Dong Zhuo, I believe that everyone's mind will definitely have the image of a wretched fat man with a fat brain full of fat intestines, greedy and incompetent, and by the way, I will sigh the tragic situation of a delicate mink cicada being crushed to death by a mountain of meat.
However, as a great traitor who could depose the Han Shao Emperor, control the imperial government, and carry the eighteen princes when he was alive, and even after his death, even his former subordinates Guo Xiao and Li Wei could counterattack Chang'an, holding the Son of Heaven and making the princes, would Dong Zhuo really be as unbearable as everyone remembered?
In the real historical records, Dong Zhuo is certainly not the big-bellied fat man in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", who struggles to see himself walking!
In fact, Dong Zhuo not only has his combat effectiveness bursting, but his ability to win people's hearts and command operations can be said to be very excellent.
It can be seen that Dong Zhuo stepped to the pinnacle of power, relying on his outstanding battle merits in suppressing the "Qiang and Hu Rebellion", relying on the strict management of the army and clear rewards and punishments, rather than as said in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", adding officials to the knighthood is relying on spending money to pull relationships, and dominating the dynasty is purely based on luck and the foil of opponents. But speaking of which, I really have to say that Dong Zhuo was able to reach the peak of power in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and his luck was indeed very good!
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, there were three main forces that had been engaged in power struggles in the central government, which led to the misery of the people of the world and eventually led to the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising, one was the foreign qi group controlled by the "uncle of the state" general He Jin, one was the eunuch group headed by the "Ten Constant Attendants", and the other was the Kanto Tycoon group represented by Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. The great warlords of Liangzhou and Hezhou in the northwest region, represented by Dong Zhuo, were in a marginalized position throughout the Eastern Han Dynasty, and almost never had the opportunity to participate in the struggle for central power.
However, with the "Rebellion of the Ten Constant Attendants", the foreign leader He Jin was tricked into the palace to be slaughtered, and the eunuch group was immediately slaughtered by Yuan Shao and others. The foreign qi clique and the eunuch clique, which had long controlled the government of the Eastern Han Dynasty and always suppressed the power of the gatekeepers, suddenly died together. At this time, Dong Zhuo, who led his army to Luoyang City, took advantage of the fact that the foreign relatives and eunuchs died together, and the Guandong Hao clan was still "blissfully ignorant", and directly took the "fruits of victory" into his arms...
As for the hard-working and hard-working but eventually making wedding clothes for others, the Kanto Hao clan group organized the eighteen princes and began to counterattack Dong Zhuo, which became a very logical thing!
However, the so-called Eighteen-Route Princes sounded like they had many generals and strong strength, but unlike the elites under Dong Zhuo who fought against Qiang Hu for many years, many of the troops of the Eighteen-Route Princes were newly recruited and untrained peasants, even if they had fought before, they faced the "Yellow Turban Army" with low combat effectiveness. It can be said that it is normal for any prince to be pressed and beaten when facing the "Nine Great Legions" under Dong Zhuo alone.
For example, Cao Cao, who later divided the world into three parts, was attacked by the Xuanjiao army led by Xu Rong, a general under Dong Zhuo, when he marched to Bianshui in Xingyang. After a great battle, Cao Cao's army collapsed, and Chen Liuren Weizi, who had scattered his family wealth to support Cao Cao's army, was killed in battle, and even Cao Cao himself was shot and almost killed.
On the contrary, the eighteen-way princes were busy with infighting, staying in the sour jujube empty to consume food and food. However, the army under Dong Zhuo quickly went into battle and broke through each one. First defeated Sun Jian in Liang County, beat Sun Jian almost "only spared", used his own turban as bait, fled in a hurry, and Yingchuan Taishou Li Min was miserably "cooked"; Later, he defeated Wang Kuang of Hanoi Taishou in Hayangjin, and under the front and rear attacks, Wang Kuang's command suffered heavy casualties. Coupled with the defeat of Cao Cao's troops, the "Nine Corps" under Dong Zhuo had not yet assembled to form a joint force, the Western Liang Cavalry under Guo Zhuo and the Flying Bear soldiers under Li Wei had not yet made a move, and the Union Prefecture Army under Lü Bu was also a soy sauce, and only relying on the Xuanjiao army under Xu Rong to exert a little force, the princes of the three routes had already suffered a big defeat.
And what are the eighteen-way princes busy with at this time?
In history, it was the eighteen-way princes themselves who really collapsed the alliance of the eighteen-way princes to fight Dong. Jizhou Mu Hanfu feared that Yuan Shao would endanger him, so he gradually reduced the grain delivery to the combined forces of Hanoi and Sour Jujube, helping Dong Zhuo directly force the army back. And Liu Dai, who was also the prince of the Eighteenth Road, directly took out a knife to his allies and killed Qiao Yao, the Taishou of Dongjun. At this point, the eighteen-way princes attacked Dong Zhuo and completely reduced to a farce.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the end of the Dynasty of Life Tang also began!