In 184 AD, the absurd corruption of the Eastern Han court triggered the famous Yellow Turban Uprising. The Yellow Turban Uprising was the second large-scale peasant uprising in ancient China after the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guangzexiang, and its number and scale surpassed that of the peasant uprising at the end of qin, but the result was a tiger's tail, a hasty failure, a hasty end, leaving a sigh! Why?
First, there were many people and great prestige, but they were eliminated within 9 months
Everyone knows that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" began with the "Yellow Turban Rebellion". In the last year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, foreign relatives and eunuchs alternated rebellions, and the government was corrupt. However, the local bureaucracy annexed land and oppressed the peasants, which finally forced the three brothers of Jizhou, Zhang Jiao, Zhang Liang, and Zhang Bao, to launch the "Yellow Turban Rebellion."
Before the uprising began, Zhang Jiao had at least 200,000 main troops, because Zhang Jiao divided the believers he had cultivated for more than ten years into 36 "fangs", more than 10,000 people in large "fangs", and 6,000 or 7,000 people in small parties. In other words, there are at least 6,000 * 36 = 216,000 people, and the maximum 10,000 * 36 = 360,000 people. The rebels were in Jizhou from 184 onwards, and the momentum was huge, and people from 28 counties in seven prefectures immediately responded. Important prefectures of the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Nanyang and Yingchuan, soon fell into the hands of the Yellow Turban Army. The number of rebels continued to increase, and the Book of later Han records that after the death of the main leader of the rebel army, there were still many followers, among which only the Black Mountain Thieves led by Zhang Yan of Qingzhou were known as "millions of followers".
But its rise is fast, and its failure is fast. In February, he rose up, and in May he encountered the famous Eastern Han general Huang Fusong, who was defeated. In June, zhang Mancheng, a general of the Yellow Turban Army, was beheaded by the Eastern Han Dynasty Nanyang Taishou, and another general, Bo Cai, was defeated by Emperor Fusong and fled. In August, Zhao Hong, a general of the Yellow Turban Army, was killed and Han Zhong surrendered. In September, the leader of the rebel army, "General Tiangong", Zhang Jiao, fell ill and died. In October, Zhang Liang, another leader of the rebel army, was defeated by Emperor Fusong, and in November, Zhang Liang was killed. Zhang Liang's brother, Zhang Bao, the third leader of the rebel army, fled to Quyang in November, but was also defeated by Emperor Fusong's pursuers, and Zhang Bao was defeated and killed.
At this point, almost all the elders of the Yellow Turban Army died in the war, and the remnants were scattered in all directions, and it was difficult to form a threatening force. Carefully calculated, from February to November, in a hurry of nine months, the vigorous Yellow Turban Uprising came to an end.
(Zhang Jiao)
Second, one of the reasons for failure: you don't help me, I don't help you, go your separate ways
The development trend of the Yellow Turban Army began to be very good. The Eastern Han Court sent Lu Zhi, Huang Fusong, Zhu Jun and other famous generals to deal with the Yellow Turban Army, but the Yellow Turban Army exerted momentum. At Yingchuan, in present-day Yuzhou, Henan Province, Bocai defeated Zhu Jun and besieged Emperor Fusong; at Wancheng, in present-day Nanyang, Henan Province, Zhang Mancheng beheaded Nanyang Taishou and occupied Wancheng; at Runan, the Yellow Turban army defeated Shaoling Taishou Zhao Qian; and in Guangyang, the Yellow Turban army killed Youzhou's assassin Shi Guoxun. Elsewhere, Zhang Bao garrisoned the city of Quyang, which is today Jinzhou, Hebei, and Zhang Liang garrisoned Guangzong, northeast of present-day Xingtai, Hebei. All have their own achievements. However, whether it is the commander-level figures Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, or the general-level Zhang Mancheng and Bo Cai, they are only stationed in the city and defended, and do not use the linkage mechanism, twisting into a rope, and cooperating to resist the enemy.
The cities initially occupied by the Yellow Turban Army were not far apart, Yuzhou and Nanyang in Henan were only 200 kilometers apart; Jinzhou and Xingtai in Hebei were closer, only 150 kilometers apart; even if Henan and Hebei were separated by the Yellow River, Yuzhou to Xingtai was only about 400 kilometers away. Such distances, at the speed of horseback riding, are often reachable in a day. This shows that if the Yellow Turban Army has a spirit of cooperation, it is possible to support each other and respond to each other.
But the generals of the Yellow Turban Army did not do this. For example, Zhang Mancheng of Wancheng stayed in Wancheng for more than 3 months after occupying Wancheng, and Bocai of Yingchuan also held Yingchuan for more than 3 months, and the two sides did not jointly resist the enemy. During this period, if the two men tried to connect the two base areas into one piece, interdependent and horned each other, and then gradually spread their forces to the surrounding areas with Yingchuan and Wancheng as the core, the Yellow Turban Army might form a separatist force. And once the separatist forces were formed, the Eastern Han court had no way to break each of them.
It is a pity that many of the Many Yellow Turban rebel armies were defeated one by one under the strategy of "breaking through each one" by Emperor Fusong and others. In fact, although Huang Fusong and others had a strategy, they had fewer troops, and it was difficult to achieve great things, and if the Yellow Turban Army could form a joint force, it would not be difficult to eliminate them.
Why are they fighting each other? There are too many armies
However, it is simply said that the Yellow Turban Army failed because it was a separate battle, without a spirit of cooperation, and it was not fair. After all, this is a very simple truth, who does not know? We cannot underestimate too much the IQ of the Yellow Turban Army's leadership group. Just imagine, Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang knew how to use the Taiping Sect to mobilize and organize the peasants, and aroused at least 200,000 followers in ten years. After the pre-incident plan was leaked, the government wantonly arrested the suspects, and Zhang Jiao resolutely decided to revolt in advance, still seizing the opportunity, and his behavior could not be described as bold! It is impossible for such three shrewd brothers not to recognize the significance of joint operations.
So why, in specific wars, did the leaders of the Yellow Turban Army always fight their own battles? The main reason was that the Eastern Han Dynasty court had few soldiers and too many Yellow Turban troops. Because there were many rebel soldiers and few imperial soldiers, every battle was the advantage of the rebel army, so that the generals of the rebel army were paralyzed, thinking that there was no need for assistance, no need to assist, just do their own thing. This gave Huang Fusong and Zhu Jun, who were proficient in strategy and experienced in combat, the opportunity to win more with less.
Although the military strength of the Western Han Dynasty was often maintained at the level of 500,000, Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, implemented a disarmament plan and reduced only about 150,000 people. There is also evidence of the insufficient strength of the Eastern Han Court against the Yellow Turban Army. For example, Lu Zhi led the "Five Colonels of the Northern Army" to fight against Zhang Jiao, but the "Five Schools of the Northern Army" only had more than 3,500 people. Zhang Jiao is the main force, there should always be 100,000 people. With three thousand to one hundred thousand, who will help?
Speaking of Emperor Fusong, the army he led plus the temporary recruitment totaled only 40,000 people. But he was dealing with Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, how many people were Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao? The specifics are unclear, but the Book of the Later Han Dynasty records that Zhang Liang died "more than 30,000 dead and more than 50,000 people thrown into the river." When Zhang Bao died, "more than 100,000 people were captured and killed."
When Zhu Jun attacked Wancheng, the strength of the troops was 18,000, and the strength of the Wancheng was also around 100,000, and Zhu Jun was forced to strike hard and break through the Wancheng, so that the Yellow Turban Army lost its important stronghold.
In short, the number of troops is too large, not necessarily a good thing, it increases expenditure, increases the difficulty of management, but also brings the illusion of "many people and great strength", and finally makes the rebel leaders misjudge the situation, resulting in failure. Of course, it must be made clear that the reasons for the failure of the Yellow Turban Uprising are many, the number of people, the lack of training, and the difficulty of management are just one of them.