The ancient Yellow Turban Rebellion began in 184 AD, when the Eastern Han court was in turmoil in battles between eunuchs and foreign relatives, and the border wars were continuing, and the country's strength was weakening day by day. The drought reduced food production, but taxes did not decrease, and the people lived in hardship. Under these circumstances, the Julu people Zhang Jiao called on the people to rise up, wearing yellow turbans on their heads, shouting the slogan "The sky is dead, the yellow sky is standing, the age is in the jiazi, the world is prosperous", and launched a fierce attack on the Eastern Han court. The Yellow Turban Rebellion had a huge impact on the Eastern Han court, and although it ultimately failed, it led to the collapse of the Eastern Han court, and eventually formed a situation in which the Three Kingdoms were dominant.
So why did the mighty Yellow Turban Uprising end in failure? From my perspective, there are four main reasons:
First of all, the Yellow Turban Army faced a strong enemy. After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising, the Eastern Han court quickly took measures to mobilize large forces to suppress the rebellion. The general He Jin led the 5th battalion of Yulin to Yuting to rectify the armament and defend the Beijing Division. In addition, states and counties were ordered to prepare for battle, train soldiers, straighten out their weapons, and gather rebels. The Eastern Han court also adopted the suggestion of Haoqiang to organize soldiers and horses to fight the rebellion, and implemented a policy of amnesty for the world. Therefore, after the outbreak of the uprising, the Yellow Turban Army not only faced the huge imperial army, but also had to deal with the powerful armed forces everywhere. For example, Liu Bei organized Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others to quell the rebellion.
Secondly, plans for the uprising were leaked in advance. A month earlier, Zhang Jiao's disciple Tang Zhou betrayed and whistlebfounded, revealing the existence of Ying Ma Yuanyi in Jingshi Nei, who was sentenced to Che Split. The Eastern Han court actively purged Taiping Dao believers, connected more than 1,000 people, and also ordered Jizhou to arrest Zhang Jiao. Because the plan for the uprising was betrayed by traitors, the Yellow Turban Army had to launch a hasty uprising, and there was a lack of adequate coordination between the rebel forces in various places. In particular, the failure of the uprising in Luoyang relieved the Eastern Han court of its worries and was able to disperse and mobilize the main forces to various places to deal with the rebellion.
Third, the Yellow Turban Army lacks leaders with strategic vision. Similar to the Chen Sheng Wuguang Uprising, the Yellow Turban Army lacked a complete uprising plan, and the rebel armies in various places did not quickly assemble and cooperate, but scattered their actions, and did not even support each other. The leaders of the Yellow Turban Army lacked military command skills, and they mainly adopted tactics of holding the city or fighting with the soldiers and horses of the Eastern Han court, and lacked strategic planning.
Finally, the Eastern Han court had outstanding generals. Among the troops commanded by Emperor Ling of Han, there were outstanding military generals such as Huangfu Song, Zhu Yan, and Cao Cao. Huangfu Song successfully defeated the Yellow Turban Bocai troops using fire tactics, and Zhu Yan pacified Runan, Chen Guo, and other places, and also defeated the Yellow Turban army Bu Ji's troops at Cangting. Subsequently, Huangfu Song succeeded Lu Zhi in besieging Guangzong, and with ingenious tactics captured the city, killing Zhang Liang and dealing a heavy blow to the Yellow Turban Army. Therefore, these Eastern Han generals were obviously better than the leaders of the Yellow Turban Army in terms of command and operational command, so they were often able to win more with less, defeat the strong with weakness, and finally defeat the Yellow Turban Army.
In general, the Yellow Turban Uprising, despite its might, ultimately failed due to a powerful enemy, leaked plans in advance, leaders who lacked strategic vision, and the Eastern Han court had excellent generals.