In the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, there is a saying of "three generals at the end of the Han Dynasty", namely Huang Fusong, Zhu Juan, and Lu Zhi. Probably because these three people were very active in the process of quelling the "Yellow Turban Uprising". Among these three people, perhaps Huang Fusong's contribution was greater. After the "Yellow Turban Rebellion" was calmed, Emperor Fusong became famous, had a heavy army in his hands, and was persuaded by many people, and even persuaded him to establish himself as emperor, but Emperor Fusong did not listen, always kept to himself, and did not create a greater foundation in the chaotic world. Let's talk about this character.
<h1>Huang Fusong's military resume</h1>
Huang Fusong actually had no chance to perform before the "Yellow Turban Uprising", and the "Yellow Turban Uprising" was a touchstone for Huang Fusong, in fact, Huang Fusong was not worthy of the evaluation of the famous generals at the end of the Han Dynasty. In the entire large-scale "Yellow Turban Uprising", Huang Fusong's performance exceeded that of Zhu Juan and Lu Zhi. When Zhu Juan was defeated by Shuai Bocai of the Yellow Turban Canal, Emperor Fusong used fire to defeat Bocai; Lu Zhi and Dong Zhuo attacked Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang's brothers to no avail, and Emperor Fusong replaced Lu Zhi and Dong Zhuo, and fought against the Yellow Turban in Hebei, that is, the main force of the Yellow Turban Army, to defeat Guangzong and kill Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, and finally put down the "Yellow Turban Uprising".
At the same time as the "Yellow Turban Uprising", there was also a large-scale uprising in the Liangzhou area. Emperor Fusong was appointed Pastor of Jizhou after pacifying the Yellow Turban in Hebei, and in the following year, in the second year of Zhongping (i.e., 185 AD), he was ordered by the Eastern Han court to transfer the town of Chang'an to deal with the threat of bian zhang and Han Sui from the Liangzhou rebel army. Although Emperor Fusong won consecutive battles in the process of quelling the "Yellow Turban Uprising", he was once frustrated in the face of the Liangzhou rebel army, coupled with his previous disagreement with the eunuchs, and was impeached for "no success in the battle, and the cost was more", and was transferred back to the Beijing Division, and Zhang Wen replaced Emperor Fusong.
Zhang Wen faced the Liangzhou rebel army with victories and defeats, but was never able to eliminate or contain the Liangzhou rebel army, in the fourth year of Zhongping (that is, 187 AD), Liangzhou assassin Shi Geng was defeated and killed in the process of rebelling against Han Sui, Ma Teng, Wang Guo and others joined the Liangzhou rebel army and began to invade the Guanzhong region. As a result, Zhang Wen was deposed; in the fifth year of Zhongping (i.e., 188 AD), Wang Guo and others besieged Chen Cang in Guanzhong, and the Eastern Han court once again used Emperor Fusong to lead an army to rescue Chen Cang as a right general.
In this war, Huang Fusong won again. Emperor Fusong and Dong Zhuo each led 20,000 troops, and Emperor Fusong first used the tactic of fatigue to keep his troops in the area of Chen Cang, allowing the Defenders of Chen Cang to wear down the strength of the Liangzhou rebel army; the kingdom (the kingdom was worshiped by the Liangzhou rebel army as the leader) besieged Chen Cang for more than eighty days, until the sixth year of Zhongping (that is, in 189 AD) could not be conquered, and the veterans of the division could only withdraw their troops when they were tired. At this time, Emperor Fusong pursued the Liangzhou rebel army and won a victory. Although the Liangzhou rebel army withdrew from Guanzhong, the threat to Guanzhong remained, and Emperor Fusong also led the army to stay in Guanzhong until he was recruited into the dynasty by Dong Zhuo, who controlled the Eastern Han court.
<h1>Persuaded Emperor Fusong to control and even replace figures in the Eastern Han court</h1>
In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, although the Eastern Han Dynasty had not yet completely collapsed, the chaotic situation had already revealed itself. In such a situation, naturally there will be quite a lot of careerists emerging. Some careerists wanted to replace the Han Dynasty or divide the side, such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu or warlords such as Liu Yan, Song Jian, and Que Xuan; and some careerists did not have so much ambition or ability, so they chose to assist a figure to create a foundation. And to quell the "Yellow Turban Rebellion" gained great prestige; Emperor Fusong, who had a hundred elite soldiers in hand, became a very ideal object.
In the first year of Zhongping (that is, in 184 AD), after Emperor Fusong had just quelled the "Yellow Turban Rebellion", some people persuaded Emperor Fusong to replace the Eastern Han court. This figure is called Yan Zhong, and it is interesting that Yan Zhong commented on a very famous "poison warrior" Jia Xu, who once persuaded Li Dai and Guo Feng to attack Chang'an and control the Han Dynasty. In fact, Yan Zhong had already persuaded Emperor Fusong, even more explicitly, to directly persuade Emperor Fusong to counterattack Luoyang with the banner of "Qing Junfang" (eunuch group), and then ascend the throne as emperor and create a new dynasty. Of course, Emperor Fusong did not listen to Yan Zhong's persuasion, but he did not do anything to Yan Zhong.
Then in the sixth year of Zhongping, after Emperor Fusong and others repelled the kingdom. The Eastern Han court enlisted Dong Zhuo as the pastor of Hezhou and demanded that Dong Zhuo hand over 20,000 troops to Emperor Fusong. At this time, the Eastern Han court was already in danger, and Dong Zhuo's ambitions were gradually expanding, and he was unwilling to hand over military power. At this time, Emperor Fusong's subordinate Emperor Fuli persuaded Emperor Fusong to directly get rid of Dong Zhuo.
On the one hand, Emperor Fuli's motivation for persuading Emperor Fusong was that Dong Zhuo had already revealed his ambitions and resisted and disobeyed; on the other hand, it was also because of the contradiction between Emperor Fusong and Dong Zhuo. There were differences in the course of the battle against the Liangzhou rebels. Moreover, after Emperor Fusong got rid of Dong Zhuo and ate Dong Zhuo's army, he could "settle down in peace and danger." Emperor Fu li advised Emperor Fu Song to have Emperor Fu Song's interests in mind. However, Huang Fusong was still unwilling to act arbitrarily, but only impeached Dong Zhuo. The Eastern Han court only condemned Dong Zhuo, and the contradiction between Dong Zhuo and Emperor Fusong became more intense.
In the same year, Emperor Ling of Han died, and the Young Emperor Liu Jie took the throne. He Jin originally wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of the eunuch clique attached to the imperial power, but was killed by the eunuch clique. Subsequently, He Jin's henchman Yuan Shao and others launched a counterattack against the eunuch clique, which fled with the young emperor Liu Wei. Dong Zhuo had previously received orders from He Jin to lead an army to the Luoyang area to put pressure on Empress He, who was sheltering the eunuch clique, and at this time he had just intercepted the young emperor Liu Zhen and had the opportunity to "blackmail the son of heaven to order the princes". In order to assert his authority, Dong Zhuo deposed the Young Emperor Liu Wei and poisoned Empress He, making Liu Xie the new emperor.
At this time, Emperor Fusong held 30,000 elite soldiers in his hand, which made Dong Zhuo feel very jealous. Jingzhao Yin Gaixun also had 10,000 elite soldiers in his hands (expanded to deal with the Liangzhou rebel army), and was very dissatisfied with Dong Zhuo's deposing of the emperor. Gai Xun once tried to join forces with Emperor Fusong to attack Dong Zhuo, but did not get a response from Emperor Fusong; Dong Zhuo recruited Emperor Fusong to enter the dynasty, and Emperor Fusong's chief Shi Liangyan also persuaded Emperor Fusong to launch a large army against Dong Zhuo to control the Eastern Han court, but Emperor Fusong still did not listen and obediently gave up his military power to enter the Beijing Division. After Emperor Fusong entered the capital, Gai Xun was lonely and difficult to support, and also accepted Dong Zhuo's conscription.
<h1>Afterword</h1>
The situation of Emperor Fusong abandoning 30,000 elite troops to enter the DYNASTY was actually quite dangerous, first, Dong Zhuo had contradictions with Emperor Fusong; second, Emperor Fusong's prestige was too great, and it was easy to pose a threat to Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo's original plan was to kill Emperor Fusong when Emperor Fusong came, and he had even sent Emperor Fusong to prison. However, Emperor Fusong's son, Emperor Fu Jianshou, had a close relationship with Dong Zhuo and accused and pleaded with Dong Zhuo to spare Emperor Fusong. Huang Fusong also expressed a weak attitude and finally escaped a disaster.
Dong Zhuo was killed by Lü Bu, Wang Yun and Lü Bu controlled the government, with Emperor Fusong as the general on horseback; then Li Dai, Guo Feng, and others followed Jia Xu's advice to counterattack Chang'an to control the Han Dynasty, still ostensibly honoring Emperor Fusong, who died of illness under the control of Dong Zhuoyu's party, although as one of the most outstanding generals in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, he also once mastered heavy troops and had the opportunity to win greater merits in the chaotic world, but in the end he refrained from self-denial and drowned in the tide of history.
References: Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Romance of the Three Kingdoms