The end of the Eastern Han Dynasty refers to the beginning of the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty from the first year of Zhongping to the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an (184-220) and lasted for 36 years until the end of Cao Pi's claim to the throne, during which time the princes divided their territory and attacked and annexed each other. After the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the pattern of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu was finally formed. Therefore, this means that many princes in the late Eastern Han Dynasty were wiped out. However, for Tao Qian, which is going to be said in this article, the situation is a little special. After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Tao Qian was appointed by the imperial court as the Assassin of Xuzhou, breaking the Yellow Turban Army in Xuzhou, and promoting Tuntian to resume production. Since then, Tao Qian has been in the Xuzhou area for a long time and killed Cao Cao's father. So, the question is, what is the end of Tao Qian?
One
First of all, Tao Qian (132-194), the character Gongzu. A native of Danyang County. He was a minister at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and one of the heroes of the late Han Dynasty. Tao Qian's father once served as the county magistrate of Yuyao County. Tao Qian's father died when he was young, and at the age of fourteen, he used cloth as a battle flag and rode a bamboo horse to play with the children in the township. His compatriot Gan Gong, who had been the Taishou of Cangwu, met Tao Qian when he went out, saw Tao Qian's extraordinary appearance, so he called a car to talk to him, felt very happy, and married his daughter to Tao Qian.
Gan Gong's wife was very angry about this, but Gan Gong said to his wife: "This child has a strange appearance, and when he grows up, he will become a great instrument." Tao Qian later liked to study, first admitted to zhusheng, in the prefecture as an official, and then was promoted to Maocai, Bai Shang Shulang, successively served as Shu County Ling, Lu County Ling. Later, he moved to Youzhou to assassinate Shi and was conscripted as a parliamentarian. From this, it is very obvious that Tao Qian's later achievements did not disappoint his father-in-law.
In March of the second year of Zhongping (185), Beigong Boyu and others led Qiang Hu to attack Sanfu. Upon learning of this situation, Emperor Hanling sent the left-riding general Huang Fusong to lead an army to fight, and Emperor Fusong asked the general to accompany him and summoned Tao Qian to march with him as a lieutenant of Yangwu to defeat the rebels. In July of the same year, Emperor Fusong was demoted to a knighthood because of his previous offense against Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang, who had previously offended Zhongzhong.
In October of the fifth year of Zhongping (188), the Yellow Turbans of Qing and Xu prefectures rose up and attacked the counties. The imperial court appointed Tao Qian as the Assassin of Xuzhou and pacified the Yellow Turban Army. As soon as Tao Qian arrived in Xuzhou, he appointed Zang Ba, a Taishan man who had fled to the East China Sea, and his compatriot Sun Guan as generals. As a result, the Yellow Turban Army was destroyed in the first battle, and the remaining Yellow Turban Army was forced to flee from Xuzhou. In this regard, in the author's opinion, the active appointment of local scholars in Xuzhou was not only an important reason why Tao Qian could quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but also helped him to divide Xuzhou at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion was settled, Tao Qian worshipped Zang Ba and Sun Guan as knight lieutenants, and ordered him to rule Kaiyang and garrison the north of Xuzhou.
In the first month of the first year of Chuping (190), the Kwantung princes supported Yuan Shao as their ally, and the spearhead was directed at Dong Zhuo in Luoyang. At that time, the counties of the world responded, and the daxing volunteers. However, Tao Qian, who had divided Xuzhou, did not directly join Guandong in denouncing Dong Zhuo.
Two
Of course, although Tao Qian did not directly attack Dong Zhuo, in terms of position, Tao Qian was still opposed to Dong Zhuo. In the second year of Chuping (191), the famous general Zhu Juantun was stationed in Zhongmu County, and sent a message to various prefectures and counties, summoning troops to attack Dong Zhuo. After Tao Qian learned of this, he immediately sent three thousand elite soldiers, and only some soldiers were sent from other prefectures and counties, and Tao Qian went to the table to serve as Zhu Juan's acting general. For Dong Zhuo, he usurped the power of the Eastern Han Court and was attacked by the world' heroes. However, because the various princes appeared to be separated from each other, yuan shao, Cao Cao, Yuan Shu and other princes' campaign against Dong Zhuo was actually unsuccessful.
In April of the third year of Chuping (192), Wang Yun and Lü Bu killed Dong Zhuo. However, after that, Li Dai, Guo Feng and other dong Zhuo's subordinates rebelled, attacked Chang'an, and controlled the government. Zhu Juan was still in Zhongmu at that time, and Tao Qian believed that Zhu Juan was a famous general who had made many military achievements and could be entrusted with great responsibilities, so he joined forces with the former Yangzhou Assassin Shi Zhougan, the Lang Evil State Xiang YinDe, the East China Sea State Minister Liu Kui, the Pengcheng State Minister Ji Lian, the Beihai Xiangguo Kong Rong, the Pei Xiang Yuan Zhong, the Taishan Taishou Yingshao, the Runan Taishou Xu Xuan, the former Jiujiang Taishou Fu Qian, the doctor Zheng Xuan, and others to make Zhu Shu the Taishi, move Mu Bo, and consult with Li Dai, and so on, and greet emperor Xian of Han. For the actions of Tao Qian and others, it naturally attracted the attention of Li Dai, Guo Feng and others. Therefore, in December of the same year, Li Dai used a plan to summon Zhu Juan into the dynasty, so Zhu Juan resigned from Tao Qian and was summoned to the court, and Tao Qian had no choice but to give up.
Three
In the fourth year of Chuping (193), after the advice of Wang Lang and Zhao Yu, who was engaged in the work of Zhizhong, Tao Qian sent Zhao Yu to pay tribute to Emperor Xiandi to show his support for the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Xiandi of Han praised and promoted Tao Qian to the rank of Xuzhou Mu and General of Andong after receiving Tao Qian's recital; Zhao Yu was appointed as Guangling Taishou and Wang Lang was appointed as Huiji Taishou. In this regard, in the author's opinion, because Liu Xie, the emperor of Han Xian, was held hostage by Li Dai and Guo Feng at that time, Tao Qian's move can be said to be a compromise with Li Dai and Guo Feng. Of course, coincidentally, in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Biao also made overtures to Li Dai and Guo Feng, thus obtaining the title of Jingzhou Mu and other official positions. And this, of course, is one of the benefits of holding the Son of Heaven hostage to make the princes.
When Tao Qian was in charge of Xuzhou, Cao Cao's father and former lieutenant Cao Song was hiding from the war in Langxi, and Cao Cao ordered Taishan Taishou Yingshao to welcome Cao Song to Yanzhou. Chen Shou records in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that Tao Qian had always resented Cao Cao for attacking Xuzhou and sent cavalry to cover up Cao Song; the Book of Later Han records that Cao Song carried more than a hundred carts, and one of Tao Qian's troops was stationed in Yinping County, and his soldiers coveted Cao Song's property, so they launched an attack at the border between Hua County and Fei County, killing Cao Song and his young son Cao De.
In this regard, in the author's opinion, whether it is Tao Qian personally ordering the killing of Cao Cao's father Cao Song, or Tao Qian's subordinates who make a good claim to get rid of Cao Cao's father, for Cao Cao, this account will be counted on Tao Qian's head. Moreover, in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xuzhou can be described as a place where soldiers must fight. Therefore, for Cao Cao, who was divided into Yanzhou, he would also use this incident as an excuse to attack Xuzhou many times.
Four
Finally, for Xuzhou Mu Taoqian, because he offended Cao Cao, he overworked in his old age and eventually died of illness. In the autumn of the fourth year of Chuping (193), Cao Cao raised an army against Tao Qian on the pretext of avenging his father, and Yuan Shao also sent his general Zhu Lingdu to help him with three battalions. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had formed allies, while the princes such as Yuan Shu, Tao Qian, and Gongsun Zhan belonged to another camp.
Cao Cao's army attacked more than ten cities in succession, and Cao Cao's generals were forbidden to conquer Guangwei (east of Pei County), along Surabaya to Pengcheng. In addition, Cao Cao's forward Cao Renbei attacked Tao Qian's general Lü You, and after breaking the enemy, he also joined forces with Cao Cao. Tao Qian led his army to meet the attack, but suffered a major defeat, so he had to flee Pengcheng and retreat to Tancheng in the East China Sea, and Cao Cao took the opportunity to break Pengcheng and Fu Yang. In the face of the powerful Cao Cao, Tao Qian was obviously difficult to resist. Tao Qian sent a farewell to Tancheng to rescue the counties besieged by the Cao army, and on the other hand, he rushed to Qingzhou to assassinate Shi Tiankai. Cao Cao besieged Tan County, but failed to capture it, so he turned to attacking the three counties of Sui, Suiling, and Xiaqiu. At this time, Tian Kai and Liu Bei led an army to rescue, and later Cao Cao had to retire because of the exhaustion of food. Therefore, in the author's opinion, although Liu Bei's support did enhance the strength of Tao Qian's side, this was obviously not the main reason for Cao Cao's retreat. After Cao Cao's withdrawal, Tao Qian made Liu Bei the Assassin of Yuzhou and Xiao Pei of Tun Bing.
In April of the first year of Xingping (194), Cao Cao once again led a large army to attack Xuzhou in the south. Qian, seeing that the sun was poor, planned to flee back to his hometown of Danyang, at this time, Chen Liu Taishou Zhang Mi betrayed Cao Cao, and his brother Zhang Chao, the former Guangling Taishou Zhang Chao, welcomed Lü Bu into Yanzhou, and Cao Cao had to return to his division to put down the rebellion. In the same year, Tao Qian died of illness at the age of sixty-three. In this regard, in the author's opinion, in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Tao Qian was able to obtain the end of illness and death, in fact, he was already relatively lucky. After Tao Qian's death, Liu Bei was able to take charge of Xuzhou. However, compared with Tao Qian, Liu Bei lacked roots in Xuzhou, so he ultimately failed to gain a long-term foothold in Xuzhou.