Yun, who had taken control of the government after Dong Zhuo's death, heard their appeal for amnesty and said, "Of all those who should be pardoned, they are the exceptions." Dong's loyalists were outraged by Wang's remarks and waged war. However, they were defeated by Lü Bu and the imperial forces. Eventually, Dong Zhuo's remnant forces managed to outwit Lü Bu by distracting him and they seized control of Chang'an. Wang Yun was killed. The power of the Eastern Han dynasty fell into the hands of Dong Zhuo's remnants after that and gradually evolved into a struggle for power, which spread throughout the nation progressively. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the author Luo Guanzhong employed artistic license rather freely as he changed some details of this campaign to better portray the main characters. For example, there is historical evidence that Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei participated in the campaign but no specific feats, yet their achievements eclipse those of Sun Jian in the novel. Luo Guanzhong also simplified some of the historical events, invented fictional battles, and changed the sequence of events. However, due to the popularity of the novel, many people hold the events detailed in the novel to be true, not knowing the true history as presented in definitive sources such as the Book of the Later Han, Records of the Three Kingdoms, or Zizhi Tongjian. This fictional account of history is also adopted by many Chinese operas and video games. Uprising against Dong Zhuo In chapter 5 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao attempted to assassinate Dong Zhuo but failed and escaped to his hometown in Chenliu. Subsequently, Cao sent secret imperial decrees, in the name of the emperor, to various regional warlords and officials, ordering them to rise up against Dong Zhuo and remove him from power. Many responded to the call and they formed the Anti-Dong Zhuo Coalition (反董卓聯合軍). The novel has a slightly different list of participants in the coalition: With eighteen warlords participating in the novel, the campaign is thus popularly known as "The eighteen warlords' campaign against Dong Zhuo" (十八路諸侯討董卓). In this campaign, Liu Bei, with his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, offered their service to Gongsun Zan, Liu's friend and former classmate. After the warlords pledged allegiance to the coalition, they insisted to have