Hanling Emperor Liu Hong was the terminator of this glorious dynasty that gave the Han nation its name.Evidently, he himself did not foresee that he would play this hapless role.He once asked his subordinates how he compared himself to Emperor Huan, and his subordinates were straightforward, and replied that comparing you to Emperor Huan is like comparing Shun to Yao.The difference between the two is obvious, only Lingdi is still in a dream and doesn't know it. In fact, the two generations of monarchs at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty were lacklustre. Zhuge Liang once lamented in "Teacher's Table": "It's not impossible not to sigh and hate Yuhuan and Lingye."

It was by chance that Liu Hong ascended to the throne of the Eastern Han Dynasty.Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty Liu Zhi died at the age of 36 without leaving any heirs, and Empress Dowager Dou then promoted Liu Hong, the great-great-grandson of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty and the distant nephew of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, to the throne at the age of 12. The 12-year-old Liu Hong was not the first young emperor in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since Han Hedi Liu Zhao, the emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty were all underage when they ascended the throne.The young emperor was ignorant of government affairs, so his relatives and eunuchs took the opportunity to fight openly and covertly, and took turns to steal the power, stirring up the world into a mess, and finally pushed the Eastern Han Dynasty to its demise together.

"Under the whole world, is it the land of the king, and the shore of the land, is it the king's ministers", the population, money, and land of the whole world belong to the emperor alone, and it is said that the emperor does not need to bother to collect money.But there are many things in this world. Emperors who are greedy for money are not uncommon in history. If they are compared with Emperor Han Ling, they will be insignificant. Before he became emperor, Liu Hong was originally a branch of the Eastern Han Dynasty imperial family. He was granted the title of Marquis of Ting, and his food town was no more than a hundred households. He was probably equivalent to a small and medium-sized landlord.

From the perspective of modern psychology, people who experienced financial difficulties in childhood are likely to have a greedy attitude towards money when they grow up. In Lingdi Liu Hong, we seem to see the influence of childhood shadows on him.In the second year of his succession to the throne, with the help of eunuchs such as Zhongchang Shi Cao Jie, he forced Empress Dowager Dou to return power to himself.Once he became the actual ruler of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Hong's greedy nature was fully exposed. Local tributes are usually handed over to the treasury after being inspected by the emperor.Every time he picks out a few high-quality goods, collects them into his small coffers, and cleverly names them "guide fees".

Some people in the court really couldn't see it, so they persuaded him earnestly, saying that the emperor should put the world first, and don't disturb the common people just for a few small money.Liu Hong was furious, and scolded this person bloody.From then on, no one dared to speak out again, and the "guide fee" was not abolished until the death of Emperor Ling. Embezzling tributes privately, levying extra taxes in the name of building palaces and bronze casters, Liu Hong tried his best to collect money.But the money can't satisfy his greed, so what else can he do to make a profit?

Liu Hong thought of his right to appoint officials.Liu Hong has a lot of black hats in his hands, do you want them?Take money to buy. Selling an official is a notorious thing no matter what era it is, but Liu Hong doesn't even bother with underground trading. He specially opened an official exchange in the West Garden of the Imperial Palace to operate it formally.Except for his own throne, other positions, from the three princes to the county magistrate, all have clearly marked prices, open bidding, and fair sales. The price of an official position is determined according to the rank, which is 10,000 shi per level. For example, a deputy county-level official with an annual income of 400 shi sells for 4 million, and a ministerial-level official with an annual income of 2,000 shi sells for 20 million.If you want to be one of the three princes and have a taste of being a Taiwei, Situ, or Sikong, add another ten million.

The above is the price of the public sale, so what about the official appointment by the court?You still have to pay, but you can get a discount, you only need to pay half or one third. During the time of Emperor Ling, a man named Sima Zhi was appointed as the prefect of Julu.After the imperial envoy read out the letter of appointment, he asked for money.Sima Zhi is an upright official, where did he get the money?The imperial envoy said, knowing that your life is difficult, then three million will be deducted, and the rest must be paid.Sima said straightly, I really can't afford the money, can I stop being an official?The imperial envoy disagreed, how could there be such a thing as resignation!Sima Zhi was really desperate, so he committed suicide on the way to take office. Before he died, he wrote a suicide note in grief and indignation, denouncing this behavior of selling officials as a symbol of disaster for the country and the people, and the country's impending doom.

However, Sima Zhi's death did not shake Lingdi's heart at all. Lingdi's business of selling officials became more and more prosperous, and most people in the court used money to get official luck.For example, Cao Cao's father, Cao Song Taiwei, was bought with money. Cao Song is not the only one who has thought about being addicted to San Gong, and Cui Lie, an upright official, could not resist this temptation.Cui Lie's family has a good reputation, and he was promoted from the county guard to the position of Jiuqing all by his own efforts.Seeing that he was only one step away from the Sangong, Mrs. Cheng, the emperor's nanny, came to him and said, Master Cui, if you want to be the Sangong, I can help you get a 50% discount.Cui Lie was tempted. The Cui family had never been a Sangong for generations. If he could be a Sangong once, it would be considered a honor to his ancestors, so he paid a 50% discount and became a Situ.

Once when Emperor Ling had a banquet for his officials, he saw Cui Lie chatting and laughing in a lively manner, and suddenly felt annoyed that he had made a loss-making deal, so he said to Cui Lie, you only paid half of the money for being an official.Mrs. Cheng was unhappy when she heard this, and immediately went on to say, Mr. Cui is an upright official, why did he buy his official position with money? I got it for him.For a time, the audience was in an uproar.It is shameful to spend money to buy an official, and it is even more embarrassing to rely on a woman to be an official. Cui Lie has been disgraced since then, and he can no longer hold his head up in front of everyone.

After spending a lot of money to buy officials, the first priority of Lingdi's officials after taking office is naturally to earn money desperately, and strive to earn back their capital in the shortest possible time. The dark corruption of governments around the world is self-evident. This is the case at the local level, but what about the situation at the central level?Emperor Ling once said: "Zhang Changshi (Zhang Rang) is my father, and Zhao Changshi (Zhao Zhong) is my mother." He was greedy for money and handed over state power to eunuchs. The only unlucky ones are the common people.Corrupt officials abound, and land annexation is very serious.Farmers have no place to stand, and various famines and plagues come one after another. They are displaced, eat and sleep in the open, and eat wild grass to satisfy their hunger.

So far, Jiangshan in the late Eastern Han Dynasty has actually become a mess with empty fields, empty warehouses, and poor people.The people had no way out, so they naturally rose up.In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were frequent alarms and wars, and the world was so big that there was no peaceful land. Small-scale uprisings gradually coalesced into a nationwide storm.Zhang Jiao, a native of Julu (now Pingxiang County), Hebei Province, was originally the leader of the Taiping Dao. He called himself a "great virtuous teacher".Their slogan is "The sky is dead, and the yellow sky should be established", which means that the Eastern Han Dynasty is exhausted and the world should be taken over by the rebellious people. The people in dire straits regarded Zhang Jiao as their savior, and the poor people from Qing, Xu, You, Yan, Yu, Jing, Ji, Yang and other eight prefectures, old and young, rushed to join the uprising team.Tens of thousands of people died on the way due to the long distance, poverty and illness, and hundreds of thousands of people gathered in various strongholds on Taiping Road. Zhang Jiao organized the hundreds of thousands of believers in Bazhou into thirty-six parties, with more than 10,000 people in the big party and six to seven thousand people in the small party. The leader of each party was called Qu Shuai.After everything was ready, Zhang Jiao set March 5th in the Jiazi year (184) as the time for simultaneous uprisings across the country. Unexpectedly, on the eve of the uprising, the situation changed suddenly. The traitor Tang Zhou reported to the court and the uprising plan was leaked.Ma Yuanyi was arrested in Luoyang, and more than a thousand officers, soldiers and civilians related to Taiping Dao were killed. Zhang Jiao immediately decided to revolt ahead of schedule in February.Zhang Jiao called himself General Tiangong, his younger brother Zhang Bao called General Digong, and Zhang Liang called General Rengong. The rebels wore yellow turbans on their heads, so they were called "Yellow Turban Army". They occupied states and counties, burned government offices, and besieged manors where powerful people lived together. The situation was like a storm, extremely fast.For a time, there were frequent reports of success in the north and south of the river: the Hebei Yellow Turban Army captured Anping King Liu Xu and Ganling King Liu Zhong; Xun and the prefect Liu Wei. The Hebei Rebel Army led by Zhang Jiao, the Nanyang Rebel Army led by Zhang Mancheng, and the Yingchuan Rebel Army led by Bo Cai supported each other and approached the capital Luoyang. Together with other rebel armies coming from all directions, Luoyang fell into siege from all directions. Liu Hong panicked, and hurriedly sent Lu Zhi, Huangfusong, Zhu Jun (Yin Jun) and others to lead officers and soldiers to attack the main force of the Yellow Turban Army.In April, more than 40,000 infantry and cavalry led by Huangfusong encountered Bocai in Yingchuan. On the vast North China Plain, a crucial battle started.On the first day of the confrontation between the two armies, the Yellow Turban Army defeated Zhu Jun's tribe.Seeing that something was wrong, Huangfusong hurriedly withdrew to Changsha (now west of Changge County, Henan).The Yellow Turban Army took advantage of the victory to pursue and surrounded Changshe. Huangfusong felt deeply that the rebel army was so powerful that he hid in the city and dared not go out to fight. At this time, the war situation was very favorable to the Yellow Turban Army. Unfortunately, they lacked military experience and camped in a place with overgrown vegetation.How could Huangfusong, who had rich military experience, give up this opportunity. On a dark and windy night, he sent people to set fire, the wind helped the fire, the grass and trees were hunting and burning, and the Yellow Turban Army was in chaos.At this time, the reinforcements arrived just in time, and together with Huangfusong and Zhu Jun's troops, they rushed to the Yellow Turban Army. The Yellow Turban Army was defeated and tens of thousands of soldiers were killed. After the main force of the Yellow Turbans in Yingchuan was defeated, Huangfusong and Zhu Jun continued to attack the rebels in other places.At this time, the Nanyang Rebel Army had grown to more than 100,000 people and had conquered Wancheng.Zhu Jun gathered tens of thousands of officials and troops to besiege Wancheng. Due to the hard work of the rebels, Wancheng remained motionless from June to August.The imperial court was very anxious and planned to recall Zhu Jun, and the morale of Zhu Jun's troops was shaken. This is a great opportunity for the Yellow Turban Army, they are taking the opportunity to go out of the city to wipe out the enemy, but again due to lack of military experience, the Yellow Turban Army missed this opportunity in vain.Zhu Jun used this period of time to gather strength, gain a firm foothold, and win the trust of the court.Seeing the fighting spirit of the rebel army, he knew that a hard attack would be futile, so he pretended to break the siege, but secretly set up an ambush.The Yellow Turban Army didn't know what to do, so they went out of the city to pursue, but were surrounded and intercepted by Zhu Jun, and more than 10,000 Yellow Turban Army lost their lives. After this battle, the balance of power between the two armies changed.Zhu Jun's reinforcements continued to arrive, and his strength gradually became stronger. The Yellow Turban Army had no backup, and its strength was exhausted.In November, Wancheng finally fell, and the main force of the Nanyang Yellow Turbans was suppressed. The center of the battle gradually shifted to the Hebei battlefield.The Hebei Yellow Turban Army led by Zhang Jiao also achieved brilliant victories at the beginning. When Lu Zhi led the imperial army to Hebei, the Yellow Turban Army had captured Guangzong (now southeast of Wei County, Hebei) and Xiaquyang (now west of Jin County, Hebei). and so on.From March to June, Lu Zhi's army could not stop the attack. The court escorted him back to Luoyang for questioning, and sent Dong Zhuo to come.Dong Zhuo was also vulnerable, being defeated by Zhang Jiao and Xia Quyang.At the end of August, the imperial court removed Dong Zhuo and replaced him with Huang Fusong. The imperial court kept changing horses and generals, showing the powerful combat effectiveness of the Hebei Yellow Turban Army.However, when the Hebei Yellow Turban Army was gaining momentum, the overall situation of the country had undergone tremendous changes. Although the Yellow Turban Army was unstoppable, they fought independently and lacked joint forces.Once encountering a key attack by the imperial court, they can only fight each other, and cannot support and cooperate with each other.In addition, the Yellow Turban Army was too obsessed with the gains and losses of one city and one place. In order to attack and defend the city, they fought head-on with powerful enemies, and did not adopt strategies and tactics of avoiding reality and being flexible, maneuvering, and preserving their strength. These weaknesses led to the successive failures of the Yellow Turban troops in various places. The imperial court was able to mobilize more forces from other battlefields to reinforce Hebei, and concentrated on launching a fierce attack on Zhangjiao. The strength of the Yellow Turban Army in Hebei was gradually weakened. At this time, Zhang Jiao died of illness, and the Yellow Turban Army lost its backbone.In October, Huangfu Song attacked in the middle of the night, and the Yellow Turban Army hurriedly responded to the enemy. A massacre of unprecedented scale lasted from midnight to the next evening. The famous Yellow Turban Uprising in history ended in failure.However, under the heavy blow of the Yellow Turban Army, the decaying Eastern Han Dynasty was dying.The Yellow Turban Uprising ignited the fuse of the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and also opened the prelude to the Three Kingdoms era. It is not enough to seek a domain without seeking the overall situation.Only by keeping the overall situation in mind, looking far ahead, and thinking about problems from the overall situation and in the long run, can we handle the relationship between major aspects well, and be able to grasp the general direction of the development of the situation in the midst of changes, and strive for strategic initiative and advantages, so as to let ourselves From small to large, from weak to strong, a great cause has been achieved. The fighting spirit of the Yellow Turban Army is evocative, and their strength is not weak, but the leaders of the uprising lacked a vision of the overall situation, did not unite all forces, cooperate with each other, support each other, and jointly serve the overall goal; at the same time, they did not focus on the long-term interests, but only obsessed with the gains and losses of a city and a pool, and blindly fight hard, exhausting the strength.Therefore, although their failure is painful, there is no suspense. No matter for a military group, or an enterprise, or even an individual, strategy is very important.Appropriate use of strategies can turn danger into safety, turn weakness into strength, turn less into more, and turn sorrow into joy.If there is no strategic thinking as a guide, if you develop in a muddle, failure will happen sooner or later. Although the battle strategy of the Yellow Turban Army was lackluster, it opened the door to the Three Kingdoms and played a role in attracting jade.Since then, on the stage where the footsteps of the heroes of the Three Kingdoms are deafening, we will repeatedly marvel at how the power of human wisdom has changed the situation and turned the world around time and time again.