Ten Attendants

The Ten Attendants (also known as the Ten Eunuchs) (Traditional Chinese: 十常侍, pinyin: shí chángshì) were a group of eunuchs from the Eunuch Faction of the Han Imperial Court in China. Due to their position of power and prominence in Chinese society, ambitious eunuchs had a tendency to become powerful individuals.

They arose to a place of power and corruption by misusing widowed Empresses and gaining support from Emperors for power. He Jin maneuvered, sometimes hesitantly, with Yuan Shao against the eunuch faction. The eunuchs, now without a military power base of their own, relied on the support of Empress Dowager He and He Miao. Upon the urging of Yuan Shao, He Jin summoned the frontier general Dong Zhuo to the outskirts of Luoyang, in an attempt to force the Empress Dowager to back down. Finally, in the ninth month of that year He Jin entered the palace to request the Empress Dowager to agree to the execution of the eunuchs. The conversation was overheard and relayed to Zhang Rang, the eunuch placed in charge after the death of Jian Shuo. Their most influential members were Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong who beheaded He Jin (Empress He's brother) in the palace garden after his plan was discovered. The situation soon spun out of control, as Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, followers of He Jin, both with significant control of military forces within the capital, stormed the palace and massacred any eunuch they set their eyes on. The remaining of the Ten Attendants initially took the young emperor and Prince Xie hostage, but eventually were forced to commit suicide when the enemy closed in on them.

• The ten regular attendants listed in chapter one of Romance of the Three Kingdoms:

1. Zhang Rang
2. Zhao Zhong
3. Feng Xu
4. Duan Gui
5. Cao Jie
6. Hou Lan
7. Jian Shuo
8. Cheng Kuang
9. Xia Yun
10. Guo Sheng

Modern references

In Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends there is a stage dedicated to this battle.