The matter came to a head in 166 over a murder case. Zhang Cheng (張成), a fortuneteller in Luoyang, had foretold that a general pardon would be forthcoming, and he therefore instructed his son to commit a murder. Li Ying, one of the foremost Confucian scholars in government who was serving as the governor of the capital province, arrested the Zhangs, but at this time a general pardon was issued. Li, in anger, disregarded the pardon and executed the Zhangs anyway. However, Li did not anticipate that eunuchs friendly to Zhang would then accuse Li and the other officials of encouraging university students to criticize government and the emperor. Emperor Huan became extremely enraged, and while Chen Fan, who was then the commander of the armed forces, opposed drastic actions, Emperor Huan disregarded his opposition and went ahead and arrested Li and two ministers, Du Mi (杜密) and Chen Xiang (陳翔), as well as some 200 university students. Emperor Huan also issued an arrest order for other university students—and it was this arrest order that coined the term "the partisans." Chen Fan continued to protest, and was removed from his post.
