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Yang Biao, Minister of the Interior, said, “I pray you reflect. Within that city all is destruction. There is no reason to renounce the ancestral temples and abandon the imperial tombs here. I fear the people will be alarmed. It is easy to alarm them but difficult to pacify them.”

“Do you oppose the state plans?” said Dong Zhuo angrily.

Another official, Grand Commander Huang Wan, supported his colleague, “In the era of Recommencement (AD 23–25), Fan Chong of the Red Eyebrows rebels burned Changan to the ground and reduced the place to broken tiles. The inhabitants scattered all but a few. It is wrong to abandon these palaces here for a wasteland.”

Dong Zhuo replied, “The East of the Pass is full of sedition, and all the empire is in rebellion. The city of Changan is protected by the Yaohan Mountains and the Hangu Pass. Moreover, it is near Longyou, whence can be easily brought timber, stone, brick, and building materials. In a month or so palaces can be erected. So an end to your wild words!”

Yet Minister of Works Xun Shuang raised another protest against disturbing the people, but Dong Zhuo overbore him also.

“How can I stop to consider a few common people when my scheme affects the empire?” said Dong Zhuo.

That day the three objectors — Yang Biao, Huang Wan, and Xun Shuang — were removed from their offices and reduced to the rank of commoners.

As Dong Zhuo went out to get into his coach, he met two other officers who made obeisance. They were the Secretary General, Zhou Bi, and the Commander of the City Gate, Wu Qiong. Dong Zhuo stopped and asked them what they wanted.

Said Zhou Bi, “We venture to try to dissuade you from moving the capital to Changan.”

Dong Zhuo replied, “They used to say you two were supporters of Yuan Shao; now he has already turned traitor and you are of the same party.”

And without more ado he bade his guards take both outside the city and put them to death. The command to remove to the new capital immediately was issued. Speaking to Dong Zhuo, Li Ru pointed out, “We are short of money and food, and the rich people of Luoyang could be easily plundered. This is a good occasion to link them to the rebels and to confiscate their properties.” Dong Zhuo sent five thousand troops out to plunder and slay. They captured many thousand wealthy householders and, having stuck flags on their heads saying they were “Traitors and Rebels,” drove them out of the city and put them to death. Their properties were all seized.

The task of driving forth the inhabitants, some millions, was given to two of Dong Zhuo's commanders, Li Jue and Guo Si. The people were sent off in bands, each band between two parties of soldiers, who drove them forward Changan. Enormous numbers fell by the road side and died in the ditches, and the escort plundered the fugitives and defiled the women. A wail of sorrow arose to the very sky.

Dong Zhuo's final orders as he left Capital Luoyang were to burn the whole city; houses, palaces, temples, and everything was devoured by the flames. The capital became but a patch of scorched earth.

Dong Zhuo sent Lu Bu to desecrate the tombs of the emperors and their consorts for the jewels therein, and the common soldiers took the occasion to dig up the graves of officers and plunder the cemeteries of the wealthy. The spoil of the city, gold and silver, pearls and silks, and beautiful ornaments, filled many carts. With these and the persons of the Emperor and his household, Dong Zhuo moved off to the new capital in the first year of Inauguration of Tranquillity (AD 190).

Luoyang being thus abandoned, the general of Dong Zhuo at River Si Pass, Zhao Cen, evacuated that post of vantage, which Sun Jian at once occupied. Liu Bei and his brothers took Tiger Trap Pass and the confederate lords advanced.

Sun Jian hastened to the late capital which was still in flames. When he arrived, dense smoke hung all over it and spread for miles around. No living thing, not a fowl, or a dog, or a human being, remained. Sun Jian told off his soldiers to extinguish the fires and set out camping places for the confederate lords.

Cao Cao went to see Yuan Shao and said, “Dong Zhuo has gone west; we ought to follow and attack his rear without loss of time; why do you remain inactive?”

“All our colleagues are worn out, and there is nothing to be gained by attack,” said Yuan Shao.

Cao Cao said, “This moment was most propitious in the utter confusion that reigned, palaces burned, the Emperor abducted, the whole world upset, and no one knowing whither to turn. The villain will soon be ended, and a single blow could exterminate Dong Zhuo. Why not pursue?”

But all the confederate lords seemed of one mind, and that mind was to postpone action. So they did nothing.

“Those unworthy ones cannot discuss worthy thing,” cried Cao Cao.

Then, he and his six generals — Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Li Dian, and Yue Jin — and ten thousand troops started in pursuit.