What does the Yellow Turban Army mean?

1. The Yellow Turban Army was a large-scale anti-riot army led by Julu man Zhang Jiao in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. It rioted in 184, the year of Jiazi. The Yellow Turban Rebellion was one of the largest riots in Chinese history. First, because the mob wore yellow scarves on their heads and pretended to be the Yellow Turban Army, the riot caused by it was put down by the Eastern Han Dynasty in less than a year. Historically, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was regarded as the beginning of the Three Kingdoms era.

2. The Yellow Turban Uprising

Overview of the event:

In 184 AD, there was a severe drought across the country. Grains were not collected and taxes were not reduced. Under the orders of the Julu people to raise their horns, the desperate poor farmers stood up one after another. They wore yellow scarves on their heads and shouted: "The sky is dead, the yellow sky is standing, at the age of Jiazi, the world is under heaven." With the slogan "Good luck", they launched a fierce attack on the bureaucratic landlords. This was the famous "Yellow Turban Uprising" in history. The Yellow Turban Uprising and the uprisings of various ethnic groups affected by it lasted for more than 20 years. Due to the weakness of the revolting peasants themselves, the uprising was brutally suppressed. However, under the blow of the peasant uprising, the decadent Eastern Han Dynasty was effectively destroyed.

Reason for the outbreak:

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the rulers were corrupt and incompetent, relatives and eunuchs alternated in power, and the government was corrupt. The war with the Western Qiang lasted for decades, costing a lot of money and involving heavy corvee military service. In addition, the phenomenon of land annexation is serious, and people are in dire straits. Under such circumstances, Zhang Jiao founded Taiping Dao, which won people's hearts in a religious way and established prestige among poor farmers, with hundreds of thousands of believers. Zhang Jiao used his voice in the hearts of the people to divide the believers in the eight states of Qing, Xu, You, Ji, Jing, Yang, Yan, and Henan into 36 parties, with more than 10,000 people in Dafang and six to seven thousand people in Xiaofang. Set up a Qushuai and give him unified command, making preparations for a large-scale uprising.

Development history:

1. The uprising broke out

In 184 (Jiazi year), Zhang Jiao made an appointment with believers on March 5 to say "Heaven is dead, "Huang Tian should be established, he will be in Jiazi, and the world will be prosperous" as the slogan to raise troops to fight against the Han; "Cang Tian" refers to the Eastern Han Dynasty, and "Huang Tian" refers to Taiping Dao, and according to the theory of the Five Virtues, the Han Dynasty is the virtue of fire, and fire is the virtue of fire. It is born from soil, and soil is yellow, so all believers wear yellow scarves on their heads as a symbol to replace the corrupt Eastern Han Dynasty. On the one hand, Zhang Jiao sent people to write the word "Jia Zi" on the door of the government agency as a mark of recognition. On the other hand, he sent Ma Yuanyi to Jingzhou and Yangzhou to summon tens of thousands of people to Ye for preparations. He also went to Luoyang several times to collude with the eunuchs Feng Xu and Xu Feng. , I want to be in harmony with the inside and the outside.

However, one month before the uprising, a disciple of Zhang Jiao named Tang Zhou reported on Ma Yuanyi, the capital's internal commander. Ma Yuanyi was torn apart by a car, and the officers and soldiers vigorously arrested and killed Taiping Dao believers, implicating more than a thousand people, and Ordered Jizhou to hunt down Zhang Jiao. Due to the sudden incident, Zhang Jiao was forced to launch an uprising one month in advance in February, which was known as the Yellow Turban Uprising or Yellow Turban Rebellion in history. Because the insurrectionists wore yellow scarves on their heads, they were called "Yellow Turbans" or "Moth Thieves". Zhang Jiao called himself "Yellow Turban Uprising" or "Yellow Turban Rebellion". "Tiangong General", Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were respectively "Di Gong General" and "Ren Gong General" in the northern Jizhou area. They burned down government offices, killed officials, and looted everywhere. Within a month, fighting broke out in seven states and twenty-eight counties across the country. The Yellow Turban army was in turmoil. Prefectures and counties were lost, and officials fled, which shocked Kyoto.

2. Slogan of the Yellow Turban Uprising

Slogan of the Yellow Turban Uprising: "The sky is dead, the yellow sky will stand; if you are aged for a year, the world will be prosperous."

This is a slogan with strong religious overtones, and it was also a slogan thought up by a man who is a great performer. The propaganda method in the name of religion was used to win over the people. Although it was said to be magical and did not have much positive meaning, it had a considerable influence at the time.

3. Suppression by the officers and soldiers

Seeing how powerful Taiping Road was, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty hurriedly appointed He Jin as the general on Wushen Day in March and led the five battalions of Yulin soldiers to the left and right. At Duting, he ordered weapons to guard the capital. He also set up captains to garrison at various Kyoto passes such as Hangu Pass, Dagu, Guangcheng, Yique, Fuyuan, Xuanmen, Mengjin, and Xiaopingjin. He also issued orders to various places to take strict precautions. The states and counties were ordered to prepare for war, train soldiers, assemble weapons, and summon rebels. For example, Liu Bei was funded by businessmen Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang to organize a rebel army to join the school captain Zou Jing to fight against the thieves.

Huangfu Song remonstrated to lift the ban on the party, and gave the palace money and fine horses from the Western Garden to the sergeants to improve morale. Lu Qiang also said to Emperor Ling: "The party has been imprisoned for a long time, and if it is with the Yellow Turbans Conspiracy, regret is hopeless. (The misfortune of the party has been accumulated for a long time. If Guo colluded with the Yellow Turbans, there would be no salvation.)" Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty accepted the proposal and granted amnesty to the party members on Renzi Day and returned all the emigrants. The ministers donated horses and crossbows, and recommended the descendants of generals and people with profound strategic knowledge to the public transportation department for interviews.

On the other hand, elite troops were sent to suppress the chaos in various places: Lu Zhi led the deputy general Zong Yuan and led the five colonels of the Northern Army to take charge of the northern front, dealing with Zhang Jiao's main force; Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun each led an army , controlling the Five Schools, Sanhe Knights and newly recruited elite warriors to attack more than 40,000 people to attack the Yellow Turban Army in Yingchuan area. Zhu Jun also recruited Sun Jian from Xiapi as an assistant army Sima and led his fellow villagers. The young man recruited various merchant brigades and elite soldiers from Huai River and Si River, and recruited more than a thousand people to set out with Zhu Jun's army. On Gengzi Day, Zhang Mancheng attacked and killed Chu Gong, the governor of Nanyang County, in response to Zhang Jiao.

The Han army did not gain a victory in the first battle. In April, Zhu Jun's army was defeated by the Yellow Turban Bocai and retreated. Huangfu Song had no choice but to garrison Changshe with him for defense, but was besieged by Bocai's army. The Han army was small and morale was low. In addition, the Runan Yellow Turban Army defeated the prefect Zhao Qian in Shaoling, and the Guangyang Yellow Turban Army killed Youzhou Governor Guo Xun and the prefect Liu Wei. The Yellow Turban Army showed no signs of retreat due to the actions of the Han Dynasty.

4. Rebel counterattack

In May, the capital saw that Huangfu Song was surrounded and sent Cao Cao to lead his army to rescue him. However, before the reinforcements arrived, Huangfu Song had already hatched a plan. When a strong wind blew in the evening, Huangfu Song ordered his soldiers to secretly leave the city with torches in hand. They used the weeds around the Yellow Turban Army camp to attack the enemy with fire and shouted for an attack. The city also raised torches in response. Huangfu Song used drums to help the battle and rushed into the enemy's formation. The Yellow Turban Army was in chaos and ran in all directions. They met Cao Cao's reinforcements again and were attacked from three sides by Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun and Cao Cao. Tens of thousands of people were killed and the Han army was victorious.

In June, Qin Jie, the governor of Nanyang, fought with Zhang Mancheng and killed Zhang Mancheng. The Yellow Turban Army changed its command to Zhao Hong and occupied Wancheng with more than 100,000 people. Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun's army continued to attack Runan and the Yellow Turbans of Chen State, pursued Bo Cai to Yangdi, and finally defeated Peng Tuo in Xihua. The remaining army wanted to escape to Wancheng, but Sun Jian ascended the city first and everyone advanced like ants. He defeated the enemy and successfully defeated the Yellow Turban Army in Yuzhou. On the other hand, Lu Zhi defeated Zhangjiao in several battles and killed more than ten thousand people.

Zhang Jiao had no choice but to retreat to Guangzong, and Lu Zhi built barriers, dug trenches, and built ladders to capture the city. When Emperor Ling sent Zuo Feng to inspect the military situation, someone advised Lu Zhi to bribe Zuo Feng, but Lu Zhi refused, so Zuo Feng falsely accused Lu Zhi of incompetence in combat. Emperor Ling was furious and sent Lu Zhi back to the capital in a prison car. The capital had no choice but to issue an edict to readjust: Huangfu Song went north to Dongjun; Zhu Jun attacked Zhao Hong in Nanyang; and Dong Zhuo replaced Lu Zhi. The Five Dou Mi Dao, which has the same religious form, rebelled in Bajun, and its leader Zhang Xiu, the "Five Dou Rice Master", attacked the county, but was not taken seriously by the Han Dynasty.

5. Defeat of Northern Hebei

Zhu Jun, Jingzhou Governor Xu Qiu and Qin Jie attacked Zhao Hong with 18,000 soldiers, but they could not conquer it from June to August. , the capital had a proposal to recruit Zhu Jun to return to the army, but fortunately Zhang Wen came forward to intercede, and Emperor Ling couldn't do it. However, Zhu Jun still rushed to attack Zhao Hong. Zhao Hong was killed and replaced by Han Zhong. Since Zhu Jun was outnumbered due to the small number of troops, he expanded the defense perimeter, built forts, and built mountains of earth to observe the city. Zhu Jun's army beat drums to attack the southwest, and the Yellow Turban Army was diverted. Zhu Jun personally led 5,000 elite troops to cover up the northeast, attacked the enemy's rear, and entered the city. Han Zhong had no choice but to retreat to the inner city.

The Yellow Turban Army was frustrated and their morale was low, so they begged for surrender from the Han Army. Zhang Chao, Xu Qiu and Qin Jie all thought it was acceptable, but Zhu Jun believed that if he accepted it, it would give the people the wrong idea of ??being a thief and begging for surrender without any benefit, so he did not accept it and rushed to attack the enemy, but he could not conquer it after several battles. , Zhu Jun climbed up the Tushan Mountain to watch the Yellow Turban Army. He understood that the Yellow Turban Army had no retreat, so he tried his best to fight, so he failed to conquer it. Zhu Jun then relieved the besieging army, and Han Zhong actually went to fight, but was defeated by Zhu Juan. Zhu Jun pursued Han Zhong for dozens of miles north, killing more than ten thousand people, and Han Zhong surrendered. Qin Jie, who had always been at odds with Han Zhong, sent He kills. This move made the Yellow Turban Army uneasy, and they promoted Sun Xia as their commander to garrison troops in Wanzhong City.

Zhu Jun attacked again. On Guisi Day in November, Sun Xia was defeated. The Han army pursued him to Jingshan Mountain in western Hubei, where he was defeated again. Sun Xia and more than 10,000 people were killed. The Yellow Turban Army was disbanded and the Wancheng area was pacified. In the spring of 185, Banshi returned to Beijing.

On the other hand, Huangfu Song arrived at Cangting, Dongjun in August, defeated and captured Di Ji alive, and killed more than 7,000 people. Dong Zhuo failed to attack Zhangjiao and returned without success, so he asked Huangfu Song to continue his march north on Yisi day. However, Zhang Jiao had already died of illness, so he fought with Zhang Liang in Guangzong in October. Zhang Liang's army was stubborn and could not be conquered in the first battle. Tomorrow, Huangfu Song closed the camp and rested with his soldiers. On the other hand, he sent people to observe the enemy's actions. The Yellow Turban Army's fighting spirit was slightly relaxed, so Huangfu Song led his troops at night and raided the enemy's position at dawn. They fought until the afternoon and successfully defeated the enemy. The army killed Zhang Liang and more than 30,000 people. More than 50,000 people drowned when they fled to the river embankment. They burned more than 30,000 carriages and captured many people. Zhang Jiao's body was broken into a coffin and his body was transported back to the capital. In November, Huangfu Song and Guo Dian, the governor of Julu, attacked Quyang, successfully killed Zhang Bao and captured more than 100,000 people. The Yellow Turban Rebellion subsided.

6. The aftermath of the uprising

Although the chaos was suppressed, the prestige of the Han Dynasty suffered a serious blow. However, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty did not reform, but continued to enjoy himself. Small-scale rebellions continued to occur in various places, resulting in many scattered forces, such as Heishan, Baibo, Huanglong, Zuoxiao, Niujiao, Wulu, Jianggen, Li Damu, Zuo Xiaozhangba, Kuxi, Liu Shi, Pinghan, and Dahong. , Bai Rao, Sili, Yuancheng, Luo Shi, Lei Gong, Fuyun, Feiyan, Bai Jue, Yang Feng, Yu Du, etc. The small ones have thousands of people, and the powerful ones even have millions of people, such as Zhang Yan of Montenegrin thieves.

In 188 AD, the Yellow Turban Army uprising again, and the rest of the Yellow Turban Army revolted one after another. In February, Taiyuan Guo started an uprising in Baibo Valley, Hedong, and attacked Taiyuan County, Hedong County and other places. In April, the Yellow Turban Army of Gepi in Runan County rose again and captured the county. In October, the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou and Xuzhou rose again to attack counties and counties. In November, the Han court sent Bao Hong to attack the Gebei Yellow Turbans, which was the most powerful. The two sides fought in Gebei, and Bao Hong's army was defeated. Various Yellow Turban tribes rose up one after another. Although the momentum was not as great as the first Yellow Turban Rebellion, it still caused a headache for the Han Dynasty.

In order to suppress the rebellion, in March 188, Emperor Ling accepted Taichang Liu Yan's suggestion and changed some of the governors to prefectural governors, who were appointed by clan members or important ministers, giving them local military and political power. , in order to strengthen the strength of local political power, make it easier to control local areas, and effectively suppress the remnants of the Yellow Turbans. And it was precisely because Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty decentralized power that he encouraged the local armies to build up their own troops, and the various heroes attacked each other and competed in the Central Plains. Even the emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty was like nothing in the hands of the warlords. Therefore, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was the fuse that led to the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty and was also the prelude to the Three Kingdoms era. Even so, the chaos still created the amnesty party, allowing many literati and officials to be re-appointed.