The first recognized large-scale civilian uprising in Chinese history was the Dazexiang Uprising that took place during the Qin Dynasty. The Western Han Dynasty Qin dynasty lasted for 230 years. Wang Mang's reform led to great chaos in the world, and Liu Xiu, a descendant of the imperial family who had already declined, rose up in the chaotic world and established the Eastern Han Empire. The Eastern Han Dynasty lasted for 196 years, and due to the weakness and incompetence of the rulers, the world was divided, so there was a dispute between the three kingdoms. The source of this situation of division was the Yellow Turban Uprising.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms begins with the Yellow Turban Uprising. Below, let's take a look at Luo Guanzhong's Yellow Turban Uprising.
The giant deer has three brothers, Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang. The elder Zhang Jiao was a fallen talent, and once went into the mountains to collect medicine, he met the old immortal of Nanhua, who gave him a copy of the "Taiping Essentials", which was a book of heaven. Lao Xian warned him, "Study these three Heavenly Books well, use the knowledge of heavenly books to proclaim and save all sentient beings." Zhang Jiao studied hard day and night, and thus gained the Tao, could call the wind and rain, and called himself "Taiping Daoist".
At that time, the world was in turmoil and the people were displaced. The Taiping Daoists began to spread spell water to heal people. During this time, he pulled up his own team and established a strict organizational system. Seeing that the team has developed, the power is enough to dominate the side, and the wide angle is popular. Therefore, he shouted out the slogan of "the sky is dead, the yellow sky is standing, the age is in the armor, the world is auspicious", and officially put up the banner of opposing the imperial court and establishing a new political power.
Let's analyze the uprising:
The core leader Zhang Jiao, his identity, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" said very clearly: "not the first show talent", it can be seen that he is an unsuccessful reader. He has read books, knows a certain amount of medical science, and can help people see a doctor.
The cohesion of this uprising came from Taoism, or more precisely, the "Taiping Dao" founded by Zhang Jiao himself. The Nanhua Old Immortal whom Zhang Jiao "met" was a god in Taoism. Taking the Taiping Jing as the core doctrine, he helped people to cure their diseases while preaching and developing believers, and his power gradually grew.
In this uprising, the purpose of the rebel army is very clear, that is, to overthrow the Eastern Han Dynasty and establish a new regime. Why? Look at their slogan: "The sky is dead, the yellow sky is standing, the age is in the nails, the world is auspicious." According to the speculation of "five virtues always speak", the Han Dynasty was a fire virtue, fire gave birth to earth, and the earth was yellow. The heavens represent the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the yellow sky is the Yellow Turban Army. The believers in Zhangjiao are all tied with yellow turbans on their heads, so they are called the Yellow Turban Army. The first year of the Han Ling Emperor Zhongping, that is, 184 AD, according to the Ganzhi Chronicle, coincided with the year of Jiazi. This vintage is a very special vintage in ancient China. The beginning of the heavenly stem is A, the beginning of the earth branch is the sub, the dry branch year is 60 years as a cycle, and the koji is the first year of this cycle. Zhang Jiao chose to start an affair in Jiazi, which can be seen that it was carefully prepared.
From this, we can see that this peasant uprising was a peasant uprising launched by low-level intellectuals, cohesive in Taoism, developed over a long period of time, well-organized, and with distinct purposes.
However, this uprising, in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", was written by the author like a child's play. Why? Look at the following scenarios
Scene 1: Liu Beisan's brothers, with a team of 500 people, confront the 50,000-strong army led by Cheng Yuanzhi, the general of the Yellow Turban Army, and the result is that Zhang Feilian kills two of Cheng Yuanzhi's generals, and Cheng Yuanzhi is cut in half by Guan Yu wielding the Green Dragon Yanyue Sword. This army of 50,000 people whimpered and "turned against the enemy."
Scene 2: Lu Zhiren was framed, and the imperial court ordered the withdrawal of his military powers, so that Dong Zhuo was replaced, and sent to the Capital Division for questioning. On the way, he met Liu Bei, who said that the reason for his defeat was "because Zhang Jiao used magic and failed to win immediately."
Scene 3: Xuan De sees the banner of "General of the Earth Gong", Pegasus arrives, and Zhang Bao flees into the wilderness. Xuan De swung his bow and released an arrow, hitting his left arm.
Scene 4: The three Liu Bei brothers hunt down and kill Zhang Bao. Zhang Bao actually put on a sword and ascended to a high position. Suddenly, the wind and thunder were great, and a black gas fell from the sky, and there seemed to be infinite soldiers and horses in the black gas coming towards them. Panicked, Xuande hurriedly withdrew his troops.
Historically, the Yellow Turban Uprising was so loud that at the beginning of the uprising, the Yellow Turban Army burned down official palaces, killed officials, and plundered large households everywhere, and within a month, there were wars in seven prefectures and twenty-eight counties across the country. Everywhere they went, the situation was like a bamboo, the prefectures and counties were lost, and the officials fled, shaking Kyoto. This huge nationwide peasant uprising was like a child's play in Luo Guanzhong's pen, coming and going in a hurry. There are several main reasons for this.
First, the uprising lasted relatively short. Historically, Zhang Jiao preached for a long time and a wide area. However, from the real uprising to the suppression of the main force, there were only 9 months before and after.
Secondly, the military talent of the three Zhang Jiao brothers was not outstanding. Zhang Jiao, as the leader of the Taiping Dao and the leader of the Yellow Turban Army, was not outstanding in military ability. Although there are many people gathered, they lack strategic and tactical training, lack unified command, and often do not have an advantage when encountering well-trained officers and troops.
In the end, Zhang Jiao died too early. Zhang Jiao preached in various places for about ten years, but soon after the uprising broke out, Zhang Jiao fell ill and died. The loss of the spiritual leader of the rebel army was a great blow to the uprising. Losing the core, the rebel army fought separately and was soon suppressed by the Han army.
Although the Yellow Turban Rebellion lasted for a short time, because of its huge momentum and wide geographical impact, it fundamentally shook the foundation of the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty. After the Yellow Turban Uprising, local separatist forces quickly rose, and Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others quickly became the protagonists and appeared on the stage of history, and the Han family existed in name only.
The author of this article: Feng Xuanyi, the picture comes from the Internet