the closest aides to Dong Zhuo. Therefore, the four planned to relinquish their positions and go into hiding. However, Li Jue's chief adviser Jia Xu suggested that they should take this opportunity to launch a strike at Chang'an since the regime was unstable after the coup. The four then roused several thousand hardcore followers to attack Chang'an. Wang Yun had sent Xu Rong and Hu Zhen (former members of the Liang Province faction) to fight the Liang Province forces en route, but Xu Rong was killed in the first encounter while Hu Zhen led his troops to join the rebels, inflating the size of the rebel force. Along the way, Liang Province residents joined the rebels' course, and the expedition force burgeoned to over 100,000 when they surrounded the capital. Lü Bu attempted to break the siege, but was forced back inside the city gate despite him seriously wounding Guo Si in a duel. After eight days of sieging, Shu troops within Lü Bu's army rebelled and opened the gates for Li Jue's faction. After entering Chang'an, the rebel troops looted the city, killing more than 10,000 people in the process. While Lü Bu managed to escape, Wang Yun remained; Wang was eventually forced to surrender himself to the rebels and was killed a few days later. Controlling the emperor Li Jue's forces usurped imperial power by taking Emperor Xian hostage. The four demanded high ranks and even thought about assassinating the emperor to take the throne, but Jia Xu dissuaded them from doing so. With Li Jue as the leader of the Liang Province army, the four took the mace for the court, demoting and promoting anyone they saw fit. People who allied themselves with them, like Liu Biao, Yuan Shu and Li Ru, were all promoted by them. Li Ru also forced the emperor to appoint him as General of Chariots and Cavalry and Colonel-Director of Retainers, give him the ceremonial axe of military authority, and enfeoff him as the Marquis of Chiyang. When Li Jue's power was at its height, even Cao Cao sent emissaries to pay tribute as a token of goodwill. In April 194, a nominal vassal and local warlord, Ma Teng, requested some private provisions from the Han imperial court but was refused. He then initiated a rebellion in Mei County. An imperial emissary from Emperor Xian was sent to broker peace, but to