Preface
At the beginning of the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was stabilized by the support of powerful landlords. But as time passed, this group of powerful landlords could not restrain their greed, but became more and more rampant. They wantonly annexed land, exploited the poor people, and made it difficult for the people to make a living.
In such a harsh social environment, natural and man-made disasters have occurred, famine has spread, and lives have been devastated. People complained and rebelled. However, even with more than 300,000 mobilized, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was completely suppressed in just one year. Why is that?
Could it be that the Eastern Han Dynasty was really too strong to shake? Or was it some fatal flaw of the Yellow Turbans themselves that led to the defeat? Let's explore how this vigorous peasant uprising arose and how quickly it collapsed.
Asano 纷争、民不聊生
Since the rise of Guangwu Zhongxing, the Eastern Han Dynasty has relied on the support of powerful landlords. Not only do they have a lot of wealth and land in their hands, but they also have a strong private army. Although Emperor Guangwu tried to balance these wealthy families through marriage and other means, the effect was not ideal.
By the time of Emperor Huan, the eunuchs had already grasped the actual power, wantonly exploiting the people, making the people miserable. Against this background, one peasant uprising after another came like a spring tide. But whether it is Green Forest, Red Eyebrow, or Black Mountain, they all ended in failure.
The reason for this was simple: these peasant uprisings lacked a solid political foundation and military strength, making it difficult to compete with a powerful imperial court. In contrast, Liu Xiu was able to successfully establish the Eastern Han Dynasty because of the support of these powerful landlords. It can be seen that if these forces cannot be absorbed, it will be even more difficult to overthrow the existing regime.
But this did not mean that the people had given up on resisting. On the contrary, as social contradictions intensified, religious organizations took advantage of the opportunity to emerge and tried to organize peasant uprisings through the appeal of religion. And the most famous of them is the "Yellow Turban Uprising" initiated by Zhang Jiao.
Zhang Jiao's "Taiping Road"
Zhang Jiao was born in a humble background and is a herb Lang. But he was adept at observing the plight of the people, and skillfully used folk beliefs to create a new religion called "Taiping Dao".
The core idea of "Taiping Dao" was to oppose the injustice and oppression of the society at that time, and to call for the establishment of a "peaceful world". Zhang Jiao claimed to be a "great teacher", claiming that he could heal diseases, foresee good and evil, and have the ability to save sentient beings from suffering. These arguments quickly won the faith and support of the general public.
Zhang Jiao carefully cultivated a large number of followers and carefully planned a large-scale rebellion. After more than ten years of hibernation, he finally launched the "Yellow Turban Uprising" in Yanzhou in February 184 AD, which shocked the government and the opposition.
Unveiled and raised
At the time of the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising, fighting broke out almost simultaneously in 28 counties in seven states across the country. The local government of the Eastern Han Dynasty was caught off guard, officials fled one after another, and the Yellow Turban Army was like an unstoppable torrent, plundering everywhere. He Jin, the guard of the Beijing Division, fell into anxiety and hurriedly asked the imperial court to send additional generals to suppress it.
At this time, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, although he felt a deep crisis, he also understood that only by attracting forces from all sides could the situation be reversed. So he quickly appointed He Jin as a general to guard the Beijing Division; He also sent generals such as Huangfu Song, who was good at strategic planning, and Zhu Jun, who was brave and good at fighting, to the front lines in various places. At the same time, a number of imprisoned party members were released, hoping to use their strength.
Talent, capital, and force, the Eastern Han government can be said to be doing its best. But what is frustrating is that after the war began, the generals of the court suffered repeated defeats. Zhu Jun was defeated and retreated, Huangfu Song was besieged, and Runan Taishou was defeated, and a series of setbacks made the Eastern Han army feel very confused. In contrast, Zhang Jiao's Yellow Turban Army was unstoppable and vigorous.
The Eastern Han Dynasty assembled a counteroffensive
It's just that the Eastern Han Dynasty is not a dynasty that can be easily overthrown after all. Soon, the imperial court mobilized Cao Cao and other capable ministers to go to reinforcements. With the assistance of Cao Cao and others, Huangfu Song finally broke through the encirclement of the Yellow Turban Army in the evening, and attacked Zhu Jun and Cao Cao on three sides, breaking the enemy army and killing tens of thousands.
Just when the Yellow Turban Army was retreating, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty appointed Lu Zhi and other overseers. They fought against Zhang Jiao, Zhang Mancheng and other major generals of the Yellow Turban Army, and won victory after victory. By June, almost all of the henchmen of the Yellow Turban Army had fallen, and Zhang Jiao had died of illness.
This series of major blows completely dealt a blow to the Yellow Turban Army's will to fight. With its excellent operational command and tenacious will, the Eastern Han army finally quelled this vigorous uprising in just half a year.
The remnants of the Yellow Turban Party are resurrected
However, just when the Eastern Han army was complacent, the Yellow Turban remnants made a comeback in 188 AD. Although the scale was reduced this time, it also caused a lot of trouble to the exhausted imperial court.
In order to more effectively suppress the remnants of the Yellow Turban Army, the Eastern Han Dynasty had to take some new measures. They changed the local assassin history to the state pastor, giving greater military power to strengthen local control. Through this means, the remnants of the Yellow Turban Army were finally strangled one by one.
Reasons for failure
The Yellow Turban Rebellion, though powerful, ultimately ended in failure. So, what was it that caused this peasant uprising to collapse so quickly?
For one, the Yellow Turbans' uprising was not perfect. The guilt of the key players led to the revelation of the action plan and the early launch. If you can smash Huanglong as planned, you may be able to capture the capital in one fell swoop and change the whole situation. But in fact, this key link was not realized, giving the Eastern Han army a chance to counterattack.
Second, the Yellow Turban Army lacked a strong political alliance. The party members at that time, although they were also exploited, did not join forces with the Yellow Turbans. This not only left the Yellow Turban Army isolated, but also allowed the Eastern Han Dynasty to find these political forces to fight the peasant uprising. At the same time, although the powerful landlords faced the threat of the Yellow Turban Army, they still chose to cooperate with the imperial court by virtue of their strong economic foundation and armed forces.
Moreover, the premature fall of Zhang Jiao, the core figure of the Yellow Turban Army, severely damaged the morale and cohesion of the entire uprising. Although Zhang Jiao died after his death, Zhang Mancheng, Zhang Bao and others took over, it was difficult to surpass Zhang Jiao's influence after all.
In the end, although the Eastern Han army suffered some setbacks in the early days, under the leadership of generals such as Huangfu Song and Cao Cao, they quickly found a way to deal with it. They were good at using strategy and tactics to repeatedly strike at the weak links of the Yellow Turban Army, and finally won a decisive victory. This also proves the strong strength of the Eastern Han Dynasty army from the side.
epilogue
The failure of the Yellow Turban Rebellion undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to the Eastern Han Dynasty and its rule. But in the long run, this peasant uprising also accelerated the decline of the Eastern Han Dynasty to a certain extent.
History is often tragic, and when the contradictions of the times accumulate to a certain extent, it is difficult for any force to stop its inevitable collapse. The failure of the Yellow Turban Uprising, of course, had its own causes, but it was only a partial phenomenon.
The real problem lies in the intensification of internal contradictions throughout the Eastern Han Dynasty, as well as the limitations of the feudal system itself. In the face of such a wheel of history, people can only admire the wisdom of the sages and lament the impermanence of the world. But it is important that we learn from this experience and try to avoid a repetition of history.