Chapter 7 Chapter 6 Celebrities Become Warlords

One of the bad things about writing macro history is that the author is always inseparable from the war.If the subject matter of the novel is Europe in the past millennium, the author has no choice but to talk about the Crusades immediately after the Battle of Hastings, followed by the Hundred Years War, the Rose War, and the War of Religion. There is also the appearance of modern national warfare.Probably the nature of human beings is like this, and the important turning points in history cannot avoid armed conflicts, so historians have no choice.China's history is no exception, but there are also differences.Just like the people were deeply poisoned by tea during the incident in China, but the days of peace in the world also lasted longer than in other places.For example, the pre-Han and post-Han periods of the Han Dynasty each lasted about 200 years, which is almost equal to the entire history of the United States.So we can look around at other aspects after mentioning the bloody battle.

During this period of Yanwu Xiuwen era, the progress of culture and material life was extremely impressive.The first thing that can be mentioned is the increasing universality of education.China's state-based advocacy of education began in the Han Dynasty.The so-called university is actually a national university founded by Emperor Wu.There were already 3,000 students in the years up to the birth of Christ.When Wang Mang was regent, it is said that the Taixue built had 10,000 dormitories, enough to accommodate the same number of students. This figure may be exaggerated.Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, the master of entrepreneurship in the Later Han Dynasty, and Deng Yu, his think tank, were both Tai students at that time.Another classmate of theirs, Zhang Chong, died early, and the emperor failed to meet him, so he hired his grandson Zhang Pu as the prince's teacher.Moreover, there were six or seven senior generals under Liu Xiu's account who were all academically famous at the time, which shows the popularity of education.In 59 A.D., Liu Zhuang, the second emperor of the Later Han Dynasty, explained the "Shangshu" in the Mingtang of Luoyang.In the 2nd century AD, Taixue had 240 buildings and 1,850 houses.By the middle of this century, the total number of college students totaled 30,000, although historical records do not say whether these students were all in school, or if some of them may only have such a title.At the same time, the atmosphere of private lectures is also very strong.Famous scholars generally have 500 students; the most famous of them even have 3,000 students.

The size of the student population may be an indicator of world peace.It is said that paper appeared in AD 105, but for a long time after that, the classics were still copied on silk, which cost a lot.And for so many scholars, their travel expenses and living expenses for their study tours must also rely on the concentration of wealth to support them.Around AD in the Western calendar, Xi'an was already a large city with 250,000 residents, followed by Luoyang with nearly 200,000 residents. It is indeed regrettable that the majestic buildings of these metropolises in those days have disappeared to this day.China lacks the Parthenon in Athens or the Colosseum in Rome to show off to tourists.There are also no Gothic churches or guild buildings of medieval Europe.Most of the buildings in ancient China were made of wood, which had been burned down long ago.Fortunately, recent archaeological discoveries can provide an outline of the grand design of the metropolis of the day.For example, the city gates on the city wall of Xi'an each have three culverts arranged in parallel.The traces of the wheels prove that each culvert is wide enough to allow four carriages to pass at the same time.The foundation of an auditorium for holding ceremonies shows that the architects at that time did not particularly emphasize the height, but worked hard on the plane scale, and achieved the grace of the design through symmetry and balance.They pay attention to the harmony of geometric patterns, so it can be seen that their belief in natural laws is basically the same as the concept of Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain in England, while in other respects it shows the civilization. The degree has been greatly exceeded.Chinese buildings often form a group of different houses with steps in the middle and surrounded by a circular ditch.

Bronze ware, lacquer ware and clay models from the Han Dynasty can already make up for the lack of literature and history. Scholars who study the Han Dynasty are even more eye-opening because of the unearthed reliefs in the tomb.The carvings on these bricks and stones were originally for the appreciation of the dead. They were buried in the burial pit, facing the coffin.What is surprising is the lack of religious themes such as angels, saviors and atonements.Instead, historical deeds, strange legends, legendary figures or daily life are used as themes.Among them, the item of daily life is the most valuable to us. It provides the most accurate and reliable information on the social history of the Han Dynasty and enables us to have a general understanding of the society of the Han Dynasty.

It can be seen from the portrait bricks that high-level people at that time wore long-sleeved gowns and headscarves.Whether holding a banquet, playing musical instruments, or playing games and explaining scriptures and history, they all sit on the ground.A two-seater carriage is usually used when traveling.Fishing and hunting were still the pastimes of the elite, the theaters did not appear, but singing and dancing abounded, and wealthy families entertained themselves with jugglers and conjurers.Some of the performances of the day are still interesting today. Ordinary people usually wear loose pajama-like cedar and shorts (shorts) when they work, and occasionally add a knee-length robe.Generally, small families (households) are the most basic economic organization, but the cooperation of neighbors is required for farming.The main crops are rice, wheat and millet.Women take sericulture as their regular occupation.Although the government had abolished the salt and iron monopoly system in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the production of salt and iron was still a major public enterprise in the Han Dynasty.Commercial activities are mainly retail businesses run by independent households, which is the same as in the Mainland in the 20th century.What is not mentioned in the reliefs is that signs of poverty are still widespread.The emperors of the Han Dynasty issued edicts from time to time, mentioning floods, droughts and famines.Poor families inevitably sell their family members into slavery.Most slaves only run housework at home, so they make no special contribution to the country's economy.Modern scholars generally believe that slaves in the Han Dynasty accounted for less than 1% of the total population.

Following the military actions of the Han Empire, Chinese culture crossed the Yalu River and entered Korea, and the southernmost part entered the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam.But on the coast of China's main part, there are still places outside China. A gold seal was discovered in Kyushu, Japan 200 years ago, proving that the Han Dynasty once recognized the local chieftain as a vassal.Similar gold seals citing the same design and the same seal script have been unearthed in many parts of China.About 50 years ago, a lacquerware was unearthed in a tomb in Korea, signed by two artists and dated to 4 AD.Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Outer Mongolia, also unearthed lacquerware signed by these two craftsmen, and the date of the signature is equivalent to 2 BC.

By the time of the Later Han Dynasty, the Huns were no longer a serious threat to China.In fact, the two conquests by China in AD 73 and AD 89 are said to have put pressure on the nomads, causing them to migrate westward in wave after wave.Some historians believe that the Huns mentioned in European history in the future may be related to the Huns.It was the long-term war with the Qiang people (Tibetan people) that had a severe impact on the finances of the Later Han Dynasty.It's just that the Qiang people don't have a unified command system, and their invasion is not deep, so they don't attract as much attention as the war against the Huns.At the same time, the scope of the Han army's attack on the Qiang people was also relatively small.

The expansion of China to the northwestern regions was carried out by great adventurers who received the Hanfu Festival.In 139 BC, when it belonged to the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu Liu Che sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions to "break the right arm of the Huns".Although this goal was not fully achieved, China began to have contacts with the countries of the Indo-European language family in Central Asia.In the later Han Dynasty, there was Ban Chao, who was the younger brother of the historian Ban Gu.In 73 AD and 102 AD, Ban Chao led a small number of entourages to the Western Regions.At its peak, there were only about 1,000 volunteers.Ban Chao's secret lies in using China's prestige as capital.Probably the lucrative trade with China and Turkey has made the oasis countries in the barren land yearn for it.Ban Chao used his brilliant diplomatic skills to conquer distant countries with the help of soldiers from nearby countries, and like this, he pushed the prestige of the big man to the Caspian Sea.Sometimes he assembled up to 25,000 troops, and once he even claimed 70,000, all composed of countries west of Congling.From a long-term historical point of view, Ban Chao's cultural and commercial contributions exceeded his political achievements.The territory he has expanded cannot be held forever, but once the merchant camel team is organized, their footprints will remain in history for a long time.Due to the active trade of caravans in the mainland, foreign civilizations including fruits and vegetables and musical instruments (such as "hugua" and "huqin") were introduced from the western regions, which enriched the cultural connotation of China.

From the above, it can be seen that the basic elements that have been handed down to the Chinese empire for thousands of years have existed in the second century AD.At the same time, the empire's national power has also been developed as far as possible to the frontiers.That being the case, why have there been so many changes since then, involving periodic ups and downs?From a macro perspective, this question is not difficult to answer.Once the wealth accumulated in China since the Han Dynasty reached a certain level, it could not be stopped, nor could it be centralized and consolidated institutionally.This is by no means a problem that can be detected and remedied early on.Only because we stand at the back end of history today, with another 1800 years, including the experience of the West, can we put forward a more appropriate explanation for the fall of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Xiu, the master of entrepreneurship in the later Han Dynasty, fits the title of the so-called "gentry class" nowadays.Although he is of imperial descent, his family has become estranged from the imperial family due to his age.His ancestors also came from princes and county guards to his father, who was no more than a county magistrate.When Liu Xiu was young, he was known for his expertise in agricultural management.He once negotiated with the magistrate on behalf of his uncle to repay the land rent owed by the tenants; he also sold rice when it was not harvested.With this background, coupled with his status as a member of the uprising staff, the court of the later Han Dynasty was once known as a government composed of wealthy groups.This is certainly a fact, but we cannot arbitrarily say that they are dedicated to safeguarding the interests of the gentry class from today's perspective.At that time, there was no such legal system sufficient to support such policies, and there was no ideological proposition that could encourage the deacon bureaucrats to participate in such a movement.It is the original creation of the modern West to completely and clearly delineate private property rights and give legal support.

If we want to have a more accurate understanding of the early autocratic era in China, we must make a more detailed observation of the later Han Dynasty. Although two hundred years of intellectual history cannot be summarized in one article, we can say that "natural religion" (natural religion) had a decisive influence in the intellectual history of the Han Dynasty, especially in the later Han Dynasty.Its core concept is the unity of nature and man, and the alternation of yin and yang is not only related to human affairs, but also seen in natural phenomena.Since natural phenomena and human changes are based on the same inner rhythm, they are the same.Since it is the unity of man and nature, there is no longer an opposition between religion and politics, and there is no distinction between the sacred and the secular.According to this logical deduction, there is no longer a clear boundary between life and death.The so-called long life is just to continue the experience of the present world without pain, so it is just right to entertain the dead with relief sculptures, and there is no need for the method of redeeming the body and saving the body.The concept of the unity of man and nature also makes architects try their best to form an ideal perfection when designing, and the beauty must include an overall outline. From the "Hou Han Shu", we can know that the winter solstice is the day with the shortest day and the longest night in a year. Since then, the yin energy has gradually disappeared and the yang energy has gradually grown.Therefore, on this day, the bureaucrats of the Han Dynasty, including the central government and local officials, changed into red robes on time, and all musical instruments were adjusted on that day.The weight of water and charcoal is also measured to verify the influence of seasons on weight changes.The shadow length on the sundial is also measured on that day.It's just that we have no way of determining such and such an activity, only when commending the alternation of yin and yang, its influence affects various things, or because the participation of practice can promote the yin to go and yang to come.In the eyes of people at that time, it may be believed that participation has the effect of advancing. In the Han Dynasty, especially in the later Han Dynasty, the national ceremonies contained the above-mentioned complex elements, which shows that they believed that the imperial court was not just a human organization, and it would be even more inappropriate to use it to protect the interests and privileges of a certain social class.This is not based on the consideration of the interests of the present world, but they believe that the emperor must be responsible to God, so that the hundreds of millions of creatures under his rule are satisfied and happy.Liu Xiu's courtiers persuaded him to go to Mount Tai to enshrine Zen in 54 AD, so as to ensure that he received the bright order of Haotian.At that time, he rejected this proposal on the grounds that the common people had not been able to live and work in peace and contentment.Within two years, he changed his original intention and held the Fengchan ceremony.Of course there is something suspicious about this.What is the standard of living and working in peace and contentment?Who is to make the judgment?Although the answer is ambiguous, it has more functions.Judging from today's perspective, the ideology of the later Han Dynasty focused on keeping everything as it was, while the imperial court hoped to please all parties unanimously.The struggle between Liu Xiu and Wang Mang was short-lived.His empire was actually taken from the hands of rebellious peasants and warlords everywhere, and the conquest lasted more than 10 years.At the beginning, it was because of self-defense and maintaining one's own person and property that they raised their troops. Of course, Liu Xiu and his generals never forgot their own interests.However, he is also familiar with the classics, and based on his field experience in the countryside, he knows that the stability of the country lies in the satisfaction of the requirements of most farmers.The different interests are not easy to reconcile.Therefore, he advocated concepts such as the unity of man and nature, and the harmony of nature. He can maintain freedom in action and is not bound by certain propositions and policies. Instead, he uses subtle means to implement his intentional design of compromise and not going to extremes.Therefore, Liu Xiu pays attention to Feng Shui of public buildings, and he also discusses prophecies of good and bad with the attitude of a scholar.What he pursues is not the happiness of the individual in the afterlife, but the happiness of the empire in the present world.All these actions, words and deeds are recorded in classics.From this point of view, the above-mentioned "natural religion" and "national ceremonies" are both superficial and inward with the purpose of compromise and maintaining the original state.Both Liu Xiu and his son Liu Zhuang strongly advocated this Han Dynasty system of thought. Liu Xiu and Liu Zhuang's performance in finance and taxation is also quite successful.Their policy is to keep the tax rate extremely low, but it is implemented without flexibility within the prescribed range.According to official data, the land tax is only 1/30 of the harvest.The salt and iron monopoly of the former Han Dynasty has been eliminated in the later Han Dynasty.Liu Xiu's edict also repeatedly mentioned the emancipation of slaves as civilians.The tax was fully determined in AD 39.In the following year, ten sheriffs died in prison because of false reports.Their father and son are serious and scheming.The number of taxpayers across the country decreased sharply during Wang Mang's time, but under the auspices of Liu Xiu and his son, the number continued to rise by the end of the 1st century AD. From then on, it can be seen that the new dynasty's measures were appropriate.Things were a bit worse in the 2nd century AD.Although the battles with the Qiang people continued and the life in the palace became more and more luxurious, the treasury still did not have a lot of shortages.However, when dealing with private property, the later Han court exposed its flaws in the system and organization, which eventually led to the downfall of the dynasty. In any case, the expansion of private property always creates problems.This private wealth can be immediately transformed into political power, and sometimes this wealth cannot avoid being contested in the political arena.Sima Qian once pointed out that when many kingdoms rebelled in 154 BC, a businessman in Xi'an made 10 times the profit on the loan within 3 months.In this case, the money he borrowed was to support the central army of the imperial court, but under different circumstances, private wealth could also be used to support the rebel army.In more special cases, the wealth among the villages can even bring about troubles. In the historical development of China's rural areas, small self-cultivating farmers were the main body, but this also constituted an organizational weakness.Small owner farmers operate independently, and each household is also a small businessman.If a group of big businessmen appear at this juncture, there will be a tense situation due to the imbalance among them. It looks like compromise and harmony on the outside, but it is actually a competition between the small and the big.As far as its evolution is concerned, it is inevitable that the rich and powerful will gain power, and the poor and weak will be oppressed.Since the government has no way to tax oil at progressive tax rates, the usual situation is that there is a shortage of tax revenue, and moreover, it has to give money to the poor and helpless people, which is also implicated.Another factor worth noting is that the unification of China since the Qin and Han Dynasties was politically premature, and the customs in many places that might form the basis of the legal system in other countries lack the opportunity to develop and grow in China.The farmland is small, and there is no way to hire a lawyer to seek technical principles for resolving disputes.Disputes over debts, pawns, fore-closures, and dispossessions are seldom resolved in an orderly manner through courts in China.Under normal circumstances, the local wealthy gentry did not show up, and the local gangsters carried out the execution.And that's not all, if the villagers can't solve a certain problem peacefully, the local officials can't solve it rationally.Confucian upbringing made them unable to ignore the difficulties of the poor, but under the principle of maintaining order, they could not ignore the interests of the rich.There are only two ways out for them, either to collude with powerful people behind the scenes to protect themselves, or to resist them to gain a reputation of not being afraid of tyranny.As lower-level bureaucrats hesitate because of the lack of precise laws in the judiciary, the situation of their superiors is probably similar.The above brief description, due to the spiral development, has become an old topic that has been repeatedly seen in the history of Chinese rural areas.There is only one remedy for the inadequacy of the law: that is, that all bureaucrats and common people actually observe discipline. It was not easy to deal with such problems in the later Han Dynasty because of the "Zhongxing".The opportunity has been achieved. Under the condition of maintaining the status quo and not changing things, and adding the semi-religious beliefs of the day, only to be satisfied in this life, then the entire court will not be able to change and move in a certain direction. up.With its laissez-faire policy, the Han Empire was able to recover after a period of recuperation from the fluctuations caused by Wang Mang's usurpation of the throne.But wealth continued to be concentrated in private hands, and had no source other than lending and renting, so far only disturbing the tranquility of the countryside.The local government used to be good at rhetoric in ideology, but short in the ability of managers, so they don't know how to be caught off guard. The advocacy of Confucianism in the Han Dynasty made bureaucratic organizations unanimous in thinking, but it also had a bad effect-scholars had no other career than being an official.Taking knowledge as an end in itself has never been advocated by the government.In the 2nd century A.D., Zhang Heng put forward an ingenious idea, calling the sky like a chicken egg and the earth like an egg yolk.The seismograph he supervised in 132 is said to have a circle diameter of 8 feet, but today there is only a paper illustration picked out by posterity as a witness.Wang Chong, who was roughly his contemporary, kept pointing out that there was no direct relationship between natural phenomena and human affairs.Both of these two thinkers lack latecomers to inherit their theories, and their books are not passed on.On the contrary, in 175 A.D., the government erected a stele in front of Taixue, engraved with the six scriptures, and it is said that scholars who came to copy the scriptures gathered thousands of carts every day. Taking Confucianism as the ladder to become an official began with Emperor Wu.The so-called "inspection" and "requisition" are a forced recommendation system.Those who were cited at the beginning were called "virtuous and upright people".In 134 BC, each county was ordered to elect a "Xiaolian" person.When the system was stabilized in the later Han Dynasty, there was about one filial piety for every 200,000 people.Such "elections" cannot be completely fair and impartial.Those who were elected did not participate in the deliberations like members of parliament under representative politics, but they were awarded official positions.Its influence is only to make the person who is promoted to be an official maintain a lifelong relationship with the person who raised him and the person who promoted him, and regards official affairs as secondary.At this juncture, Confucianism is accustomed to emphasizing personal relationships, rather than strictly respecting the rule of law, which can produce informal influence.Most Tai students in the city form the standard of public opinion, but they focus on personal morality and often act emotionally, which can only make it impossible to solve problems with objective standards. The above factors finally led to an irreparable situation at the end of the dynasty.Often every dispute originates in the country and ends in the capital.When local officials intend to punish local villains, they often find that behind them are local rich gentry who are in charge, and the latter are in collusion with court officials, sometimes relying on eunuchs in the palace as backers.The county magistrate had to enforce it.They interrogated in the name of morality, and enforced the law hastily, even if they sentenced a person to death, the other party also retaliated.As a result, both sides have gone to extremes, and the degree of victimization of well-known bureaucrats and their families is as profound as that of Jiaqiang.From 153 AD to 184 AD, many events that could only have occurred in modern society elsewhere have occurred in China at that time.Thousands of students marched in the streets to demonstrate and petition the government in Luoyang.Mass arrests were carried out; blacklists were compiled.Hundreds of political prisoners have died in prison, details of many of whom have never been released publicly. In the last period of conflict, the so-called disaster of the party, on the one hand, there was the intervention of eunuchs, and on the other hand, there were celebrities who were supported by the Tai students. The general impression was that good people were fighting against evil forces.Although in the short-term perspective, this statement is not incorrect, in the long-term situation, such a conclusion confuses the background.Undoubtedly, on the eve of the fall of the Han Dynasty, the biggest problem was the increasing power of local governments.At that time, the frontiers were intact, and when the situation got out of control, there were no policy disputes between the DPRK and China.The division in the capital was due to the fact that the eunuchs were supported by the new landlords in the countryside and rejected by the old gentry. In fact, both parties were in harmony with the bureaucracy.The edict of 135 A.D. allowed the sons of the eunuchs to inherit their titles and family property, so involving the estates of various counties and counties only made the problem more complicated.It is not unfounded to accuse the eunuch of playing tricks.However, it would be inconsistent with the facts to say that there had been a reasonable and legal arrangement otherwise.If there were indeed effective measures to deal with it at the beginning, the violations must have been dealt with properly, so that problems can be prevented before they happen, and the court will not be alarmed in the future.As a matter of fact, famous people who claim to be just and strict have also imposed the death penalty on those who have been pardoned; some have punished the other party by killing their relatives and guests.This disregard for the law finally brought about the disintegration of the whole regime. In the decisive battle between the two sides in 189 A.D., the eunuch Zhang Rang questioned the general and asked Jin: "You say that the province is filthy. Who are the loyal ones below the minister?" At that time, He Jin stood with celebrities who opposed the eunuch. We won't talk about Zhang Rangzhi's cynical attitude, but his words reveal a piece of truth, which was still not understood by people at the time.Law is different from discipline, it is a coercive force in society.If the lower level has already ignored it, the upper level will not be more serious.If laws are to be effective, legislation must be modeled on the prevailing state of life in general.If it is done in the opposite direction, its implementation will be extremely difficult. The situation at the end of the Han Dynasty was as described above, and its fall is not surprising.When this dynasty was founded, it followed the Qin system and adopted a system of three powers.The prime minister is in charge of all the officials, the censor is in charge of supervision, and the chief minister is in charge of military affairs.Although the titles are often changed in the future (for example, the royal doctor is Da Sikong, and the Da Sima is the general Da Sima), the basic organization remains unchanged.However, at the end of the 2nd century AD, the original concept of setting up officials and divisions of duties had a great distance from the reality.The responsibility for supervision has been assumed by a lower-level bureaucrat called "Sili Xiaowei".This person has the image of the "leader of the opposition party" in the modern state.According to the traditional habits of the Western Han Dynasty, the post of general was always filled by the emperor's uncle, brother-in-law, that is, the official was with his relatives.And because of Huo Guang's interspersed with the momentum of the great general Sima Tong, he was so prominent that he had the right to abolish the establishment.After the middle period of the later Han Dynasty, several underage emperors and even baby emperors appeared in a series, which seemed to be due to chance, but it was also due to the influence of the generals.There are several reasons why eunuchs exercise power.They are close ministers in the palace who participate in secrets and are indispensable to the emperor's subordinates.If the emperor is a minor, he must be relied on by the empress dowager.There were several powerful eunuchs who had established a reputation for defending the royal family.They also have the right to command the Beijing army, which even the great general Da Sima may not be able to control. In the main conflict between the two parties in 189 AD, all artificiality was abandoned.When peasants called "Yellow Turban Bandits" rebelled and threatened Luoyang, the capital, in 184 AD, He Jin, as the half-brother of the Empress Dowager, was promoted to General;In the future, he communicated with Yuan Shao, the Sili school lieutenant.They conspired to summon a frontier army to enter the capital to kill the eunuchs.But the eunuch Zhang Rang struck first in a lightning-fast way.Zhang Shuo, Zhang Rang's younger brother, was killed by Li Ying, another lieutenant of Sili, in disputes, and his wife was the sister of Empress Dowager He.He preached an order to lure He into the palace and murdered him on the spot.When Yuan Shao came to revenge, he burned the palace and killed all the eunuchs who might be arrested, and Zhang Rang threw himself into the water. So far, the Han Dynasty can be said to be exhausted.The frontier army called to Beijing did not have time to participate in the coup, and had no intention of maintaining order after arriving. Its generals were domineering and difficult to control, and its soldiers were undisciplined.Many bureaucrats knew that the leadership of the center could not be restored, so they returned to their hometowns to build docks and organize private troops for self-defense.According to the original so-called "God's Great Destiny".Even if the emperor could not single-handedly control various social classes with different interests, such as landlords and peasants, old and new gentry classes, local government and central government, at least he had to be a powerful arbitrator when they had disputes.In fact, the development took the conflicts in the royal family as the fuse, expanded the power struggle, and stirred up all related social problems at the same time.After that, the Han Dynasty survived in name only and lasted another 30 years.The emperor was actually a prisoner at this time, the capital was burned, and the subjects of the whole empire were about to witness the long-term civil war that had swept across the countryside since then. Many civil servants, although somewhat contrary to their wishes, also became military generals due to the current situation.Some people even predicted in advance that the world would be in chaos.But no one could have imagined that China would lose its symmetry and balance for more than 300 years. The Battle of Guandu in 200 AD is an interesting episode in history.This battle does not solve the problem, but only because the background of the two main generals allows the reader to see the scope of their conflict with insight.It was Yuan Shao who came to invade the army, that is, Captain Sili, who had tried to wipe out all the eunuchs in one go.At this juncture he wished to be the leader of the local forces composed of all parts.Yuan Liang, his sixth-generation ancestor, started his business with this name.Yuan Liang passed on what he had learned to Sun Yuan'an.Because of his academic reputation and talent, Yuan An went from the county magistrate to the county magistrate to Sikong (the superintendent) and Situ (the minister of culture and education).Since then, there has never been a generation of the Yuan family who has not been a high-ranking official in the court, and has the titles of "four generations and three princes" and "students and old officials all over the world". When Yuan Shao raised the flag, his followers are said to have gathered 100,000 soldiers were waiting under his command; it is also said that his food had been transported from Hebei in 10,000 carts.It was Cao Cao who resisted him, and his background was more complicated.Cao Cao's grandfather, Zeng Teng, was an eunuch, and he was the prince to be read in the name of an official of the Huang family.Cao Song, the father of Cao Cao, was the adopted son of Cao Teng.But Cao Cao himself also advocated Xiaolian. At the beginning of the imperial coup, he stood with the celebrities of the bureaucratic group and was known for his talents.Most of his army was compiled by the Yellow Turban descendants, and the supplies were obtained from the military camp.He claimed that at this time he was still maintaining the imperial framework and system of the Han Dynasty, and this statement cannot be fully believed. Cao Cao was victorious at Guandu, but the Han Dynasty lacked the art of bringing the dead back to life after all.Until the rise of the Sui Dynasty at the end of the 6th century AD, China experienced many eras of partial empires and small courts, and at the same time suffered from many foreign invasions.