ABSTRACT
By the time Dong Zhuo had reduced Luoyang to rubble in 190, China was already embroiled in a total civil war. The regional commanders in the east had formed an anti-Dong alliance, nominally under the leadership of Yuan Shao, a high-born general based in Hebei, in an apparent attempt to return to power the emperor, now kept hostage by the usurper Dong. 1 In reality, however, the regional commanders were more interested in gaining power and influence than propping up the puppet sovereign. Take for example the case of Sun Jian, a member of the alliance from the south. When he arrived in Luoyang in early 191, he made an ostentatious display of allegiance – visiting the Han Ancestral Temple to perform a sacrifice. But, when a legitimacy-granting instrument – the famous Inherited State Seal of the First Emperor – was recovered from a well, he took it into his possession, 2 an act suggestive of his national ambitions.
