If it weren't for the fact that it was later pushed to the Eastern Han Dynasty and detonated the entire troubled times of the Three Kingdoms, the name Dong Zhuo could have become synonymous with 'the rise of the cold door'.
Because Dong Zhuo's rise is really exciting!
Until he led the troops into Beijing, every step of Dong Zhuo's life was actually perfectly stepping on the tuyere of the times! Moreover, every time he stepped on the tuyere, Dong Zhuo dared to work hard to complete the class leap with the help of this tuyere. So in the end, Dong Zhuo was able to complete the counterattack and become the top minister.
And this story actually had to start with Dong Zhuo's father at first.
Probably during the reign of Emperor Shun of the Han Dynasty, in the area of Dengfeng in today's Henan, there was a small official named Dong Junya. Dong Junya claims to be her ancestor, the great Confucian Dong Zhongshu in the Western Han Dynasty, and he can be regarded as the queen of a famous family.
But for the identity he claims to be, everyone actually doesn't believe it very much. Because this Dong Junya's hometown is actually in Longxi. So for his self-proclaimed identity, everyone can't verify it.
But fortunately, this Dong Junya is more clever and reliable. At that time, when the big families held power, Dong Junya relied on her own efforts to become the local county lieutenant. In modern parlance, it is the director of the local county public security bureau.
But then, further up, Dong Junya can't rise.
In ancient China, officials and officials were actually two professions! Although everyone was part of the state apparatus, officials generally referred to those at the top who made plans, and officials referred to those who were responsible for carrying out the work below. And the county lieutenant basically belonged to the ceiling of the class of 'officials' at that time.
And people like Dong Junya, who have neither family background support, nor are they the kind of Confucians who read poetry and books a lot, and can move the world. Therefore, the upper limit of his efforts is still an official, and it is difficult to become a real official. After reaching the county lieutenant level, Dong Junya's career is basically over.
That is, during the period of being a county lieutenant, Dong Junya also had a bit of status in the local area, and her treatment was not bad. So after that, he began to marry and have children, and later gave birth to three sons.
Among them, the eldest died early, and the second was named 'Dong Zhongying', which was later Dong Zhuo.
It was under such a family background that Dong Zhuo gradually grew up.
When he was young, Dong Zhuo followed his father to serve in Yingchuan County. So when he was a teenager, he actually saw those Yingchuan scholars. But unfortunately, people don't want to take him to play at all!
In the eyes of those Yingchuan scholars, Dong Zhuo is just the son of a low-level official, a foreigner from the Longxi region. Some people even say that Dong Zhuo's family is not the queen of Dong Zhongshu, but the descendants of the Huns or Qiang. So in their opinion, Dong Zhuo is not at all the same as them, and they are not willing to take Dong Zhuo to play.
So, when he was young, Dong Zhuo felt the unfairness of the world for the first time.
And then, as Dong Zhuo grew up, his father also grew old, and then retired. Because the Dong family is not a native of Yingchuan, after the Dong family's father retired, Dong Zhuo's family could only return to Longxi and return to their hometown.
The living conditions in Longxi are naturally not as good as those in Yingchuan. In addition, wars often break out in the area. Some Xiqiang tribes often harass the local area and plunders the local property.
But for Dong Zhuo, after returning to Longxi, he felt more free.
The reason is very simple, because the personnel relationship here is much simpler.
On the side of Longxi, probably because of the perennial war, the folk customs are extremely strong. At the same time, the social structure here should also be simpler, and people's hearts should not be so complicated. If you are good to other people, other people will be good to you. Crucially, there is no such obvious division of social classes. When war comes, whether you are a nobleman or a commoner, you will have to face death the same.
On the contrary, in Yingchuan County before, although everyone is human, the division of social classes is extremely clear. Those gentlemen seem to be polite on the surface, but they are clearly distinguished from ordinary people, and the two sides seem to live in the same world at all.
For the young Dong Zhuo, the fierce folk customs in Longxi are more suitable for him. Therefore, in the next few years, Dong Zhuo, who returned to his hometown, began to live like a fish in water and made friends everywhere. Among Dong Zhuo's friends, there are Han and Qiang, officials and ordinary people. Moreover, because Dong Zhuo is bold and generous, with such a character, it is easy to make more friends here.
For example, once, several Qiang tribal leaders befriended by Dong Zhuo came to Dong Zhuo's house as guests. Dong Zhuo didn't have anything to eat at home at that time, so in order to entertain guests, he directly killed his family's ploughing cattle!
You must know that in the Eastern Han Dynasty, ploughing cattle was the most important production tool for a family. And after those Qiang leaders knew about this, they also felt deeply guilty, and at the same time felt Dong Zhuo's kindness to themselves. So next, after these people went back, they directly selected a large number of livestock from their tribe and gave them to Dong Zhuo.
This is the most simple emotion of the Qiang people.
You are good to me, and I will be better to you.
In this way, Dong Zhuo, who was like a fish in water in his hometown in Longxi, soon grew up as an adult. And when Dong Zhuo grew up, with the help of his family, he was able to smoothly enter the system and become a grassroots official to maintain local law and order.
And then, not long after Dong Zhuo grew up, the outlet of his era finally came.
In 159 AD, on the side of the capital, Emperor Huan of Han killed the powerful minister Liang Ji and took the imperial power himself. Next, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, who sat on the throne, also wanted to do something to solve various old diseases of the Eastern Han Dynasty. So later, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty set his sights on Xiqiang in the west.
In the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the attack of Xiqiang has always been a perennial problem that cannot be solved. Although the previous Eastern Han government had also sent troops many times to suppress the rebellion of the Qiang people. But as a result, as soon as the Eastern Han army retreated, some Qiang tribes would immediately rebel again, and then plunder the local people again.
Therefore, in order to solve these Xiqiang tribes, the Eastern Han Dynasty had to maintain a huge army every year to suppress these Xiqiang tribes. At the same time, after winning each battle, the Han Dynasty also needed to appease those Qiang tribes. And if you want to complete the appeasement, you need to spend a lot of money.
For example, the Qiang people who Dong Zhuo befriended back then were the Qiang people who were appeased by the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In the era of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, because the financial burden of the Eastern Han Dynasty was getting bigger and bigger, this huge military expenditure was gradually about to drag down the finances of the Eastern Han Dynasty. As a result, as soon as Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty took power, he appointed some generals headed by Duan Cheng to intensify the attack on Xiqiang, preparing to completely solve the Xiqiang problem.
This time, Dong Zhuo's opportunity came.
The young Dong Zhuo is not only well versed in many things on the Qiang side, but also has a high military value. According to historical records, the real Dong Zhuo in history is very superb in martial arts, and he is especially good at archery. He can ride on a horse, shoot his bow left and right, and have an extremely high level of riding and shooting!
So next, in the battle of the Eastern Han Dynasty against Qiang, Dong Zhuo soon chose to join the army. Then relying on his martial arts, he fought the battlefield and gradually became a small leader in the army. Later, during a certain attack by the Xiqiang tribe, Dong Zhuo personally led the troops to destroy the Qiang people and killed more than 1,000 people!
Relying on this credit, Dong Zhuo entered the eyes of the top for the first time. After that, under the recommendation of Duan Cheng, the main general of the Western Front, Dong Zhuo was able to go to the capital and be promoted to Yulin Lang.
From Dong Zhuo's point of view, this success is actually enough for him to be proud of. An ordinary child of a poor family, relying on his own hard work, completed the class jump, which in itself is actually a commendable story.
But from the perspective of the Eastern Han Dynasty as a whole, this is a very ironic thing.
What is Yu Lin Lang?
To put it simply, it is to show the emperor the gate.
According to the official system of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yu Linlang belonged to the emperor's attendants. And when Dong Zhuo was in the Yingchuan area, the children of the Yingchuan Shi clan who met passed the inspection system assessment when they became adults, and they started as Yulinlang.
This is undoubtedly a very ironic thing.
Your end is the beginning of others.
After going through hardships, after ascending, he became one of the 100,000 heavenly soldiers who surrounded and suppressed Sun Wukong.
These truths were true and vividly embodied in Dong Zhuo at that time.
However, Dong Zhuo's luck lies in the fact that the outlet that belongs to him will continue next.
Just after Dong Zhuo was promoted to Yulinlang, the Eastern Han border soon became urgent again. It turned out that Xianbei in the north was also on the rise at that time. After learning that the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Qiang were at war, the Xianbei side also began to command the army to go south and harass the northern border of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In order to prevent Xianbei and Xiqiang from joining forces, next, Emperor Huan of Han decisively sent Zhang Huan, one of the 'Liangzhou Sanming', to the north to sit in the town. And Dong Zhuo was also sent to the northern border and became a Sima under Zhang Huan.
But what is different from before is that after having the experience of being Yu Linlang, Dong Zhuo is equivalent to turning around the emperor, which is equivalent to a layer of gold plated in his career. So next, with the blessing of this layer of identity, Dong Zhuo can completely get rid of the fate of middle- and lower-level officers and begin to enter the ranks of high-level commanders.
And then, after arriving in the north, under the command of Zhang Huan, the Eastern Han Dynasty border army quickly blocked the attack of the Xianbei people. In this process, Dong Zhuo has also made many achievements. Especially later, when the Qiang tribe responded to Xianbei and united in rebellion, Dong Zhuo personally led troops to suppress it.
In the process of this suppression, Dong Zhuo captured tens of thousands of people, and suddenly became a famous combat hero in the country!
Objectively speaking, relying on this merit, coupled with Dong Zhuo's personal ability, Dong Zhuo can actually be promoted to a high-level military general and directly enter the sight of Emperor Han Huan.
But ironically, after the end of this war, Dong Zhuo only got some cloth as his reward. Moreover, these rewards were all distributed by Dong Zhuo later, and Dong Zhuo himself didn't keep anything at all!
As for the promotion of official positions, it is completely gone. Moreover, at that time, it was not only Dong Zhuo who was like this, but almost all the generals who fought the front line, including Dong Zhuo's top boss Zhang Huan, everyone was like this. The official position did not change at all, but he was rewarded with a small amount of money.
Isn't that weird?
The reason is actually very simple! Because Dong Zhuo's gang had no backers at the top level of the Eastern Han Dynasty! At that time, under the top level of the Eastern Han Dynasty, under the emperor, relatives, eunuchs, and scholars stood on three legs and almost divided up all power. And after reaching Dong Zhuo's position, if you want to continue to rise to the ranks, you must get the support of one of these three parties.
And if there is no one in the DPRK, let alone Dong Zhuo, even people like Zhang Huan and Duan Cheng at the level of military commanders will not be promoted!
Of course, when this war had just ended, Dong Zhuo didn't understand this truth. After all, Dong Zhuo's family situation is average, and his family didn't understand these high-level doorways before.
So in the following years, Dong Zhuo began to revolve in this class for a long time. In the following years, Dong Zhuo successively served as the Guangwu Commander of Yanmen County, the Northern Governor of Yizhou Shu County, and the Captain of Wuji in the Western Regions. Although there has been a great change in official positions, there has been no promotion.
And what's even more ridiculous is that later, because Dong Zhuo made a little other mistake when he was an official. caused Dong Zhuo to be directly pushed to the end, and the official position that he had worked hard for many years was gone in an instant!
It was from this time that Dong Zhuo began to re-examine the world. He began to rethink whether he was doing things the wrong way.
From a low-level civilian to a county lieutenant, as long as there is a relationship. From the county lieutenant to Yu Linlang, this has to go through hard work on the battlefield. And from Yu Linlang to Sima in the army, this not only requires hard work, but also needs the resume of serving by the emperor's side!
So next, what do you need to do from Sima in the army to a higher level?
After thinking about it for a long time, Dong Zhuo finally came up with an answer.
To progress at this stage, you need to stand in line!
In the environment at that time, eunuchs, relatives, and scholars had to choose one of the three! After choosing a team, they had to stand in the right line!
The big guy who follows himself will have a certain right to speak in the center next, and people are willing to pull him along! At this time, he can continue to rise!
After comprehending this truth, Dong Zhuo began to face the most important choice in his life. At this time, it was already the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, and at that time in the capital, the eunuch group was in charge of the ten permanent servants, the relatives were in charge of the Empress He's family, and the scholars were headed by the leaders of the scholars.
We don't know what kind of efforts Dong Zhuo made at that time to build relations with these forces.
We only know that in the end, among these three forces, it was the scholar clan that opened the door to Dong Zhuo. And this person who opened the door on behalf of the scholar clan was Situ Yuan Kui, the head of the Three Princes at that time!
This Yuan Kui is Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu's own uncle.
The moment he stepped into the gate of the Yuan family, Dong Zhuo finally had a relationship with the center of the empire. From then on, at the highest levels of the empire, someone could finally start speaking for him. From this moment on, Dong Zhuo once again broke his ceiling. After this, Dong Zhuo's upper limit can probably reach the level of Jiuqing, which is the same level as the old boss Zhang Huan.
And then, under the promotion of Yuan Kui, Dong Zhuo was directly promoted from the state of being dismissed from the state of being promoted to the assassin of the state, and then changed to the Taishou of Hedong County. By this time, Dong Zhuo was already a proper local real power boss.
But what no one expected was that not long after Dong Zhuo had just broken the bottleneck, another era that belonged to him appeared.
In 184 AD, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out.
After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising, as a local official with real power and experience in leading troops, Dong Zhuo soon began to lead the army and was responsible for pacifying the Yellow Turban Army in the Jizhou region. In the next war, Dong Zhuo performed particularly well. not only brushed up a sense of existence for himself, but also trained an army of his own lineage.
In this way, Dong Zhuo got the most important card in his life. This card is called Army.
The story from then on is more familiar to everyone. Relying on the suppression of the Yellow Turban Army, Dong Zhuo quickly started and had an armed force that obeyed his orders. Not long after that, Emperor Ling of Han died, and Dong Zhuo took this opportunity to successfully lead troops into Beijing. After entering Beijing, Dong Zhuo relied on his own wisdom to quickly control the emperor and grasp all the power.
This is Dong Zhuo's history of ascendancy.
If you don't look at the bad things that Dong Zhuo did later, just look at his struggle, his struggle history is actually very inspiring. In that era when the high-ranking families controlled the upward channel, Dong Zhuo's success certainly had the accidents of the times. But in this process, his personal wisdom and efforts are actually more eye-catching for future generations.
But at the same time, with the rise of Dong Zhuo, the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was already crumbling, has completely declined. Next, that magnificent era will be completely detonated in Dong Zhuo's hands.