He Jin
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He Jin (何進; styled Suigao 遂高) was half-brother of Empress He, consort to Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. He shared power with his sister as regent in 189, following the death of Emperor Ling, and struggled with the eunuch faction for power at the imperial court. He Jin's assassination in September was the immediate cause of the civil wars which led to the formation of the Three Kingdoms.
He Jin was from a butcher's family in Wan (宛), Nanyang (南陽); home county of the dynastic founder Emperor Guangwu. During the reign of Emperor Ling his half-sister entered the Lateral Courts with the rank of "Honoured Lady" (guiren, 貴人) and rose to become one of his favourites. Despite the fact that he didn't have any prior experience, He Jin was given the position of Gentleman of the Palace with command over the Huben regiment of the palace guards. Later he was sent out to the provinces as Grand Administrator of Yingchuan.
After the Lady He was elevated to Empress in 180, He Jin was promoted to become Intendant of He'nan and one of the Nine Ministers.
When the Yellow Turban Rebellion erupted in 184, He was made General-in-chief (大將軍), in direct command of the five regiments of the Northern Army. He Jin manned the imperial armoury, secured strategic forts around the capital district and moved quickly to crush the uprising at Luoyang of Ma Yuanyi (馬元義), a follower of the leader of the uprising Zhang Jue (張角). The campaign was deemed a success and he was given the marquisate of Shen (慎侯). After the rebellion was broken, He Jin continued in the role of General-in-chief, technically with control over all imperial armies. In this period, other members of the He family, such as He Jin's half-brother He Miao, were also elevated to positions of importance.
In 188, perhaps as counterweight to the power of the He clan, Emperor Ling created the Army of the Western Garden. He ostentatiously paraded in front of the army and had himself named "Supreme General" (無上將軍). He also had the army placed under the command of Jian Shi (蹇碩), an eunuch official.
When Emperor Ling died early in 189, the stage was set for a showdown between He Jin and the eunuch faction. Jian Shi plotted to assassinate He and placed the eunuch candidate Liu Xie on the throne. Uncovering the conspiracy in advance, He Jin refused to enter the palace and instead retreated to the barracks of the imperial guards. Jian Shi was arrested and executed; his troops came under the command of He Jin. With the support of the noble Yuan clan, the succession dispute was resolved in favour of Liu Bian, the son of Empress He, who assumed the throne on 15 May. He Jin took on the role of regent, sharing control of the secretariat with his half sister, now the Empress Dowager He, and the Grand Tutor Yuan Wei. Over the next few weeks, the He family moved against the mother of Emperor Ling, the Grand Empress Dowager Dong. Her nephew committed suicide under pressure from He Jin and she lost her own life on 7 July.
In the months of summer, He Jin maneuvered, sometimes hesitantly, with his lieutenant Yuan Shao against the eunuch faction. The eunuchs, now without a military power base of their own, relied on the support of Empress Dowager He and He Miao. Upon the urging of Yuan Shao, He Jin summoned the frontier general Dong Zhuo to the outskirts of Luoyang in September, to try to force the Empress Dowager to back down. On 22 September 189, he entered the palace to request to his half-sister the execution of the eunuchs. The conversation was overheard and relayed to Zhang Rang and the increasingly anxious eunuch officials. They quickly organised for He Jin to be beheaded at the Empress Dowager's antechambers.
Though the eunuchs attempted to secure the situation by dismissing Yuan Shao, it soon spun out of control. Yuan Shao and his half-brother Yuan Shu, both with control of military forces at the capital, stormed the imperial palaces and massacred the eunuchs.