Wang Yun

Minister of the Interior in the cavalcade that recovers the Emperor. At the deposition banquet he defuses the Dong Zhuo-Yuan Shao standoff by ruling that so great a question cannot be settled over wine; when Bao Xin sounds him out about striking Dong Zhuo, he answers only 'let us talk it over.'

Summons the old ministers under cover of a birthday party and weeps for the dynasty - until Cao Cao laughs that weeping till dawn will not kill Dong Zhuo. He arms Cao Cao with his seven-jewelled sword and pours the oath-cup for the assassination attempt.

Wang Yun; sets the entire chained-scheme plot in motion. Weeps in his garden under the moon at the Han's coming fall, recruits the singing-girl Diao Chan, and at her offer to die for him persuades her to play Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo against each other. Promises her to Lu Bu as a wife, then to Dong Zhuo as a concubine - engineering the moment that will close in chapter 9.

Wang Yun; coordinates the killing - gives Lu Bu the imperial mandate to strike, raises 'Long live the Han!' over Dong Zhuo's body. By chapter's end the Li Jue and Guo Si counter-attack reaches the city; Wang Yun jumps from the wall to die at the emperor's feet rather than be taken.

Named from the tower: 'You have slain Wang Yun - now withdraw these soldiers.' His death is the rebels' accomplished fact as the chapter opens.

Wang Yun; named in passing in the chapter's recap of the events leading up to Dong Zhuo's death.

Wang Yun; named in passing - long dead.