After they overheard a conversation between He Jin and the empress dowager, the eunuch faction lured him into a trap in the imperial palace and assassinated him.

Dong Zhuo's seizure of control and the subsequent breakdown of central command that followed brought forth the beginning of massive civil wars that lasted for nearly a century, during which time the Han dynasty came to an end and the Three Kingdoms period began in its place.

He commanded the imperial armory, secured strategic forts around the capital and moved quickly to crush the uprising at Luoyang led by Ma Yuanyi (馬元義), a follower of the rebel leader, Zhang Jue.

At the urging of Yuan Shao, He Jin summoned the general Dong Zhuo (董卓)to the outskirts of Luoyang, in an attempt to force the Empress Dowager to back down.

In the ninth month of that year, He Jin entered the palace to request the Empress Dowager agree to the execution of the eunuchs.

Unbeknownst to He Jin, Zhang Rang, the leader of the eunuch faction, had planted a spy to overhear the conversation between him and the Empress Dowager.

Once they received word of what He Jin was plotting, the eunuchs lured him to the Imperial Palace under the pretense of a fake summons from the Empress Dowager.

In 190, warlords from the eastern provinces formed a coalition to oust Dong Zhuo, which kicked off a series of civil wars that were to last for nearly a century.