Three Kingdoms History: Cai Yong

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Cai Yong was born in AD 135, the father of the famous poetess Cai Wenji, and held the rank of Court Counselor in the times when the Han dynasty began to crumble and weaken from corruption. While he was a minister of the Han court he worked busily on compiling an encyclopedia of the Han dynasty with other scholars. In his illustrious career, Cai Yong was known as an able writer, court official and historian. He befriended Cao Cao, had a good reputation and was generally held in high esteem. He was very blunt however and when supernatural disasters began to plague the Han he said this was a result of the intereference in state affairs of the eunuchs and Empress, it won him the enmity of Cao Jie and his other eunuch companions, who drove him out of the palace and forced him to retire to his home. Dong Zhuo, when he acquired power from seizing the capital, promoted Cai Yong three times within a single month and was very gracious and respectful to Cai Yong. Later, when Dong Zhuo died, Cai Yong was ordered to be imprisoned and strangled to death by Wang Yun, for mourning the death of Dong Zhuo, which was being celebrated by the mutineers who staged his death and the execution of his household at the time.