empress dowager; an edict recalled the chief eunuchs to their posts.
28
八月，進入長樂白太后，請盡誅諸常侍以下，選三署郎入守宦官廬。 諸宦官相謂曰：「大將軍稱疾不臨喪，不送葬，今欻入省，此意何為？ 竇氏事竟復起邪？」 又張讓等使人潛聽，具聞其語，乃率常侍段珪、畢嵐等數十人，持兵竊自側闥入，伏省中。 及進出，因詐以太后詔召進。 入坐省闥，讓等詰進曰：「天下憒憒，亦非獨我曹罪也。 先帝嘗與太后不快，幾至成敗，我曹涕泣救解，各出家財千萬為禮，和悅上意，但欲託卿門戶耳。 今乃欲滅我曹種族，不亦太甚乎？ 卿言省內穢濁，公卿以下忠清者為誰？」 於是尚方監渠穆拔劍斬進於嘉德殿前。 讓、珪等為詔，以故太尉樊陵為司隸校尉，少府許相為河南尹。 尚書得詔板，疑之，曰：「請大將軍出共議。」 中黃門以進頭擲與尚書，曰：「何進謀反，已伏誅矣。」
In the eighth month He Jin went to Changle Palace and asked the empress dowager to execute every chief eunuch down the line and replace them with gentlemen cadets from the three offices. The eunuchs whispered among themselves: "the grand general had shunned the lying-in-state and the funeral; now he burst into the inner court—what did he mean? Was the Dou Wu affair to be replayed?" Zhang Rang had listeners who caught every word; he and Duan Gui, Bi Lan, and dozens of others armed themselves, slipped in through a side door, and hid inside. When He Jin emerged, they forged a summons in the empress dowager's name. Inside the gate Zhang Rang confronted him: "the empire seethed, and they were not the only guilty ones. The late emperor once quarreled with the empress dowager to the brink of disaster; we wept and poured out our private fortunes—millions in gifts—to smooth his temper and win your family's favor. Now he would wipe out their houses root and branch—was that not too much? He called the inner court corrupt—which of the high ministers below him was spotlessly loyal?" At that Qu Mu, director of the imperial workshops, drew his sword and cut He Jin down before the Hall of Virtuous Grace. Zhang Rang and Duan Gui forged edicts naming Fan Ling, the former grand commandant, metropolitan commandant and Xu Xiang of the lesser treasury governor of Henan. The secretariat received the forged slip and balked: "they asked the grand general to step out and discuss it with them in person." A middle yellow gate threw Jin's head to the secretariat, saying: "He Jin plotted rebellion; he has already been executed."
29
進部曲將吳匡、張璋，素所親幸，在外聞進被害，欲將兵入宮，宮閤閉。 袁術與匡共斫攻之，中黃門持兵守閤。 會日暮，術因燒南宮九龍門及東西宮，欲以脅出讓等。 讓等入白太后，言大將軍兵反，燒宮，攻尚書闥，因將太后、天子及陳留王，又劫省內官屬，從複道走北宮。 尚書盧植執戈於閣道窗下，仰數段珪。 段珪等懼，乃釋太后。 太后投閣得免。
Wu Kuang and Zhang Zhang, division commanders whom He Jin had favored, were outside the walls; when they learned he had been murdered they tried to force the palace gates, but the doors were barred. Yuan Shu joined Wu Kuang in hewing at the gates while eunuch guards held the line with arms. At dusk Yuan Shu set fire to the Nine Dragon Gate of the Southern Palace and to the eastern and western annexes, hoping to smoke Zhang Rang and his party out. Zhang Rang and his confederates burst in on the empress dowager with a tale that He Jin's men had mutinied, torched the palace, and stormed the secretariat; they then seized the empress dowager, the emperor, and the Prince of Chenliu, rounded up palace staff, and fled along the elevated walk to the Northern Palace. Lu Zhi of the secretariat stood under the gallery with a halberd and shouted up at Duan Gui. Duan Gui and the others lost their nerve and let the empress dowager go. She leapt from the gallery and escaped.
30
袁紹與叔父隗矯詔召樊陵、許相，斬之。 苗、紹乃引兵屯朱雀闕下，捕得趙忠等，斬之。 吳匡等素怨苗不與進同心，而又疑其與宦官同謀，乃令軍中曰：「殺大將軍者即車騎也，士吏能為報讎乎？」 進素有仁恩，士卒皆流涕曰：「願致死！」 匡遂引兵與董卓弟奉車都尉旻攻殺苗，棄其屍於苑中。 紹遂閉北宮門，勒兵捕宦者，無少長皆殺之。 或有無須而誤死者，至自發露然後得免者二千餘人。 紹因進兵排宮，或上端門屋，以攻省內。
Yuan Shao and his uncle Yuan Wei forged orders to lure Fan Ling and Xu Xiang in and had them executed. He Miao and Yuan Shao marched to the Vermilion Bird gate, seized Zhao Zhong and his clique, and put them to the sword. Wu Kuang and others always resented Miao for not being of one mind with Jin, and moreover suspected him of plotting together with the eunuchs; then they ordered the army, saying: "The one who killed the grand general is precisely the chariot-and-cavalry commander; can officers and soldiers avenge the wrong?" Jin always had benevolent grace; the soldiers all wept tears and said: "We wish to exhaust death!" Wu Kuang then joined Dong Min, Dong Zhuo's younger brother and carriage attendant colonel, stormed He Miao's position, killed him, and dumped the body in the imperial park. Yuan Shao sealed the Northern Palace, sent soldiers hunting eunuchs, and slaughtered every one they found, young or old. Some men without beards were killed by mistake; more than two thousand had to strip and prove they were not eunuchs to survive. Yuan Shao drove his men into the palace compounds; some climbed onto the roof of the Duan Gate to shoot down into the inner court.
31
張讓、段珪等困迫，遂將帝與陳留王數十人步出穀門，奔小平津。 公卿並出平樂觀，無得從者，唯尚書盧植夜馳河上，王允遣河南中部掾閔貢隨植後。 貢至，手劍斬數人，餘皆投河而死。 明日，公卿百官乃奉迎天子還宮，以貢為郎中，封都亭侯。
Cornered, Zhang Rang and Duan Gui fled on foot through the Grain Gate toward Little Ping Ford with the emperor, the Prince of Chenliu, and a few dozen followers. The high ministers had all gone to the Pingle Lodge and had no escort for the emperor; only Lu Zhi of the secretariat rode through the night toward the river, and Wang Yun sent Min Gong, a clerk of Henan, on his heels. Min Gong cut down several eunuchs with his own blade; the rest threw themselves into the river and drowned. The following day the court escorted the emperor home, named Min Gong a gentleman attendant, and enfeoffed him as Marquis of the capital guard post.
32
董卓遂廢帝，又迫殺太后，殺舞陽君，何氏遂亡，而漢室亦自此敗亂。
Dong Zhuo then deposed the emperor, forced the empress dowager to her death, executed the Lady of Wuyang, and wiped out the He family—after which the house of Han slid into ruin.
33
論曰：竇武、何進藉元舅之資，據輔政之權，內倚太后臨朝之威，外迎群英乘風之埶，卒而事敗閹豎，身死功穨，為世所悲，豈智不足而權有餘乎？ 傳曰：「天之廢商久矣，君將興之。」 斯宋襄公所以敗於泓也。
The historian remarks: Dou Wu and He Jin held the authority of maternal uncles to the throne, commanded the regency, had the empress dowager's prestige behind them, and rallied the finest men of the age—yet both fell to eunuchs and died with their cause in ruins, objects of pity ever since. Was it too little wit and too much power? The tradition runs: "Heaven has long since cast off Shang; you, my lord, mean to restore it." That was the spirit in which Duke Xiang of Song met defeat at Hong.
34
贊曰：武生蛇祥，進自屠羊。 惟女惟弟，來儀紫房。 上惛下嬖，人靈動怨。 將糾邪慝，以合人願。 道之屈矣，代離凶困。
The verse says: Dou Wu was born under a serpent's portent; He Jin rose from a butcher's stall. Sister and brother brought their line into the purple halls of power. The ruler grew dim while favorites below ran wild; men and gods alike stirred with resentment. They meant to purge wickedness and answer the people's prayer. The Way turned against them; their house instead met disaster and ruin.