Emperor Ling, having not altered his wasteful and corrupt ways despite the conflict, continues to levy heavy taxes and continues to sell offices.

As a result, the agrarian and other military rebellions multiply.

In 188, under the suggestions of Liu Yan, Governor of Yi Province, Emperor Ling greatly increases the political and military power of the provincial governors and selects key officials to serve in these posts.

Cleander disposes of the current praetorian prefect, Atilius Aebutianus, early in 188, and himself takes over supreme command of the Praetorians at the new rank of a pugione ("dagger-bearer") with two praetorian prefects subordinate to him.

Wang Guo's men become worn out and abandon the siege in spring 189.

Huangfu Song, with his men rested, orders his men to give chase.

Dong Zhuo protests, citing the rule of warfare that a retreating army is not to be pursued (lest the enemy retaliate in desperation).

Huangfu dismisses the protest, saying Wang Guo's retreat is not an organized retreat but a result of losing all will to fight.

Huangfu leads his men to attack, leaving Dong Zhuo behind as a rearguard, and achieves a great victory, cutting off more than ten thousand heads.

Dong Zhuo is said to be ashamed and angry at this and bears a grudge against Huangfu from this point forward.

Wang Guo is subsequently deposed by Han Sui and Ma Teng after his defeat in Chencang, and Yan Zhong, former Prefect of Xindu, is elected to take his place as the leader of the Liang Province rebels.

However, Yan Zhong dies soon after, leaving the rebels to fight among themselves and finally splinter into three groups: Han Sui's group in Jincheng, …

…Ma Teng's group in the Wei Valley, and …

…Song Jian's group in Fuhan (in present-day Ningxia).

As power shifts from the barbarian initiators to the local Han rebels, the Qiang and the Yuezhi seem to have quietly withdrawn their support and play no further role of note in the rebellion.

The rebellion could have been suppressed at this point if not for the events of 189 in the capital, Luoyang.

Commodus, disdaining the more philosophic inclinations of his father, is extremely proud of his physical prowess.

Generally acknowledged to be extremely handsome, he orders many statues to be made showing him dressed as Hercules with a lion's hide and a club.

Thinking of himself as the reincarnation of Hercules, he frequently emulates the legendary hero's feats by appearing in the arena to fight a variety of wild animals.

Left-handed, and very proud of the fact, Commodus is, according to Cassius Dio and the writers of the Augustan History, a skilled archer, who can shoot the heads off ostriches in full gallop, and kill a panther as it attacks a victim in the arena.

Commodus also has a passion for gladiatorial combat, which he takes so far as to take to the arena himself, dressed as a gladiator.

The Romans find Commodus' naked gladiatorial combats to be scandalous and disgraceful.

It is rumored that he is actually the son, not of Marcus Aurelius, but of a gladiator whom his mother Faustina had taken as a lover at the coastal resort of Caieta.

In the arena, Commodus always wins since his opponents always submit to the emperor.

Thus, these public fights do not end in death.

Privately, it is his custom to slay his practice opponents.

For each appearance in the arena, he charges the city of Rome a million sesterces, straining the Roman economy.

Commodus raises the ire of many military officials in Rome for his Hercules persona in the arena.

Often, wounded soldiers and amputees are placed in the arena for Commodus to slay with a sword.

Commodus' eccentric behavior does not stop there.

Citizens of Rome missing their feet through accident or illness are taken to the arena, where they are tethered together for Commodus to club to death while pretending they are giants.

These acts may have contributed to his assassination.

Commodus is also known for fighting exotic animals in the arena, often to the horror of the Roman people.

According to Gibbon, Commodus once killed one hundred lions in a single day.

Later, he decapitated a running ostrich with a specially designed dart and afterwards carried the bleeding head of the dead bird and his sword over to the section where the Senators sat and gesticulated as though they were next.

On another occasion, Commodus killed three elephants on the floor of the arena by himself.

Finally, Commodus killed a giraffe, which his contemporaries consider a strange and helpless beast.

A succession issue arises as Emperor Ling grows ill in 189.

Emperor Ling has two surviving sons—Liu Bian, the son of Empress He, and Liu Xie, the son of Consort Wang.

Because Emperor Ling had, earlier in his life, frequently lost sons in childhood, he later believed that his sons needed to be raised outside the palace by foster parents.

Therefore, when Prince Bian was born, he had been entrusted to the magician Shi Zimiao and known by the circumspect title "Marquess Shi."

Later, when Prince Xie was born, he was raised personally by Emperor Ling's mother Empress Dowager Dong and known by the circumspect title "Marquess Dong."

Prince Bian was born of the empress and was older, but Emperor Ling views his behavior as being insufficiently solemn and therefore considers creating Prince Xie crown prince, but hesitates and cannot decide.

When Emperor Ling dies on May 13, a powerful eunuch that he trusts, Jian Shuo, wants to first kill Empress He's brother He Jin and then make Prince Xie emperor, and therefore sets up a trap at a meeting he is to have with He.

He discovers the plot, and peremptorily declares Prince Bian emperor (later known as the Prince of Hongnong).

Empress He becomes empress dowager, and she and her brother He Jin become the key figures at court, although a number of the eunuchs remain very powerful.

A confrontation quickly brews.

In the summer of 189, He Jin, plotting with Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, as well as a number of other young officials, plans to act against Jian.

Jian tries to persuade his fellow powerful eunuchs, including Zhao Zhong and Song Dian, to go along with his plan to arrest and kill He Jin.

However, Zhao and Song were persuaded by another eunuch, Guo Sheng—a friend of the Hes—to turn down Jian's suggestions.

He Jin then arrests Jian and executes him, taking over the forces under his control.

The Hes now have a confrontation with yet another power center.

Emperor Ling's mother, Grand Empress Dowager Dong, and her nephew Dong Chong, are displeased at the Hes' power grab, and Grand Empress Dowager Dong often argues with Empress Dowager He, once threatening to have Dong Chong decapitate He Jin.

He Jin takes preemptive action and has Empress Dowager He issue an edict exiling her mother-in-law back to her husband's fief of Hejian (in modern Baoding, Hebei), and arresting Dong Chong.

Dong Chong commits suicide, and Grand Empress Dowager Dong dies soon thereafter—with most historical accounts concluding that she died from fear, but some suggested that she committed suicide.

This event causes the Hes to be very unpopular among the people.

Yuan Shao suggests to He Jin in autumn 189 that the eunuchs be slaughtered—a proposal that Empress He immediately rejects, as the plan would require that Empress He interact with normal men on a regular basis, a requirement that she finds offensive and immodest.

Empress Dowager He's mother Lady Xian and brother He Miao also oppose the plan, reasoning that they owe much to the eunuchs.

He Jin is therefore hesitant to carry out his plan, and he and Yuan Shao hatch an alternative plan that will later prove disastrous—instructing generals outside the hospital to declare rebellions and demanding that the eunuchs be slaughtered, in order to force Empress He to do so.

One of the generals that He Jin so instructs is Dong Zhuo, at this time in command of the battle-tested forces of Liang Province (modern Gansu)—not remembering that Dong Zhuo had previous records for disobeying direct orders and undue harshness.

As Dong approaches the capital with his forces, Empress Dowager He is forced to order the powerful eunuchs to leave the palace and return to their marches. (Most of these powerful eunuchs had been created marquesses by Emperor Ling.)

However, after the eunuchs' leader, Zhang Rang, pleads with his daughter-in-law (Empress Dowager He's sister), Empress Dowager He relents and summons them back to the palace.

The eunuchs then discover that He Jin in fact plans to exterminate them, and they trick He Jin into falling into an ambush, in which he is killed.

He Jin's associates, led by Yuan Shao, then surround the palace, and the eunuchs take Empress Dowager He, the young emperor, and Prince Xie hostage, although Empress Dowager He soon escapes.

Meanwhile, Yuan Shao has the other eunuchs executed en masse, and also kills He Miao for not having cooperated with He Jin.

Two days later, the several eunuchs holding the emperor and Prince Xie hostage, knowing that they are in desperate straits, take the emperor and the prince and flee north toward the Yellow River.

With government officials Lu Zhi and Min Gong on their heels, the eunuchs, led by Zhang Rang, release the emperor and Prince Xie and commit suicide by jumping into the river.

As Min and Lu are escorting the emperor and the prince back to the capital Luoyang, they are intercepted by Dong Zhuo's forces.

As Dong comes up to meet them, the young emperor, suffering from shock, speaks incoherently and cannot answer Dong Zhuo's questions.

The younger Prince Xie, however, has no such difficulty in describing the events.

Dong becomes impressed by the younger prince, and, because he shares the same name with the late Grand Empress Dowager Dong, begins to consider deposing the emperor and replacing him with Prince Xie.

Dong quickly takes over the capital by using his forces to intimidate others.

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, now in command of the palace guards, see that they can no longer control their forces, which have been so intimidated by the stronger Liang Province forces that they are not following orders; they flee the capital.

Dong orders the young emperor deposed (and created the Prince of Hongnong), and forces Empress Dowager He to agree.

Prince Xie is declared emperor (as Emperor Xian).

The Prince of Hongnong's mother Empress Dowager He is soon poisoned to death by Dong.