After the failure of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Zhangjiao, the Eastern Han Dynasty was not rescued from the crisis. Later, some small-scale uprisings broke out in the territory of the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Zhang Chun of Yuyang's collusion with xianbei rebellion, Changsha's thief district Xingzi general revolt, and Yizhou's Ma Xiang under the slogan of the Yellow Turban Army. However, the scale of these rebellions was small, and they were quickly suppressed by the imperial court. One rebellion that really threatened the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty was the rebellion of Xi liang.
In the first year of Zhongping, in the winter, shortly after the Eastern Han Court suppressed the Yellow Turban Rebellion in Zhangjiao. Huang Zhongyi colluded with Xianzhi Qiang to rebel from Hubei Gong Boyu, and they elected Bian Zhang and Han Sui as the leaders to support more than 100,000 zhisanfu region (present-day central Shaanxi). After the Western Liang rebellion spread to the capital, it caused a great commotion. This rebellion had a greater impact on the Eastern Han Dynasty than the Yellow Turban Rebellion, because it was a sign of the beginning of local divisions. Han Sui, one of the leaders of the rebel army, became one of the longest-standing warlords in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
The Xiliang rebellion was initiated by Qiang and Hu, and it is said that Bian Zhang and Han Sui were coerced by Qiang and Hu to participate in the rebellion. Here we would like to explain this Qiang and Hu rebellion, because this Qiang and Hu rebellion is not an accidental event.
In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, the biggest external problem of the Central Plains Dynasty was the Xiongnu. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he repeatedly used troops against the Xiongnu to eliminate the main force of the Xiongnu, and the Central Plains Dynasty basically relieved the Xiongnu of external troubles. After that, the Xiongnu internally killed each other and split into two parts, the north and south, and finally the northern Xiongnu fled west, and the southern Xiongnu submitted to the Eastern Han.
At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Southern Xiongnu were annexed. The Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu placed them in the Hetao region, and set up a Xiongnu zhonglang general in the Southern Xiongnu to administer them. Since then, the scourge of the Xiongnu has basically been solved, but a new external plague has occurred.
Judging from the records of the "Later Han Dynasty Book of Western Qiang", the rebellion of the Qiang people basically did not stop during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it can be said that the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Qiang disaster had a great relationship. Therefore, the Qiang rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was not an accidental event, and it was a common phenomenon at that time. So what is the origin of the Rebellion of the Qiang people against Huang Zhongyi from Hu?
Huang Zhongyi was a branch of the Great Moon Clan of the Western Regions and once lived in the areas of Zhangye and Jiuquan. Later, the king of the Great Moon clan was killed by the Xiongnu Shan Yu, and some of the Yue people fled into the qiang people's residence and intermarried with the Qiang people. After the Western Han General Huo Went ill and broke the Xiongnu, these Yueshi people defected to the Han Dynasty.
Some of the Yue clan people who surrendered to the Han Dynasty were incorporated into the Han Dynasty as soldiers, so the Han Dynasty called them Yi Conghu, which means hu people who were subordinate to the Han Dynasty. Although these righteous Conghu fought with the Han army, they had a closer relationship with the Qiang because they were intermarried with the Qiang.
We can understand the rebellion of the Qiang people and Huang Zhongyi from Hu, so why did they elect Han Sui and Bian Zhang as leaders? The history books record that Han Sui and Bian Zhang were coerced by Qiang Hu to participate in the rebellion, but it is obvious that there should be deep exchanges between Han Sui, Bian Zhang, and Qiang Hu. How could the two of them be elected as rebel leaders for no reason. From here, it also reflected a common phenomenon that existed in the Xiliang region at that time, that is, the secret communication between the local Haojie and Qianghu, and their alliance with each other formed a powerful political force in the local area.
It is said that Dong Zhuo traveled to the Qiang tribe when he was young, so he made many Qiang leaders. Later, these leaders also visited Dong Zhuo's house, and Dong Zhuo killed the cultivating cattle to entertain them. These chiefs were impressed by Dong Zhuo's sincerity, and they immediately sacrificed thousands of livestock to Dong Zhuo after they returned.
From Dong Zhuo's deeds, it can be seen that at that time, it should be a common phenomenon for local Haojie to make friends with Qiang people. Han Sui, Bian Zhang, and Dong Zhuo, like Dong Zhuo, were also local Haojie who befriended the Qiang people.
At the time of the rebellion of Han Sui and Bian Zhang, Dong Zhuo was already in the official residence and the state of Assassination History, and Hedong was too defensive. Dramatically, Dong Zhuo was appointed by the imperial court as Zhonglang to suppress Han Sui and Bian Zhang.
The rebel army composed of Han Sui and Bian Zhang was invincible to the Zhikou Sanfu area, and the imperial army that came to resist was repeatedly defeated, but at this critical time, a supernatural phenomenon occurred, it is said that one night a meteor shower suddenly fell, and the light emitted by the meteor illuminated the rebel battalion, and the donkeys and horses in the army screamed in fright. Han Sui and Bian Zhang discussed that this was an unlucky phenomenon, so they ordered the retreat. When the rebels withdrew, Dong Zhuo led his army to pursue and kill thousands of rebels, which was the most prominent achievement of the imperial court in this rebellion.
Infighting ensued shortly after the rebels withdrew, with Han Sui killing Bian Zhang and Beigong Boyu monopolizing the military power, and then Longxi Taishou Li Xiangru and Jiuquan Taishou Huang Yan colluded with Han Sui to join the rebels. It can be seen from this that the real planners behind this Qianghu rebellion are likely to be Haojie in these places, and Qianghu is likely to have been instigated to rebel. After that, the Hanyang people kingdom killed the Hanyang Taishou Fu Xie and raised troops to claim to be a general of the United Masses, and Han Sui and others elected the kingdom as the leader to gather the warriors and horses again in the area of Kou Luo Sanfu. However, this time, the rebel army was broken by the famous Eastern Han general Emperor Fusong, and the kingdom was immediately abolished by Han Sui and others.
The Western Liang rebels were obviously led by Local Heroes led by Han Sui and others, of which Han Sui's influence was relatively large. However, due to the unity of this rebel army formed by various small warlords, it is full of internal contradictions. This is also the main reason why this Xiliang rebel army with more than 100,000 troops and considerable combat effectiveness cannot achieve great things. After the kingdom was abolished, Han Sui and others elected the famous scholar Yan Zhong as the leader. Yan Zhong cherished his reputation and did not want to be the leader of the rebel army, and soon died of a strange illness.
After Yan Zhong's death, the Western Liang rebels disintegrated and split into a number of small warlords, among which Han Sui and Ma Teng (the father of the famous three kingdoms general Ma Chao) were stronger. Soon after the Western Liang rebellion subsided, a coup d'état took place at the imperial court. The general He Jin ordered Dong Zhuo to bring troops into the capital in order to eliminate the eunuch forces, but Dong Zhuo was killed by the eunuchs before he could reach the capital. Subsequently, He Jin's subordinate Yuan Shu and others led troops into the palace to behead the eunuchs. In this way, the foreign forces and the eunuch forces are equivalent to the end of the same.
The imperial court had no foreign relatives and eunuch power, and after Dong Zhuo entered the capital, he picked up a big bargain and monopolized the government. Dong Zhuo deposed the Young Emperor in order to establish authority and established emperor Xian of Han, which caused a crusade against the local governors of the ten towns represented by Yuan Shao. Since then, the Han Dynasty has existed in name only, and local divisions have been formally formed.
After Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, he disrupted the situation, which also gave the Western Liang rebels time to breathe. Dong Zhuo was killed by Wang Yun, Lü Bu, and others shortly after he took Emperor Xian of Han and moved the capital to Chang'an. Dong Zhuo's general Li Dai and others led an army to capture Chang'an, killing Wang Yun and driving Lü Bu away.
After Li Dai took control of the imperial government, he first began to co-opt Han Sui and Ma Teng, and in the name of the imperial court, he made Han Sui the general of Zhenxi, and Ma Teng was made the general of Zhenxi.
Li Dai, Han Sui, and Ma Teng all belonged to the Western Liang forces, and this kind of canonization actually had the color of alliance. However, later, ma teng and Li Dai fell out so much that the soldiers met each other, and Han Sui naturally joined Ma Teng's side, during which Han Sui and Ma Teng also formed brothers in order to consolidate the alliance.
However, Han Sui and Ma Teng were not Li Dai's opponents, and this attack on Chang'an not only lost more than 10,000 people, but was also almost captured alive by Li Dai. It turned out that after the defeat of Han Sui and Ma Teng's troops, Li Dai sent Han Sui's compatriot Fan Chou to lead an army to pursue. Han Sui was chased, so he simply turned around and made friends with Fan Chou.
Han Sui said to Fan Chou, "The situation in the world is fickle, you and I are fellow countrymen, and there may be opportunities to join forces in the future." As soon as Fan Chou heard han Sui's reasoning, he galloped toward Han Sui, and the two of them walked forward together and talked and laughed and talked for a long time. Fan Chou gave Han Sui a way to live, but laid a dead end for himself. Fan Chou was later jealous of Li Dai and was eventually killed by Li Dai.
After Han Sui and Ma Teng fled back to Xiliang, they quickly fell out. The two men killed each other in Liangzhou, and the two sides suffered casualties in successive years of fighting. In this melee, Ma Teng's wife was killed by Han Sui.
After Cao Cao entered the Central Plains, he began to interfere in the Western Liang region, and he sent people to persuade Ma Teng and Han Sui to submit to the imperial court. Later, Ma Teng simply handed over all the soldiers and horses to his son Ma Chao, and he took his family to Yecheng (Cao Cao's base camp) and completely submitted to the imperial court. Although Han Sui superficially submitted to Cao Cao, in his heart he still wanted to continue to divide the side.
After Cao Cao unified the Central Plains, he set his sights on the Jingzhou and Eastern Wu regions in the south. For the Western Liang separatist forces such as Han Sui, only an appeasement policy could be adopted, so the Western Liang region was still controlled by Han Sui and others.
Cao Cao was defeated at the Battle of Chibi, and cao Cao knew that unifying the south was not a one-time thing. So Cao Cao was able to free his hand to deal with Han Sui.
In the sixteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao ordered Zhong Xuan to attack Hanzhong from Chang'an and Xiahou Yuan from Hedong. This move by Cao Jun caused a commotion among the Warlords of Western Liang, because attacking Hanzhong according to the route of Cao Jun's advance would inevitably pass through the territory of the Warlords of Western Liang. The first person who could not sit still was Ma Chao, who was obviously unwilling to submit to Cao Cao compared to Ma Teng, and he was an ambitious person like Han Sui.
Ma Chao believed that Cao Jun's attack on Hanzhong was just a ploy to "fake Yu and destroy The Qi", and Cao Jun's real intention was to attack Xiliang. Although Ma Chao inherited Ma Teng's soldiers and horses, he was still inferior to Han Sui in terms of influence. Ma Chao could not compete with Cao Cao with his own strength, so he tried his best to win Han Sui over.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Zhang Jie, Ma Chao even said to Han Sui in order to win over Han Sui's rebellion: "Now I plan to abandon my father, and the general should also abandon his son, Ma Chao takes the general as the father, and the general takes Ma Chao as the son." Let's raise an army against Cao Cao. ”
The reason why Ma Chao said this was because at that time, Ma Teng and one of Han Sui's sons had become Cao Cao's hostages in Yicheng. Han Sui then recognized Ma Chao, the righteous son, and rebelled, and this time Han Sui was elected by Ma Chao and others as the leader of the rebel army. At this time, twenty-seven years had passed since Han Sui's first rebellion, and during this time the Western Liang region had remained divided.
Why Han Sui and others were able to divide Xiliang for so long had a lot to do with the combat effectiveness of the Xiliang Legion. After Han Sui rebelled, Cao Cao personally led an army to conquest. Cao Cao suffered greatly in the suppression of the rebellion, and once almost lost his life at the hands of Ma Chao. The strength of the Western Liang Army's combat effectiveness made Cao Cao fall into passivity at the beginning of the war. However, although Cao Cao was unfavorable at the beginning, he was full of confidence in counterinsurgency. This was because he saw clearly the fatal weakness of the Western Liang Army, that is, the many forces within the Western Liang Army were scattered.
Since Han Sui's army began, the infighting among the Western Liang rebels has not stopped, and the contradiction between Han Sui and Ma Teng is the most representative. Therefore, the best way to deal with the Western Liang Army is not to confront it hard but to use the strategy of slowing down the army, and the longer the war drags on, the more the contradictions within the Western Liang Army will appear.
Cao Cao, frustrated in the initial battle, adopted a strategy of holding on to the stronghold and avoiding the battle. Sure enough, not long after, Ma Chao fell out with Han Sui. Han Sui and Cao Cao were officials in the same dynasty, and the two had a friendship in the past. Cao Cao contacted Han Sui several times during his insistence on not fighting, which aroused Ma Chao's suspicions. There was a split within the Western Liang Army, and Ma Chao, Han Sui, and others could not fight. As the confrontation lengthened, the fighting spirit of the Western Liang Army was also exhausted. In the end, Han Sui and Ma Chao took the initiative to ask Cao Cao for peace, and Cao Cao saw that the Western Liang army had no fighting spirit and the time was ripe, so he ordered the army to fight and break the Western Liang army with a big blow.
After the defeat of Ma Chao and Han Sui, they were never united again, and in the following years Cao Cao broke Ma Chao and Han Sui. Ma Chao first defected to Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, and then to Liu Bei.
Han Sui continued to resist in Xiliang, and Han Sui's reputation among the Qiang people was high, after which he gathered tens of thousands of Qianghu soldiers to prepare for a comeback. 215 AD was also the year that Ma Chao surrendered to Liu Bei, and Han Sui fell ill and died. Han Sui was about seventy years old when he died, and he reigned in Xiliang for more than thirty years. After Han Sui's death, his subordinates submitted to Cao Cao, and Qianghu's rebellion was eventually quelled by Cao Cao.