Chapter 86 85 Yellow Turban Revolt

The fatuous Han Lingdi trusted eunuchs and only knew how to eat, drink and play.There was not enough money in the warehouse, so they opened a very special shop in Xiyuan in order to search for money.Rich people can openly come here to buy official positions and titles.They posted a bulletin outside the gate of Hongdu, marking the price of buying an official.Buying a prefect of a county is priced at 20 million yuan, and buying a county magistrate is priced at 4 million yuan; those who can't pay for a while can temporarily pay on credit, and double the payment after he takes office.These officials who spent money to buy officials, of course, worked harder to search for the people's fat and anointment once they took office.The darkness and corruption of the Eastern Han Dynasty can be counted at home.

The corruption of the imperial court, the oppression of powerful landlords, coupled with successive natural disasters, forced the common people to die, and they rose up to resist. First, the peasants in Wu County rose up to attack the county seat and killed the officials.Xu Sheng, a native of Kuaiji, set up an army in Juzhang (now Cixi, Zhejiang Province), and within a few days, more than 10,000 people gathered.Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty ordered the governor of Yangzhou and the prefect of Danyang to send troops to encircle and suppress them, but they were defeated by the peasants who revolted.Xu Sheng became more and more popular, and he even called himself "Emperor Yangming".

In 174 A.D., Sima of Wu County recruited troops and united with state and county officers and soldiers to defeat Xu Sheng.Although the rebel army in Wujun was suppressed, a larger armed uprising was brewing. There are three brothers in Julu County. The eldest is Zhang Jiao, the second is Zhang Bao, and the third is Zhang Liang.All three are quite capable and willing to help the common people. Zhang Jiao knows the way of medicine, and he never asks for money to treat the poor, so the poor support him. He knew that peasants were oppressed by powerful landlords and tortured by natural disasters, how much they longed for a peaceful world so that they could live in peace and contentment.He decided to use religion to organize the masses, founded a sect called Taipingdao, and accepted some disciples to preach with him.

More and more people believe in Taipingdao.Zhang Jiao also sent his brothers Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang and his disciples to travel around, treating diseases while preaching.It took about ten years for Taiping Tao to spread throughout the country.Whether the common people believe it or not, there is no one who does not know the way of peace.The number of believers in various places has grown to hundreds of thousands. At that time, officials in counties and counties only believed that Taiping Dao was a sect of persuading people to do good and cure people, and no one seriously asked about it. One or two ministers in the imperial court saw Miao Zi and asked Emperor Ling to order a ban on Taiping Dao.Emperor Han Ling was busy building his forest garden, and he didn't take Taiping Dao seriously.

Zhang Jiao and the others organized hundreds of thousands of farmers from eight states across the country and divided them into thirty-six parties, with more than 10,000 people in the big party and six to seven thousand people in the small party. Each party elected a leader and Zhang Jiao unified command. They secretly agreed that on the fifth day of March in the "Jiazi" year (AD 184), the thirty-six parties would uprising in the capital and the whole country at the same time. ", refers to the Eastern Han Dynasty; "Huangtian", refers to the Taiping Road.They also secretly sent people to write the word "Jiazi" with white powder on the gates of temples in Luoyang and government offices in various states and counties, as a code for the uprising.

However, at the critical juncture of more than a month before the uprising, a traitor appeared within the uprising army and informed the Eastern Han regime.The court immediately searched Luoyang.Ma Yuanyi, who was doing liaison work in Luoyang, was unfortunately arrested and died. More than 1,000 people connected with Taipingdao were also killed. Due to the sudden change in the situation, Zhang Jiao made a prompt decision and decided to revolt one month in advance.Zhang Jiao called himself General Tiangong, Zhang Bao as General Digong, and Zhang Liang as General Rengong.The uprising peasants in the thirty-six directions revolted at the same time as soon as they received Zhang Jiao's order.All the peasants who revolted wore yellow scarves on their heads as a symbol, so they were called "Yellow Turban Army".

Rebel armies from all over the country attacked counties and counties, burned government buildings, opened prisons, released prisoners, confiscated the property of officials, opened granaries, and punished officials and powerful landlords.In less than ten days, the whole country responded.Rebel armies from all over the country rushed to Luoyang from all directions, and emergency documents from various counties and counties flew to Luoyang, Kyoto like snowflakes. Emperor Han Ling hurriedly summoned his ministers to discuss the suppression measures. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty worshiped his relative He Jin as the grand general, and at the same time sent a large number of troops, led by Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun (sound jun), and Lu Zhi, to suppress the Yellow Turban Army in two groups.

However, the insurgents in various places seemed to have broken through the mouth of the river, and the government could not resist.General He Jin had no choice but to ask Han Lingdi to issue an edict, ordering the states and counties to recruit their own troops to deal with the Yellow Turban Army.As a result, clan aristocrats, state and county governors, and powerful landlords all took the opportunity to seize territory and expand their power in the name of fighting the Yellow Turban Army, tearing the entire country apart. Faced with the bloody suppression of the Eastern Han Dynasty court and local landlords, the Yellow Turban Army persisted in nine months of arduous and tenacious fighting.At the critical moment of the intense battle, Zhang Jiao, the leader of the Yellow Turban Army, unfortunately died of illness.After Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao led the soldiers of the rebel army to fight the enemy to the death, they died in the battle one after another.

Although the main force of the rebel army failed.But the broken Yellow Turban Army has been fighting for 20 years.After the fatal blow of this large-scale uprising, the decadent rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty was dying.