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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!
In this day and age, we tend to use the word "terrorism" a bit loosely. But Dong Zhuo was a man who knew exactly what real terrorism was, and how absolute power could get a man exactly what he wanted.
The death toll inflicted during the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941 by the Japanese Air Force numbered somewhere around 2350. The attacks of September 11, 2001 produced around 1500 confirmed victims. The removal of the Han capitol (and capital) from Luoyang to Chang'an by Dong Zhuo dwarfs those figures.
Imagine, if you will, that on September 11, 2001, George Bush, then the nation's Chief Executive, had declared that he would be moving the capitol of the country from Washington D.C to somewhere in western Pennsylvania. Imagine armed U.S. soldiers going and killing a substantial percentage of the Washington D.C. residents and seizing all their belongings. Imagine the surviving masses of D.C. residents being herded, literally at gunpoint, to walk, on foot, all the way to western Pennsylvania, where they'd be resettled forcefully. Imagine, after all the people had left D.C., that George Bush sent his top general to go burn Washington D.C. to the ground...
Sounds horrible, doesn't it? What was just described (albeit in a modern context) happened in late-Han China, and one can only imagine the fear, anger, and despair that the average joe felt when Dong Zhuo quite literally uprooted them from all they had known and forced them to march across country until they either reached their destination or dropped dead from exhaustion. (Trail of Tears....anyone?)
One can imagine, then, why Sun Jian, progenitor of the ruling house of Wu, weeps when he enters Luoyang, and sees nothing but scorched earth.
Chapter 6 sees the decay of the coalition against Dong Zhuo, which, of course, sets the stage for the age of warlords which will play so prominently in the novel from now on. Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan, Sun Jian, and Yuan Shu all leave the Coalition behind to carve out their own feudatory kingdoms, and Dong Zhuo gets away pretty much scot-free, at least for the moment. After all, he's got Lu Bu. And even the much vaunted prowess of the three brothers only seems enough to fight Lu Bu to a draw. At this point, it's becoming clear to many in the empire that main force will never oust Dong Zhuo. But perhaps where force has failed, guile might succeed... (more on that in later chapters)
This chapter also sees the introduction of another of the great feudal lords of the land, Liu Biao, the Lord of Jingzhou. Liu Biao is not a mighty warrior, like Sun Jian. Nor is he cunning, like Cao Cao. Neither is he so well loved by the common man as is Liu Bei. But Liu Biao does have some advantages. His lands are situated south of the Great River, thus affording them much protection from the not-so-naval-minded lords to the North. Also, the Jing Province at that time was very rich and fertile. Furthermore, he has very capable advisors, such as the two Kuai brothers, Liang and Yue, and these advantages will allow Liu Biao to hold his territory relatively unscathed for decades, while much of the rest of the land is plunged into internecine warfare. In fact, Liu Biao maintained his independance and remained the ruler of Jingzhou until his death somewhere near the middle of the novel. When I play the Romance of the Three Kingdoms video games, I always like to pick on Liu Biao, and conquer his lands first, if I am able, but I do have to give the devil his due: Liu Biao is quite the strong wall to topple at this point in the story...
Okay. Enough rambling. Go on and listen to Chapter 6 already!