Since the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, after six young or incompetent emperors such as Emperor An, Emperor Shun, Emperor Chong, Emperor Qian, Emperor Huan, and Emperor Ling, foreign relatives and eunuchs took turns to control the government, resulting in corruption in the imperial court, social chaos, economic recession, and people's lack of livelihood. People lost confidence in the Eastern Han dynasty, and finally a nationwide peasant uprising broke out, spearheading the Eastern Han Dynasty. Leading the peasant uprising were the brothers Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang.
Zhang Jiao, a native of Julu, Xingtai, Hebei, and his younger brothers Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang both believed in Taoism. In the early years of the Han Ling Emperor, the three brothers first began to preach in Hebei, where the disaster was severe, and founded the Taiping Dao by cultivating disciples and collecting disciples.
Taiping Dao, one of the early schools of mainland Taoism, took the Taiping Classic as the main classic, believed in the Yellow Emperor and Lao Tzu, put forward the ideal of "to Taiping", and was committed to building a Taiping society. In this peaceful society, there is no exploitation and oppression, no hunger, no cold, no disease, no fraud and theft, and everyone is free and happy. This is the basic doctrine and religious belief of Taiping Tao.
Zhang Jiao used the cover of treating people and widely publicized the ideas of the Taiping Classic on opposing exploitation and oppression, equality and mutual love. Zhang Jiao sent many disciples to all directions to propagate the teachings and develop the believers. At that time, foreign relatives had monopoly power, eunuchs were in charge, the world was dark, and the people were miserable, so the ideal of "to the Taiping" was deeply supported by the people, and in ten years, the number of believers reached hundreds of thousands, and the influence spread throughout the eight prefectures of Qing, Xu, You, and Ji. The composition of the congregation was complex, most of them were poor peasants, but there were also urban industrialists and merchants, and even some officials and eunuchs.
Zhang Jiao saw that his power was already large, and he was determined to overthrow the decaying Eastern Han Dynasty and establish a Peaceful society. Zhang Jiao organized the believers from all over the world and divided them into thirty-six parties, with more than 10,000 people in large squares and thousands of people in small parties, and each side was assigned a leader, ready to revolt at any time.
Zhang Jiao put forward a loud slogan of uprising, that is, "The sky is dead, the yellow sky is standing, the age is in the armor, the world is auspicious", which means that the Han Dynasty has exhausted its strength, and the Taiping Dao should be replaced to achieve peace in the world. Zhang Jiao planned an uprising on March 5, 184 AD.
Zhang Jiao also prepared a "bombshell", he ordered the leader of the great party, Ma Yuanyi, to gather tens of thousands of believers in Jingzhou and Yangzhou, get in touch with the believers in Luoyang City, and also contact the eunuchs and believers in the palace, preparing to merge inside and outside, take Luoyang in one fell swoop, and capture the palace. If this plan succeeds, the big thing will be.
Unfortunately, at this critical moment, Zhang Jiao's disciple, Tang Zhou, a native of Jinan, defected and whistleblowed. Only then did the Han Ling Emperor know that something big was going to happen, and he was horrified and immediately sent troops to arrest Ma Yuanyi and escort him to Luoyang. The Han Ling Emperor then carried out a large-scale search in Luoyang City, killing more than a thousand people. At the same time, he ordered the arrest of Zhang Jiao and others.
Seeing that the plan was leaked, Zhang Jiao hurriedly issued an urgent order to all parties day and night, demanding an immediate uprising. In February 184, the Zhang Jiao brothers took the lead in Jizhou, Zhang Jiao was called "Tiangong General", Zhang Bao was called "Digong General", and Zhang Liang was called "Rengong General". Within ten days, twenty-eight counties of the country rioted at the same time, and the rebels all wrapped their heads in yellow turbans, so it was called the Yellow Turban Uprising. The Yellow Turban soldiers were numerous, the government was difficult to resist, the prefectures and counties were lost, the officials fled, the world was shaken, and the imperial court panicked.
In the face of this sudden peasant uprising, the Han Ling Emperor, who had always been pampered and superior, panicked. At this time, the imperial court was mostly a few people who had sneaked up on horses, mediocre and incompetent people, and those virtuous ministers and good officials had long been eliminated by the two "disasters of the party". Therefore, many people advised the Han Ling Emperor that if the party members also combined with the anti-thieves, it would be a big deal, and the party ban should be lifted immediately.
When the Han Ling Emperor heard this, his heart was afraid, and he quickly issued an edict and abolished the party that had lasted for nearly twenty years. This was indeed a correct decision; the rebel army was a simple peasant, with little political acumen and political talent, and if the Party members were united with them, perhaps great things would succeed.
After the Han Ling Emperor lifted the ban on the party, the effect was immediate, and everyone recommended the elite to suppress the Yellow Turban Uprising. These party members, influenced by traditional morality and loyal to the imperial court, received their appointments and went on a crusade against the Yellow Turban Army.
Huang Fusong was the main figure in the suppression of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. He came from a family of generals, then served as the Taishou of the Northern Lands, wrote a letter requesting the lifting of the party ban, and was elected by others to be appointed as a General of Zhonglang and led his troops to suppress the Yellow Turban Army around Yingchuan. Huang Fusong had a strong military talent, and he used the method of fire attack to destroy the Yellow Turban Army in Yingchuan. Subsequently, he attacked Runan and Chen Guo, pacified the three counties, and then captured Guangzong, killing Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang. Emperor Fusong was highly known for his efforts in suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but afterwards he was dismissed from office because he offended the eunuchs.
Lu Zhi, who was of high moral character and complete in both literature and martial arts, when the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, he was working as a writer, and by recommendation, he became a zhonglang general and was responsible for pacifying the Yellow Turban Army in Jizhou. Liu Bei took a group of men and horses and defected to him. Liu Bei began his career and later founded the Shu State. Lu Zhi's army won consecutive battles and forced Zhang Jiao into the county seat of Guangzong, seeing that it was about to break the city, but offended the eunuchs who came to inspect and was dismissed from his post and imprisoned.
Cao Cao, who was implicated in the "Scourge of the Party", was also reused at this time, and was appointed as a knight lieutenant to lead his troops to suppress the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Cao Cao had courage and strategy, broke the Yellow Turban Army, beheaded tens of thousands of ranks, and was promoted to The Minister of Jinan for his merits, and later laid the foundation for the creation of the State of Wei.
Sun Jian, Zhi Yong Shuangquan, young hero. When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, he was just a small county clerk. The imperial court lifted the party ban and recruited talents, and he was recommended as a military Sima and fought against the Yellow Turban Army, repeatedly made military achievements, and later laid the foundation for the creation of the State of Wu.
Due to the relaxation of the party ban by the imperial court, many talents were recommended to be enemies of the Yellow Turban Army, such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Ding Yuan, Wang Yun, Dong Zhuo and others. The Yellow Turban Army lacked political and military talent, and after the uprising, the rebel armies in various places did not quickly assemble, but scattered to fight. They had no strategic objectives, only knew how to attack or defend the city, especially soon after the uprising, Zhang Jiao fell ill and died, and then Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang died in battle, and the dragons were leaderless, there was no unified coordination and command, so they were broken by the imperial army.
After nine months of the Yellow Turban Uprising launched by Zhang Jiao, the main force was wiped out, but the uprising did not end. After that, the remnants of the Zhangjiao rebel army continued to fight, and they scattered in many areas, with 20,000 or 30,000 people in large force and several thousand people in small forces. The imperial army was unable to wipe them all out, which caused great headaches for the Han Ling Emperor.
Four years later, after a series of preparations, the Yellow Turban Army held a second great uprising, which was equally powerful. Guo Tai raised an army at Xihe and captured Taiyuan County, Hedong County, and other places; the Runan's Yellow Turban Army rose again and attacked the city; large-scale uprisings broke out in Qingzhou, Xuzhou, and other places, occupying counties and killing officials. In the face of the revolt that had resurfaced, the Han Ling Emperor became even more panicked and nervous.
When the imperial army suppressed the first Yellow Turban Uprising, it also suffered great losses itself, and now it is going to carry out a second conquest, and it is obvious that it is insufficient. Therefore, the imperial court minister Liu Yan made a proposal to change the history of thorns to a state pastor, strengthen local real power, and allow local governments to build their own armies so that they could have the strength to suppress the Yellow Turban Army.
The Han Ling Emperor had no other choice but to adopt it. In fact, this decision is a double-edged sword, although it is conducive to the elimination of the Yellow Turban Army, but it weakens the centralization of power, makes the local government support the army and respects itself, resulting in warlord division, in fact, the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion took more than two decades before it finally failed. In the process of suppressing the Yellow Turban Army, local governments and some powerful people have built their own armies, forming a warlord division and no longer obeying the orders of the central authorities. At this time, the imperial court, controlled by eunuchs, was already extremely corrupt, without a little centripetal force and appeal, and it was only natural that all localities would not listen to it. Although the Yellow Turban Rebellion ultimately failed, it shook the Eastern Han Dynasty and made the Eastern Han regime exist in name only.
The Yellow Turban Uprising, the third nationwide peasant war in mainland history, was distinctly different from the previous two. Chen Sheng's uprising was to save his life and temporarily started; the Green Forest Chimei Uprising was to survive, first as a thief, and later formed a scale. The Yellow Turban Uprising, on the other hand, was a political event with long-term preparations, careful planning, and clear goals, and was carried out in the form of religion. Therefore, the Yellow Turban Uprising has a very important position in Chinese history.
The main reason for the failure of the Yellow Turban Uprising was that after the uprising, there was no unified command and leadership, and there was a lack of a leader with strategic vision and ability. It can be seen from this that the role of leaders is extremely important.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion was suppressed, eunuchs continued to control the imperial court and do whatever they wanted, and the Eastern Han Dynasty was even more chaotic. See New Perspective Reading (Book of the Later Han Dynasty), No. 63, where the eunuch killed another great general.