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. They wielded strong power at the court.

Achievements

In 189, the Ten Attendants used widowed Empresses and support from Emperors to rise to a position of power. When the Emperor Han Ling Di died, the eunuchs, without a military power base of their own, relied on the support of Empress Dowager He and He Miao. Yuan Shao sent Zhang Jin to advise He Jin, who was Empress He's brother. Zhang Jin argued that the Yellow Gates (palace guard) and Ten Attendants had usurped power and that the Empress Dowager He was corrupt and interloped with them. He urged He Jin to destroy this source of trouble. He Jin agreed and began conspiring with Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao further advised He Jin to summon the frontier general Dong Zhuo and various warlords to the capital to threaten the Empress Dowager, which he did. Sensing an impending threat to their lives, the Ten Attendants and Yellow Gates both came to apologize to He Jin for their "misdeeds."