At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, during the reign of the Han Ling Emperor, the government was corrupt and treacherous. Ordinary people can no longer bear to levy harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and they are hungry and cold, struggling on the death line. In 184 AD, Zhang Jiao, the founder of Taiping Road, launched a large-scale peasant uprising, also known as the "Yellow Turban Uprising".
In the face of the peasant uprising, the imperial ministers of the Eastern Han Dynasty finally felt threatened, and in order to maintain their rule, the monarchs and ministers of the Eastern Han Dynasty suspended the fierce struggle for power and interests and turned their heads to launch a fierce attack on the Golden Army. Although the morale of the Golden Army was commendable, it did not have the advantage in strength and weapons, and could not resist in front of the regular army, suffering heavy casualties.
In November 185, the last stronghold of Quyang was defeated, and the Golden Revolt entered a trough. Although the Yellow Turban Army failed, it did not fundamentally solve the difficult situation of the peasants at that time, and civil resistance movements continued to rise everywhere.
When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184, there was a young man named Chu Yan in Changshan, Hebei Province, who had been practicing martial arts since he was a child and was very brave. Seeing that the world was in chaos, he also became a bandit, and he gathered young people to become bandits and went to the mountains, where there were more than ten thousand people. After the leader of the Yellow Turban Army in Boling County revolted, he became the general of the Yellow Turban Army, and in the battle against Luotao, Zhang Niujiao was shot, and before dying, he asked his subordinates to support Chu Yan as the leader and became the boss of the Yellow Turban Army.
In order to inherit Zhang Niujiao's wishes, he changed his name to Zhang Yan, who was not only brave and good at fighting, but also very clever. Around 185 AD, seeing that the Yellow Turban Army was annihilated by officers and soldiers in the uprising, in order to preserve his strength, he took the initiative to ask the imperial court to recruit him, so he was appointed as a general of Zhonglang. Since then, he has changed from a rebel army to a regular army
Zhang Yan occupied more than ten counties such as Zhaojun, Zhongshan, and Hanoi, and had his own powerful troops. At the beginning of the Three Kingdoms, when it was still a chaotic world, he also joined the ranks of Gongsun Zhan, Lü Bu and others, and had contact with them. During the war, he sometimes quarreled with them and turned his face, sometimes reconciling enemies into friends.
We have to admire that his foresight in predicting the development of the current situation is indeed extremely accurate. Before the Yellow Turban Rebellion failed, he escaped a disaster in time to get rid of the Yellow Turban Army.
Later, Cao Cao was appointed Pastor of Jizhou, and he came to Yecheng to visit Cao Cao. Cao Cao recounted his contributions and awarded him the title of Marquis of Anguoting. Since then, the Montenegrin army is no longer an independent military force. They accepted the command of the Cao Army and officially became a formal army.
After cao cao's rise, he was keenly aware that Cao Cao would complete the great cause of unifying the Central Plains, so he led his troops to surrender to Cao Cao in 205 AD, and became a general under the command of Cao Wei. Cao Cao appointed him marquis of An Guoting to guard the city of Yecheng, and eventually died peacefully.
It is worth noting that his ending was very rare among all the leaders of the uprising in the late Han Dynasty. After his death, his sons and grandsons inherited the title, and his great-grandson served as a general in the Western Jin Dynasty. Later, he defected to Sima Lun. He was promoted in less than a year. The Eastern Han Dynasty ruled chaotically and its control over the region weakened, and the Montenegrin Army happened to take advantage of this advantage and gained a foothold in Jizhou and other places.
They are familiar with the local terrain, come and go with the wind, their whereabouts are uncertain, and the local government has no choice but to envelop them. After that, he became an important military force in Hebei. He interacted with the hero and controlled the development of the situation in Hebei. When Gongsun Zhan and Yuan Shao fought, he immediately sided with Gongsun Zhan, but was defeated by his old enemy.
When Cao Cao finally led his army into battle, he judged the situation and realized that this was his last chance, otherwise, Cao Cao would definitely launch an attack on the Black Mountain Army after pacifying Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan. At that time, it was difficult for him to resist alone, and it was bound to lead to destruction. Therefore, he took advantage of Yuan's hesitation to take the initiative to approach Cao Cao and finally got permission. His transformation from a traitor to an official of the imperial court was successful.
He was the most low-key warlord and was known for his outstanding martial arts in terms of personal martial arts. Many history books record that he was agile, quick to fight, and brave. He was a martial arts expert, clearly documented in official history. He had several military conflicts with Lü Bu, and Lü Bu attacked him for more than ten consecutive days, and finally drew and could only withdraw his troops again and again.
Conclusion: In terms of strength, the number of his "Montenegrin Army" can reach one million at its peak, and if you calculate it, it exceeds one million. In the future, after the establishment of the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu, more than 400,000 Wei troops, 1.002 million Shu Han troops, and 230,000 Wu troops, all of which were not as many as his men. He was as strong in martial arts as Lü Bu, and had more troops than Wei, Shu, and Wu combined, but his prestige was very low, and he could be regarded as the most low-key warlord in the Three Kingdoms.