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In the spring of 170 AD, a grand triumphal ceremony was being held in Luoyang. At the front of the line was the Qiang general Duan Xi, riding a captured sweat-and-blood BMW. Beside him were the generals who could be called the right and left arm, and the Qiang people hated Tian Yan and Xia Yu, who were always helpless. Behind him were various armed forces loyal to the Han Empire, including the Liangzhou Army, a large number of prisoners who had been pardoned two years ago, the armed forces of the Han chinese in Sanfu and other places, and a large number of Qiang mercenaries led by Huang Zhongyi. At the end of the procession were more than 10,000 Qiang prisoners of war captured in the battle, as well as a large number of excellent warhorses from the western region.
Eastern Han Liangzhou Thorn History Department. Source/ Tan Qijun's Historical Atlas of China
The great victory of General Duan Xi over the Qiang people meant that the Qiang rebellion that had plagued the Han Empire for more than a hundred years was temporarily resolved cleanly and neatly, and also allowed liu Zhi, who had just died, to receive a beautiful title: Emperor Huan.
Emperor Huan of Han and Emperor Ling of Han also entered the center as collateral sects, and in the mouths of traditional scholars, they were models of "pro-villains and distant sages", but they were far from the actual governance achievements. A huge difference can also be seen from the nickname: "The soil is served far away from the Huan, the Kejing people are known as the Huan, and the land is also known as the state." The scholar class has always been very resentful of Emperor Huan of Han's appointment of eunuchs and eunuchs, and with the spread of Zhuge Liang's "not sighing and hating Huan and Lingye", Emperor Huan of Han has completely become famous in history. However, from the title of the main political achievement, the scholars and doctors who held the right to speak at that time were still very disciplined in their deliberations.
Emperor Huan of Han. Source/Stills from the TV series Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Because of this victory, the general Duan Xi was given the title of Marquis of Xinfeng County, and was soon promoted to The Rank of Jinwu and Yin of Henan, and eventually he became a lieutenant of one of the three dukes twice. However, the soldiers who participated in this grand triumphal style would not have thought that just over a decade later, when Dong Zhuo and Sun Jian were still just ordinary high-ranking generals, and the future superstars such as Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were still only middle-level officers under the command of He Jin, these Liangzhou soldiers would fight each other on a new stage. It was these wars that would accomplish what the rebellious Qiang could not achieve, and completely break the weak balance of the Han Empire in Kansai. They were superior in military ability, but Emperor Fusong and others, who believed in loyalty to the empire and maintained the old order, were eventually replaced by the more radical Dong Zhuo in the game within the Liangzhou Army, and gradually deviated from the original political order with the entire empire.
Liangzhou Sanming
The conflict between the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Qiang tribes on the northwestern border lasted for more than a hundred years, and almost accompanied the dynasty for most of its existence. On the one hand, this conflict was due to the migration of the Qiang people and the Han people who were reclaimed in the Hexi Corridor, Longxi and other places; on the other hand, many Han Dynasty officials sent to these places did their best to squeeze both the Qiang and Han immigrants, which further intensified the contradictions between the parties. By the middle and late Han Dynasty, this conflict had evolved into a large-scale war. In the later period of the reign of Emperor Huan of Han, "Liangzhou Sanming" appeared on the stage of the Han and Qiang Wars. Thanks to their enwei and shi efforts, the large-scale rebellion of the Qiang people finally came to an end.
Traditional history books often refer to the three generals Zhang Zhang, Huang Fugui, and Duan Xi as "Liangzhou Sanming", because there is a "Ming" character in the table of all three. But their policies towards the Qiang people were completely different. Zhang Yi and Emperor Fu were in charge of the situation, and after recruiting the Qiang people, they dispersed their tribes among the Han people, forcing them to adapt to agricultural life and assimilating them. Duan Xi was a believer in the doctrine of "unconditional surrender", advocating that the Qiang people who surrendered should unconditionally obey the Han government's resettlement, and if they did not obey, they would be completely suppressed.
Emperor Fusong. Source/STILLS from the new "Three Kingdoms" TV series
Zhang Yi and Huang Fugui had very different opinions, and they attacked each other for many years in the song of Luoyang, so that the relationship between the two sides was very tense. Duan Xi even considered retaliating against Zhang For a time after gaining power, but only gave up after the latter wrote a letter begging for forgiveness. The traditional historical view represented by Sima Guang basically inherits Zhang Wan's set of theories, believing that "the emperor cannot do anything, although the people of Huaxia will also rise up and become cowards, they can also do their duty to curse!" However, Duan Jiming is a general, although Kejie has meritorious service, the gentleman does not cooperate with it." Because Duan Xi had a good relationship with Wang Fu and others among the Ten Constant Attendants, the literati of later generations inevitably smeared him in various ways, so he gradually became an image in the history books who was extremely murderous for the sake of battle achievements.
Fan Ye of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, because of the ravages of foreign races in North China, supported Duan Xi and opposed Zhang Yi, commenting in his Book of Later Han that "although Qiang suffers from external diseases, it is a deep internal disease, and if it is attacked without removing the roots, it is to nourish the disease and the heart." And praised Duan Xi's wisdom, and because of this, Duan Xi's image in the Book of Later Han is quite good.
Duan Xi was quite proficient in finance, and before military operations, he could make a clear plan for the total time and budget of the war, and only used about 80% of the budget to complete the operation, which showed that he was a quite rational figure. Among his troops were elite foreign mercenaries loyal to the Han Empire, including a large number of Qiang, "Huangzhong Yicong". These foreign mercenaries were quite powerful in battle, and if he was really a genocide, how could he possibly make a large proportion of the Qiang people inside swear allegiance to the death? Considering that after he last defeated the Eastern Qiang and killed 19,000 people, he still captured more than 10,000 prisoners of war in Luoyang to offer prisoners, and Duan Xi and the enemy were basically able to survive as long as they were willing to surrender in time. So, what are the main differences in policies between Duan Xi and Zhang Wan and Huang Fugui?
Judging from the actual operation and effect, the Qiang people who surrendered to Zhang Yi and Huang Fugui were placed in large or small tribes as a whole. Under such circumstances, if the nearby Han garrison is strong enough, or if the Han Empire has given enough financial support to the Qiang, these Qiang tribes can indeed be gradually digested, but the cost is relatively high. Unfortunately, the finances of the Han Huan Emperor were always on the verge of crisis, inflation was serious, and the Han Huan Emperor even sold his official positions in order to make up for the financial deficit.
Zhang Yi. Source/Network
Therefore, which way to deal with the Qiang people's problem is more appropriate, in practice, it depends more on the finances of the Han Empire, rather than the civilian courtiers shouting some slogans. Although the Qiang policy of Zhang Yi and Emperor Fugui was more politically correct and required less blood, its cost was unaffordable to the han empire's finances at that time. In fact, Zhang Yi and Huang Fugui almost all the major tribes of Eastern Qiang were brought down, but in the end they almost all rebelled again, and the Qiang people proved the infeasability of The policy of Zhang Yi and Emperor Fugui with their own actions.
Duan Xi's policy was closer to demanding that the Qiang people accept the annexation after unconditional surrender. Within the framework of Duan Xi's policy toward the Qiang, the Qiang either surrendered and accepted the rule of the Han Empire as Qi people, or were killed or captured and enslaved during the confrontation. Of course, this policy is too rough, but this is the most direct and effective strategy in the case of financial difficulties in the Han Empire. Duan Xi promised Emperor Huan of Han in early 168 that in three years, including two winters, he would consume 5.4 billion yuan and give him 10,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry to completely pacify the Eastern Qiang and end the Qiang rebellion. Although Emperor Huan of Han supported Duan Xi's plan, he was unable to give him a sufficient army. However, Duan Xi completed this plan the following year, and expanded his army to 50,000, and by the spring of the third year he was able to take prisoners in a large-scale triumph in Luoyang. Financially, due to the seizure of 427,000 head of materials, including the Qiang people's livestock, Duan Xi actually consumed only 4.4 billion yuan, and saved 1 billion yuan for Emperor Huan of Han.
Schematic map of the location of Liangzhou and Guanzhong. Source/ Tan Qijun's Historical Atlas of China
It is difficult to simply comment on which of Liangzhou Sanming's policies was better, but in the actual operation at that time, Duan Xi's policy of demanding unconditional surrender and acceptance of the Qiang people was mainly suppressed, and the implementation of the policy was indeed the best. After a few years of war, almost all the Qiang people who rebelled against the Han Empire died or fell, and the Qiang problem that had plagued the Han Empire for hundreds of years was temporarily completely calmed down. After Duan Xi pacified the Qiang people, the Qiang people no longer existed as a force as a whole. Although in the near future, the entire western region will be again at war, but the Qiang people can only rely on Han warlords such as Han Sui and Ma Teng.
Therefore, Duan Xi was also promoted to Luoyang by virtue of his military achievements.
The plight of liangzhou military leaders
The Attitude of the Eastern Han Dynasty towards Liangzhou has always been very indifferent. As early as the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the court had plans to abandon Liangzhou. By the time of Emperor Han'an, with the deterioration of the Qiang war situation, this argument was even more rampant.
In the final analysis, the Eastern Han dynasty established with the support of the Kwantung Haoqiangshi class did not have much interest in the affairs of Kansai, let alone In Liangzhou in the west. In their view, it was enough to hold Chang'an and its surrounding Sanfu areas in the west, and it was really an unprofitable loss-making business to run Liangzhou, which had been destroyed by famine and war. Of course, this argument cannot become the mainstream, because once Liangzhou falls to the Qiang people, and the local strong and powerful people merge with the Qiang people, the Sanfu region and even the whole of Guanzhong will become a new front.
Emperor Han. Source/Screenshot of the TV series Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Since it was impossible to abandon Liangzhou, the policy of the Eastern Han Dynasty instead began to arm the natives of Liangzhou and use them against the Qiang. Taking Duan Xi's last dispatch to pacify the Eastern Qiang as an example, although the central government gave him billions of dollars, it only gave him a few thousand people, and the other more than 10,000 people were local soldiers and prisoners stationed in Liangzhou, including the elite "Huangzhong Yicong" and also composed of mercenaries of all ethnic groups, including the Qiang. When he was triumphant, the so-called "Qin Hubu rode more than 50,000 horses", most of them were Local Han people in Liangzhou and Qiang people loyal to the Han Empire. It can be said that this is quite similar to the "Liao people guarding the Liao land" in the late Ming Dynasty, and perhaps the civilian officials at the end of the Ming Dynasty were really inspired by this matter. The performance of this mixed Han and Qiang army was much stronger than that of the Liaodong soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty who could only barely resist in front of the Qing army: under the leadership of Duan Xi, they cleanly eliminated all the rebel Qiang.
From another point of view, this elite mixed army of Han People supplemented by the Main Qiang people, the combat effectiveness is far above the previous rebels, once they turn into enemies of the Han, it can be said that it is more dangerous than the rebellion of the Qiang tribes. In fact, maintaining the allegiance of a strong frontier army to the central government has always been a huge problem. In theory, of course, this is not difficult: to provide good promotion channels and superior treatment, so that the social status and wealth of these elite soldiers are at least matched by their combat effectiveness. If the combat effectiveness of a border army is strong enough, but the central government explicitly despises them and is unwilling to give them corresponding treatment in terms of social status and wealth, it will often become a source of social chaos. The most typical is the Great Rebellion of the Six Towns of Northern Wei or the Deng Lai Rebellion of the Dongjiang Army at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
The Deng Lai Rebellion in the film and television drama. Source/Network
Therefore, similar to the problem of the rebellious Qiang tribes, the treatment of elite border troops is essentially a financial problem. Emperor Fugui and Zhang Yi basically retreated to the second line after the end of the Qiang War, and the new generation of generals Emperor Fusong and Dong Zhuo were still only middle-level generals at this time, and they would gradually rise after the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Duan Xi entered the Luoyang Court as a triumphant man, and brought Tian Yan, Xia Yu and other close generals into the capital. Although he had a smooth journey on his career, Duan Xi, who was the official to the lieutenant, soon found that the Eryu I in Luoyang City was more than the previous one who had hunted down and killed the Qiang people outside sai, and it was simply heaven and hell.
During the Western Han Dynasty, especially when Emperor Wu opened up the northwest, the border warriors had sufficient room for growth, and it was easy to worship the generals and even transform into high-level civilian officials by virtue of military merit. By the time of the Eastern Han Empire, with the prevalence of the inspection system, the selection power of the bureaucracy gradually began to be controlled and even monopolized by the Kwantung Hao clans with more obvious economic and cultural advantages. The Hao clan in the Kanto region were able to provide better economic education for their children, and Liangzhou was economically and culturally devastated in the midst of war.
According to the statistics in the professional scholar Xing Yitian's "Background of the Identity of Filial Piety in the Eastern Han Dynasty", among the 265 Eastern Han Filial Pieties who can confirm their place of origin, there are only two Liangzhou people. Most of the filial pieties were from the large counties of Nanyang, Yingchuan, Runan, and Hongnong in the Kanto region, and they strengthened their ties through in-laws and nepotism, protégés and former officials, forming a huge and complex network of contacts. This network of relationships among the Kanto clans gave them an overwhelming advantage over other regional groups. Although the Liangzhou people were better than the military, the population composition, mainly garrisoned troops and forcibly relocated pardoned criminals, was destined to make them lack of attainment in the level of scripture and could not compete with the Kwantung Shiren clique. Liangzhou Sanming, who has successively entered Beijing, is also facing the dilemma of where to go at this time.
The choice of the three famous players represents three completely different routes. Emperor Fugui, the eldest and earliest to enter The capital, chose to completely move closer to the Kwantung Scholars, and he usually made a posture of active confrontation with eunuchs, and even actively wrote to defend the imprisoned scholars in the scourge of the party. However, the Kwantung Shifu did not really regard the Emperor Fugui as his own, nor did he have any substantial irreconcilable conflict with the eunuch clique. In the direct conflict between Chen Fandouwu and other scholars and eunuchs shortly afterwards, Emperor Fugui, who was in the field, was almost an outsider, and he himself expressed that he was deeply ashamed of not being able to participate in this struggle. His political legacy and line would be inherited shortly after his death by his nephew Emperor Fusong.
Dou Wu in the film and television drama. Source/Screenshot of the TV series Cao Cao
In contrast, Zhang Wan's attitude is more interesting. On the one hand, the history books claim that he was "not a eunuch", on the other hand, in the struggle between Dou Wu Chen Fan and the eunuch clique, it was he who was ordered to lead the Luoyang Forbidden Army to besiege Dou Wu, causing the morale of Dou Wu's side to collapse instantly. After leading the defeat of Dou Wu, he expressed great regret, claiming that he had been blinded by the false holy will of the eunuch clique, and wrote to request that Dou Wu be rehabilitated. This kind of contradictory behavior is not so much that Zhang Yi, a famous general who has experienced hundreds of battles and killed people on the frontier, was blinded like a child by the holy will written by the eunuch clique, but rather that Zhang Yi was wandering in the struggle between the eunuch clique and the shiren clique, and this instability is also easy to understand considering the relationship between the Liangzhou clan and the Guandong shiren.
Duan Xi's choice represents another route. As a great-grandson of Duan Huizong, the capital of the Western Han Dynasty, Duan Xi found that although he was in the third duke of the imperial court monopolized by the Guandong shiren, the origin of the Liangzhou people made him in fact unable to integrate into the mainstream of the court. Coupled with the fact that Emperor Fugui and Zhang Yi, who had always been in direct opposition to him, both actively leaned in with the scholars before him, Duan Xi made another choice: to ally with the eunuch clique. However, at that time, the Kwantung Shifu's power in the court was quite strong, and the eunuch Wang Fu, whom Duan Xi was attached to, was soon tortured and killed by the Cool Official Yang Qiu, and Duan Xi was implicated and imprisoned, and committed suicide in prison, and the famous generals who had once shook the Western Lands died in Luoyang Prison.
Emperor Fugui, Zhang Yi, and Duan Xi went out one after another, making the Liangzhou people realize that no matter how much military achievements they had, whether they were actively relying on the Kwantung Shi or allying with eunuchs, they were always discriminated against and marginalized inferior people in the imperial court at this time.
Liangzhou of total rebellion
The Yellow Turban Rebellion, which broke out in March 184, was not largely quelled until November of that year. The nationwide unrest gave the people of Liangzhou, whose discontent was widespread, the opportunity to challenge the authority of the Eastern Han government. At first, there were only sporadic Qiang rebellions, but as Huang Zhongyi, who had gone to suppress them, joined the rebels in large numbers, the situation suddenly changed. The rebels supported Huang Zhongyi as leaders from the members Beigong Boyu and Li Wenhou, and soon attacked and killed the Qiang lieutenant Ling Zheng. Wang Guo, Song Jian, and others who had served in the Liangzhou military uprising responded one after another, and the Liangzhou rebellion was in a state of flames for a while.
The rebels then swept all the way. Han Yue, a Liangzhou celebrity who had just rejected He Jin's conquest and returned to his hometown in Luoyang, was initially coerced into the ranks by the rebels, but soon after, together with another Liangzhou celebrity who was also wrapped up, Bian Yun, he rebelled against the guests, accepted the support as the leader of the rebels, and changed his name to Han Sui. The joining of Han Sui, a local Hao clan that even He Jin was very important, meant that the rebellion in Liangzhou had gradually evolved from the dissatisfaction of the middle and lower-class soldiers into a major disturbance in which most people in Liangzhou participated. Emperor Hanling sent Xia Yu, duan Xi's former left arm and right arm, as the new Qiang Lieutenant, but Xia Yu had been in poor shape after the fiasco in the war against Xianbei seven or eight years ago, and this time was defeated by the rebels.
The Liangzhou rebels who joined with celebrities can be described as reborn, and they have a very political vision, openly playing the banner of "killing eunuchs" to win political support. At the beginning of the second year, tens of thousands of rebels began to attack the Sanfu area around Chang'an. The Han Ling Emperor sent an all-star lineup of generals such as Huang Fusong, Dong Zhuo, and Sun Jian to resist the rebels. As a result, Huang Fusong and other famous generals who had swept through the Yellow Turban Army more than half a year ago also fought very hard in front of the Liangzhou rebels. The two sides have been tug-of-war in the Sanfu area for half a year and still have not won or lost. Just at this time, a plague of locusts occurred, and Emperor Hanling deposed Emperor Fusong according to the popular theory of celestial induction at that time, and sent Zhang Wen to take over his military power and take charge of defending against the rebels. Later, the famous Dong Zhuo, Sun Jian, Tao Qian, and others all served as generals under Zhang Wen at this time. Many battles between the two sides ended in the defeat of the Han army, Zhang Wen and Dong Zhuo both became defeated generals under the rebels, and Sun Jian was almost killed in a battle, and finally barely escaped with his life, and even lost his official seal in the process of fleeing.
The two sides confronted each other until the end of the year, and the rebels were floating because of the meteors flashing through the barracks. Dong Zhuo obtained this precious information, launched a general attack with several colleagues the next day, and finally won a brilliant victory, killing thousands of people. Subsequently, Zhang Wen commanded more than 100,000 Han troops to divide into six roads and launch a large-scale counterattack on Liangzhou. This six-way counterattack became the biggest defeat of the Han army since the Liangzhou rebellion. In this battle, the other five Han armies suffered heavy losses, only Dong Zhuo's troops suffered smaller losses, and dong Zhuo had defeated the rebels before, so Dong Zhuo was promoted to former general.
Why are the rebels so powerful, and the Han army facing the all-star lineup is also playing well, winning more and losing less? In this year, a minister named Liu Tao wrote to Emperor Ling of Han to clarify the reason: "Now the rebels in the west are arbitrarily supporting the generals to rebel. These people were all officers appointed by Duan Xi (on a crusade against the rebels), and one by one they knew the battle front, and they were also extremely familiar with the geography of liangzhou's mountains and rivers, and they were very cunning. Most of the middle and senior officers of this rebellion generally have the item "righteous obedience" on their resumes. The Han and Qiang soldiers, who had fought against the rebels under Duan Xi, now formed the backbone of the rebel army and became enemies of the Han government. These people have proved with facts that the elite of the central army of the Han government is not superior to them, and contempt for their interests will inevitably pay a price.
Soon, the rebels marched again into Sanfu, this time to Chencang, a major town west of Chang'an. Emperor Hanling used Emperor Fusong, who had been deposed by him many years ago, to lead Dong Zhuo and others to rescue Chen Cangcheng. Chen Cang withstood the siege of the rebels. The rebels were forced to withdraw from the siege after a long time, and were eventually chased and defeated by Emperor Fusong, who was waiting for work. By this time, the most radical Liangzhou people who opposed the Han government had basically joined the rebels of Han Sui and others. As the most staunch loyal han Liangzhou faction, Huang Fusong's loyalty was unquestionable, but god knows how much loyalty his subordinates still had to the Han government.
Dong Zhuo. Source/Screenshot of the 94th edition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms
For example, Dong Zhuo, at first, Duan Xi recommended Dong Zhuo to the Luoyang imperial court when presiding over the war against Qiang. In Dong Zhuo's eyes, Duan Xi, a famous border general with great military achievements, was the one who had the grace of knowing himself, rather than giving Duan Xi face to conquer his Yuan family. Over the years, Dong Zhuo has seen the dismal end of duan Xi, the lord of grace, seen that Zhang Yi, who he followed in the early days of his debut, was not a person inside and outside between eunuchs and scholars, and saw that the Emperor Fu family's painstaking management still could not truly enter the core group of Guandong scholars, and he would also have his own thoughts. Dong Zhuo will soon usher in the opportunity to operate his own market, and will eventually become the nightmare of the Eastern Han Dynasty.