"Uncle, you must not be deceived by treacherous people; we are the ones who are family..." At the final moment, Dong Huang was still struggling desperately, but from his guilty look, He Xian knew he had already won.
Enough with this 'we are the ones who are family'! Screw your damn 'loving family'!
The reason He Xian dared to advise Dong Zhuo to interrogate Dong Huang's Subordinates was that he had already recognized Dong Huang as the kind of stingy, ungrateful person who treats his underlings as mere tools and fodder, believing it's only right they should live and die for him.
Therefore, when Nameless Strongman beat all those Western Liang Qianghu cavalrymen to the ground, not one of them fought desperately to protect Dong Huang. And in his words and actions, Dong Huang treated those Qianghu Subordinates like servants to be ordered around. For such an arrogant and hollow Dong Huang to have coordinated with these Subordinates before lodging a false accusation—if he had done that, he wouldn't be Dong Huang; he'd be Zhuge Liang.
Soon, a fierce and brutal general wearing two-piece armor entered the hall carrying a bloody human head. Tossing the head casually on the ground, he reported to Dong Zhuo, "Minister of Works, these dogs wouldn't talk at first, but after I chopped off one of their heads, the rest confessed everything!"
He Xian was stunned: Holy crap, where did this gem come from? This kind of messed-up, dirty business, and you dare ask Dong Zhuo for credit?
Sure enough, Dong Zhuo at the head of the hall was nearly mad with rage. He grabbed a bronze wine vessel and hurled it at Yang Ding: "Idiot! Did you find out exactly what happened?"
Yang Ding, still shaken from narrowly avoiding having his head split open, finally remembered the matter he handled wasn't so glorious or grand. He stammered, "It was Commandant Dong who allowed his troops to loot the Generals Residence. If not for a wandering knight who intervened, Young Master He would surely have perished..."
At these words, everyone in the hall, except for the Dark-robed Scholar and Cao Cao who cast an appreciative glance at He Xian, all looked at Dong Huang with wary eyes: These Western Liang generals, though each as crude as Yang Ding, were no fools. With Dong Huang's character thus revealed, they naturally thought to keep their distance from such a two-faced schemer in the future.
And this outcome was precisely what Dong Zhuo least wanted to see. Dong Huang's actions had utterly shamed the Dong Family. In an instant, Dong Zhuo rushed down from his seat and personally kicked Dong Huang hard to the ground, drawing his sword in fury: "You traitorous son! Do you wish to place my Dong Family in a position of disloyalty and injustice? If not for the fact that my late brother only has you as his bloodline, I would gladly run you through with this sword!"
"Minister of Works, you must not!" At this moment, many of Dong Zhuo's trusted Western Liang generals all stepped forward to restrain him. After all, the boss had just said he couldn't kill Dong Huang. If they didn't come out now to give the boss a way to save face, what kind of underlings would they be?
Thus, the entire hall became lively. Seeing his underlings were sensible, Dong Zhuo naturally had to put on another show of righteous fury and disowning family. And the generals all put on expressions of utmost loyalty, desperately holding Dong Zhuo back.
Yet He Xian, the very person at the center of this, during the chaos, looked down at Dong Huang from his vantage and silently mouthed the word'shabi' (idiot) at him.
Dong Huang, of course, couldn't understand what'shabi' meant, but from He Xian's smugly pleased face, he felt intense humiliation.
In that instant, his eyes bloodshot, he actually roared in sudden fury: "Uncle! I am your own nephew! How can you treat me like this for an outsider like He Xian? Everything I did, wasn't it for our Dong Family? Yet this damned He Xian dared to beat and humiliate your nephew to this state... He is the one who deserves to die!"
"Outrageous!" Dong Zhuo was even more enraged now, delivering another fierce kick to Dong Huang's face. That kick, fueled by fury, sent Dong Huang spitting blood!
Yet, in that same moment, Dong Zhuo's crimson, beast-like gaze fixed fiercely on He Xian beside him.
He Xian, of course, understood why Dong Zhuo was like this: No matter what, Dong Huang was still his nephew, someone Dong Zhuo was inclined to side with from the bottom of his heart. And He Xian's appearance had forced him to lose face so utterly. Therefore, Dong Zhuo's venting his anger on He Xian was also within reason.
After all, Dong Zhuo was not a fair-minded, public-spirited ruler, but a willful, chaotic tyrant. Moreover, Dong Huang had clung to one point: I am from the Dong Family. You, a fallen noble like He Xian, dared to hit me? That means you show no respect for the Dong Family!
For a frontier military man like Dong Zhuo, who had always been despised by the Scholar-officials, this was practically a forbidden line. Though Dong Zhuo couldn't roar it out openly, in his heart he already hated He Xian to the point of wanting him dead!
Fortunately, the situation was now largely under He Xian's control. He dared to drive Dong Huang mad, so naturally he had a countermeasure. Facing Dong Zhuo's furious, venomous glare, He Xian immediately prostrated himself on the ground, replying in fear: "Minister of Works, this matter was something your nephew was forced to do!"
"My nephew?" Dong Zhuo at this moment was nearly laughing with rage: This dog-thing actually dares to claim he's my nephew?
"Minister of Works fulfilled my late father's wish to uphold the Han Dynasty. In my heart, I have long regarded you, Minister, as a benefactor and elder." Facing Dong Zhuo's mockery, He Xian spoke these words with utmost sincerity. Then, he put on a conflicted expression, as if forced to speak: "The reason I acted as I did was because when Commandant Dong stormed the mansion, he loudly shouted that he was acting on your orders, Minister..."
"You're talking shit!" Dong Huang yelled.
"What?" Dong Zhuo was also shocked at this moment. But reacting immediately, he stomped hard on Dong Huang's stomach and roared: "Traitorous son, traitorous son! Do you want our Dong Family to perish in Luoyang?"
After this stomp, Dong Zhuo's fury was still not spent. He then extended an iron-fan-like palm and slapped Dong Huang's face fiercely over a dozen times. Then he delivered another powerful kick to Dong Huang's ribs, sending him flying seven feet away—showing the extent of Dong Zhuo's anger.
He Xian, the culprit behind all this, hidden by his hair, curled his lips in a disdainful arc: He naturally knew why Dong Zhuo had suddenly become so uncontrollably furious.
The reason was that the troops Dong Zhuo actually controlled at present were not many; he was rather strong on the outside but brittle within.
When Dong Zhuo first entered the capital, most of his troops were stationed in Hedong Commandery, adjacent to northern Luoyang, as a retreat route, commanded by Niu Fu. He himself only brought three thousand light cavalry in a swift dash to Luoyang.
Though these three thousand troops were the fiercest in the land, the number was truly not large, especially when first entering Luoyang. Compared to the tens of thousands of troops under various factions in Luoyang, they couldn't form a strong military deterrent. Thus, Dong Zhuo employed the deception of having these three thousand troops march in and out of the city repeatedly, intimidating Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and all the generals in Luoyang into not daring to act rashly.
After initially passing this hurdle, Dong Zhuo immediately, with lightning speed, reorganized the troops of Ding Yuan, He Jin, He Miao, and the Northern and Southern Armies of the Luoyang Imperial Guard. Only then did he move against the Eight Commandants of the Western Garden, forcing some to flee and others to submit.
Thus, Dong Zhuo finally held military power.
Unfortunately, accomplishing all this took Dong Zhuo only a few short days. The side effect of this hasty, wholesale swallowing was that the forces under Dong Zhuo became a mixed bag, their morale unstable, with the potential for mutiny at any time. Coupled with the fact that he had just seized power, presided over the court, and had a thousand pressing matters to handle, his mind was far from calm, urgently needing a stable period to digest and adapt.
But thinking carefully about the forces under Dong Zhuo's command, one could see that most of the troops were intricately connected to the He family.
The personal troops of He Jin and He Miao went without saying—they originally belonged to the He family. Even if the He Jin and He Miao brothers were at odds, these troops knew of He Xian's existence.
The Southern Army of Luoyang was formerly commanded by Eunuchs, which had little to do with He Xian. But the capable soldiers of the five battalions of the Northern Army were filled by Scholar-officials, and most of those Scholar-officials favored He Jin.
Then there were the Eight Commandants of the Western Garden. Although this force was established by Emperor Ling of Han to counterbalance He Jin, unfortunately, apart from the Eunuch commander Jian Shuo, the remaining commanders, led by Yuan Shao, had long become He Jin's advisors and guests. After Jian Shuo's death, those commanders even considered themselves under He Jin's command.
Calculating this way, aside from the three thousand trusted Liang Province Soldiers, Ding Yuan's Bingzhou Troops, and the Southern Army, the rest of Dong Zhuo's forces had unbreakable ties to the He family. Moreover, these troops made up a full two-thirds of Dong Zhuo's forces!
Historically, He Xian was frightened to death by the news of Dong Zhuo entering the capital, so Dong Zhuo could effortlessly reorganize these troops. But now He Xian was still alive. As long as Dong Zhuo had any political sense, he absolutely had to give He Xian a proper arrangement to smoothly consolidate power.
One option was, of course, to quietly eliminate He Xian; the other was to keep He Xian as a figurehead under his command.
Killing He Xian would be clean and thorough, but carried many aftereffects; the slightest misstep could incite troop mutiny. The safest approach was to choose the second option: give He Xian a middling, nominal position, and everything would be resolved.
Thus, when Dong Zhuo learned that Dong Huang had actually charged into the Generals Residence shouting his name, openly trying to kill He Xian, Dong Zhuo of course wished he could beat this good-for-nothing, trouble-making nephew to death! After all, if this matter spread to the army and incited mutiny among the newly incorporated troops, it would be nothing short of a disaster for Dong Zhuo!
So, the angrier he thought about it, the more furious Dong Zhuo became. Looking at Dong Huang groaning on the ground, his anger still flared. With a dark face, he shouted: "You still dare to yell? Guards, drag him out and give him twenty strokes of the military rod!"
He Xian, of course, would not agree. He timely intervened to dissuade: "Minister of Works, you must not. This matter arose because of me. If you punish Commandant Dong, wouldn't it make things even more difficult for your nephew?"
Dong Zhuo's face darkened further, his eyes nearly bulging with rage: "Look at how reasonable and considerate of the greater good He Xian is! Dong Huang, you wretched creature, you shall not be lightly pardoned. Beat him thirty strokes!"
At this, He Xian was satisfied and closed his mouth, saying no more.