The last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty were an era of great chaos in the world and the rise of the masses. Emperor Pusong is a very complex figure in this chaotic world, he can be a good general of Kuangfu Sheji, the people praise him, the soldiers fear him; he is also a butcher who kills people without blinking, and countless people die tragically under his butcher's knife. This is the image of Cao Cao, and it is also a portrayal of Emperor Fusong.
Huang Fusong was born into a family of generals, his uncle Huang Fugui was a famous general of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and his father Huangfu Jie was once the Taishou of Yanmen County, stationed on the frontier for many years. Huang Fusong showed his talents when he was young, he was both literate and martial, good at poetry and good at soldiers and horses. Later, Emperor Ling of Han enlisted Emperor Fusong as a waiter and appointed him as the Taishou of the Northern Lands.
Huang Fusong's battle for fame was his suppression of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Zhangjiao. Taiping Taoism advocated that the horn spread to the world, and after the uprising, believers everywhere rose up one after another in response to Zhang Jiao, and for a time the world was in chaos, and smoke was everywhere.
Emperor Fusong was appointed as the general of Zuo Zhonglang, and he and the right lieutenant general Zhu Juan each led a unit of 40,000 elite soldiers to suppress the Yellow Turban Army at Yingchuan. Zhu Juan was defeated by the Yellow Turban general Bo Cai, and Emperor Fusong could only lead his troops to retreat to Changshe City, only to be besieged by Bo Caibu. Due to the disparity in troops inside and outside the city, the morale of the army in the city fluctuated, and Emperor Fusong stood up to boost morale and comfort his subordinates, which stabilized the morale of the army.
At night, Emperor Fusong sent elite soldiers out of the city to set fire to the Yellow Turban Army barracks, and let the soldiers go up to the city tower to set fire to the flag and shout, beat the drum and attack. The Yellow Turban Army lacked combat experience, lost its morale in the fire, the soldiers trampled on each other, killing and wounding countless people, and Emperor Fusong led the army to kill and crush the Bocai Department. In this battle, there was also a court general who led troops to support Emperor Fusong, who was Cao Cao, who later shook the world. However, at this time, Cao Cao was still just an unknown young general in front of Emperor Pusong.
After this battle, Huang Fusong took advantage of the victory to pursue, led his army to break through the Yellow Turban Army in Runan, Chen Guo and other areas, and successfully pacified the land of the three counties. Soon after, Lu Zhi was framed by eunuchs and forced to return to Beijing, and his successor Dong Zhuo was defeated by the Yellow Turban Army, and Emperor Fusongcheng became the only pillar of officers and soldiers. At this critical moment, Emperor Fusong took on a heavy responsibility, led his subordinates, and took advantage of zhang jiao's illness and death to attack the Yellow Turban Army and finally put an end to the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
In the process of pacifying the Yellow Turban Army, Huang Fusong never accepted prisoners, and for the Yellow Turban Army prisoners, Huang Fusong's attitude was to kill them all. Emperor Fusong ordered the slaughter of more than 200,000 Yellow Turban troops, and when attacking Quyang, Emperor Fusong slaughtered more than 100,000 Yellow Turban troops at once, and the decapitated heads were built into "Jingguan". Objectively speaking, there were many desperate victims and hungry people in the Yellow Turban Army, who participated in the uprising but could not survive, and Huang Fusong ordered all the massacres to be extremely cruel.
However, he was very sympathetic to the people Huang Fusong. After quelling the Yellow Turban Rebellion and taking over the Jizhou Pastor, Emperor Fusong requested the emperor to exempt the people of Jizhou from taxes for one year, so as to help the disaster victims, collect the displaced people, and resume production. The people were very grateful to Emperor Fusong, so they sang a song praising Emperor Fusong, saying: "The world is in chaos and the city is a ruin, the mother does not protect her son, the wife loses her husband, and the emperor is restored to live in peace." (Book of the Later Han Dynasty)
After quelling the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Emperor Fusong led troops to quell the rebellion launched by the Warlord Kingdom of Liangzhou and killed more than 10,000 people. In this battle, Dong Zhuo once again achieved no merit, and could only follow Emperor Fusong to pick up leaks. Dong Zhuo was therefore very jealous of Emperor Fusong.
In fact, Emperor Fusong had several opportunities to kill Dong Zhuo. In the sixth year of Zhongping (189), Emperor Ling appointed Dong Zhuo as the pastor of The Prefecture and asked him to hand over the army to Emperor Pusong, but Dong Zhuo did not obey. Emperor Fusong's nephew said that Dong Zhuo had the intention of rebellion and requested that Dong Zhuo be killed, but Emperor Fusong did not listen and lost the opportunity to kill Dong Zhuo.
After Dong Zhuo ascended to the throne, Emperor Fusong garrisoned Fufeng County, and Gai Xun plotted with Emperor Fusong to rebel against Dong Zhuo, and Dong Zhuo heard the wind and summoned Emperor Fusong to Beijing. Everyone knew that this was the Hongmen Feast, and everyone advised Emperor Fusong to raise an army to cut down Dong now, but Emperor Fusong again refused and was summoned to Beijing. As soon as Huang Fusong entered Beijing, he was arrested and imprisoned. However, this time it was Dong Zhuo's turn to raise tigers, and he had a friendship with Emperor Fusong's son, so he released Emperor Fusong. In order to win over Emperor Fusong, Dong Zhuo also appointed Emperor Fusong as The Imperial Historian.
Dong Zhuo once interviewed Huang Fusong, and there are many versions of this conversation. The Later Han Shu Huangfu Song Biography records that Dong Zhuo asked Huang Fu Song after he became a hero: "Can you serve wei?" "Emperor Fusong replied, 'An Zhi Ming Gong and even so?' Dong Zhuo smiled and said, "Honghu has inherent long-term ambitions, but Yan Que doesn't know his ears." Emperor Fusong replied, "In the past, he and Ming Gong were honghu, but Ming Gong has become a phoenix ear today." ”
However, the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Dong Zhuo records that when Dong Zhuo asked Emperor Fusong if he was afraid, Emperor Fusong righteously replied sternly: "Ming Gong assisted the imperial court with virtue, and Daqing Fangzhi, why be afraid?" If the punishment of adultery is successful, will the whole world be feared, will it be alone? ”
Apparently, the image of Emperor Pusong in the latter record is even taller. However, I personally believe that the former record is more realistic and reasonable. In fact, Emperor Fusong was never a loyal subject in the traditional sense, he was not a Zhuge Liang-like figure, otherwise he would not have killed more than 200,000 Yellow Turban Army prisoners. Later, Dong Zhuo was killed, and Emperor Fusong immediately exterminated Dong Zhuo's entire clan, and Dong Zhuo's old mother interceded with Emperor Fusong, who did not say a word. From here, we can also see the cruelty and fierceness of Emperor Pusong, and such a tyrant will not be bored in front of Dong Zhuo.
Of course, even if he had once curryed favor with Dong Zhuo, Huang Fusong was still a hero, at least he could be called a tyrant. In the era when Emperor Fusong was fighting, both Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao had to stand aside. Huang Fusong and Lu Zhi were called the last good generals of the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was worthy of the name.
Unfortunately, not long after Dong Zhuo's death, Huang Fusong immediately fell seriously ill and died soon after. If Emperor Fusong does not die, then among the heroes who stirred up the world at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there should be one more Emperor Fusong.
Resources:
Book of the Later Han Dynasty
Romance of the Three Kingdoms