Empress Dou Miao - Dou and Chen's Confrontation With The Eunuchs

Dou and Chen's Confrontation With The Eunuchs

After they became the leading officials, Dou and Chen did much to try to clean up government; in particular, they recalled the officials who had been victims of the first Disaster of Partisan Prohibitions and gave them authority to try to stamp out corruption, particularly by the clans of the powerful eunuchs.

The eunuchs tried to counter this by flattering Empress Dowager Dou constantly, and Empress Dowager Dou became more trusting of them as the days went by, particularly Cao Jie (曹節) and Wang Fu (王甫). Chen and Dou Wu became alarmed, and they began to set up a plan to exterminate the powerful eunuchs. In the summer of 168, they approached Empress Dowager Dou with the plan, and Empress Dowager Dou was surprised and opposed it—reasoning that an extermination plan was unfair to those who had not committed offenses. With her opposition, the plan was delayed.

In autumn of that year, the eunuchs discovered the plan and became enraged. Zhu Yu (朱瑀), the first eunuch to discover the plan, formed a conspiracy with 17 eunuchs to strike back at Chen and Dou. They quickly took Emperor Ling into custody (claiming to him—which he believed—for his own protection) and issued edicts executing the military commanders who supported Chen and Dou, and then kidnapped Empress Dowager Dou. They then sent forces to capture Chen and Dou. Chen was quickly captured and executed, while Dou publicly declared that the eunuchs were rebelling and put on a resistance. The eunuchs tricked the general Zhang Huan (張奐) into believing that Dou Wu was in fact committing treason, and Zhang defeated Dou in battle. Dou killed himself after defeat, and the Dou clan was slaughtered, except that his wife was exiled to Bijing (比景, in modern northern Vietnam). Empress Dowager Dou was put under house arrest, although maintaining her title of empress dowager.