【The Fall of the Yingchuan Yellow Turban Army】

In April, Zhu Jun and the Bocai army fought, defeated, and was forced to retreat to Changshe with Huangfu Song, and was soon besieged by the army led by Bocai, and at the same time, the Yellow Turban Army in Runan also defeated Taishou Zhao Qian in Shaoling. In the north, Youzhou Assassin Shi Guo Xun and Taishou Liu Wei were also defeated and killed by the Guangyang Yellow Turban.

In order to understand the siege of Changshe, the imperial court sent Cao Cao, a cavalry captain and a native of Peiguo, to rescue Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun.

At that time, Bo Cai led the Yellow Turban Army to besiege Huangfu Song in Changshe County, the strength of the two sides was extremely unequal, Huangfu Song's soldiers were far less than the Yellow Turban Army, and many generals in the city were very panicked, but Huangpu Song was still calm.

Outside the city, the camp of the Yellow Turban Army was set up in a barren grass, and when the wind was blowing, Huangfu Song asked the soldiers to go to the city with bundles of reeds and grass. In addition, he ordered a group of warriors to sneak over the encirclement, set fire to the grass and shout. At the same time, the sergeants in the city also lit torches in unison, echoing it. Huangfu Song led the army out of the city with drums and shouts, and smashed the enemy formation.

Due to the cries of the government army everywhere, the Yellow Turban Army was shocked and scattered and fled. At this time, it happened that Cao Cao arrived with his troops. In May, Huangfu Song, Cao Cao and Zhu Jun joined forces and fought again, defeating the Yellow Turban Army and killing tens of thousands of people. Emperor Ling named Emperor Fu Song as the marquis of the capital.

Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun took advantage of the victory to attack the Yellow Turban Army in Runan County and Chen State, pursued the Yellow Turban general Bocai in Yangzhai, and attacked Peng Tuo, another general of the Yellow Turban Army in Xihua, all of which were victorious. The remaining troops of the Yellow Turban Army either surrendered or fled, and the rebellion in the three counties was all put down, and the Yellow Turban Army in the area of Yuzhou was finally exterminated. Huangfu Song wrote a report on the combat situation and attributed the credit to Zhu Jun. So the imperial court made Zhu Jun the Marquis of Xixiang and promoted him to the general of the town thief.

After the victory in the East, Huangfu Song was ordered to crusade against the Yellow Turban Army in Dongjun, while Zhu Jun attacked the Yellow Turban Army in Nanyang.

[The Fall of the Nanyang Yellow Turban Army]

In the south, Nanyang Taishou Qin Jie, after more than 100 days of fighting with Zhang Mancheng, achieved a phased victory and killed Zhang Mancheng. However, the Yellow Turban Army was changed to Zhao Hong as the commander, and after the Yellow Turban Army from other places took refuge, its power expanded again, and the number rose to more than 100,000 people, who were entrenched in Wancheng and still posed a considerable threat.

Zhu Jun combined with the three armies of Xu Xuan and Qin Jie, the assassin of Jingzhou, with a total of 18,000 troops to besiege Zhao Hong, but due to the small number of troops, from June to August, they were unable to conquer Wancheng.

Therefore, many people demanded that Zhu Jun be transferred back. But at this time, Sikong Zhang Wen wrote: "In the past, the Qin State appointed Bai Qi, and the Yan State appointed Le Yi, and it was after years of hard work that they could defeat the enemy. During the conquest of the Yingchuan Yellow Turban, he had already established his military exploits, waved his army to the south, and had determined the battle plan; Changing commanders in the middle of war is a taboo for soldiers. He should be given some more time to succeed. "The Spirit Emperor just gave up. Soon, Zhu Jun launched an attack and beheaded Zhao Hong.

Although he killed Zhao Hong, the leader of the Yellow Turban Army, the Yellow Turban Army took Han Zhong as its commander, and at that time, Zhu Jun asked the soldiers to beat the snare drum to attack the southwest corner of Wancheng, and the Yellow Turban Army rushed there to resist. Zhu Jun personally led his elite troops to attack the northeast corner of Wancheng, climbed the city wall and entered, and broke through the outer city. Han Zhong retreated to the inner city, panicked, and demanded surrender.

The generals were willing to accept it, but Zhu Jun said: "In the military, there are situations where the form is the same but the substance is different, in the past, when Emperor Gao and Xiang Yu competed for hegemony at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the people did not have a certain monarch, so they should reward those who belong to them to encourage people to come and submit." If it is unified today, only the Yellow Turbans will rise up in rebellion, and if their surrender is accepted, it will not be possible to encourage those law-abiding people; And harsh repression can punish criminals. Accepting their surrender now would further bolster the rebels' momentum, attacking when it was advantageous and asking for surrender when it was unfavorable. This is an indulgence of the enemy, not the best policy. ”

So Zhu Jun refused the surrender of the Yellow Turban Army and launched another continuous onslaught, but failed to overcome it.

Although Zhu Jun used the opportunity of attacking the east and the west to break through the outer city and forced Han Zhong to surrender, the official army still did not completely capture Wancheng after more than four months.

Then he climbed Tushan to observe the situation of the Yellow Turban Army, turned back to Sima Zhang Chao and said, "I know the reason. Now the rebels are tightly surrounded, the internal situation is critical, they cannot surrender, and there is no way out to break through the siege, so they fight to the death. Ten thousand people are one heart, which is already unstoppable, let alone one hundred thousand people! It is better to remove the encirclement and concentrate forces to attack the city. When Han Zhong saw that the siege was lifted, he was bound to come out to survive by himself, and he would definitely find his own way out of the city, and his fighting spirit would be completely lost. This is the best way to break the enemy. ”

So Zhu Jun changed his strategy to break the siege and gave the Yellow Turban Army a "way out", Han Zhong really hit the battle, Zhu Jun broke Han Zhong, Han Zhong surrendered, and was finally killed by Qin Jie, who had a grudge against him. After Han Zhong surrendered and was killed, the Yellow Turban Army Gate in Wancheng would rather die than surrender, and promoted Sun Xia as the commander.

Zhu Jun launched a fierce attack, Sima Sun Jian led his subordinates to climb the city wall first, the official army finally captured Wancheng, Sun Xia fled, Zhu Jun chased to Jingshan in Xi'e County, once again defeated the Yellow Turban Army, and killed more than 10,000 people.

The Nanyang Yellow Turban Army was finally pacified by Zhu Jun.

[The Fall of the Yellow Turban Army in Jizhou]

The Jizhou Yellow Turban Army led by Zhang Jiao was undoubtedly the main force in the Yellow Turban Army.

At that time, although the Yellow Turban Army was numerous, its equipment was weak and its military discipline was uneven, so Zhang Jiao did not have the upper hand in the face of the main force of the Eastern Han Dynasty led by Lu Zhi. At that time, the Han army had the upper hand, and Lu Zhi was preparing the army and manufacturing equipment to prepare to capture Guangzong, but unfortunately because he refused to bribe the eunuch Zuo Feng, who inspected the military situation, he was falsely accused by Zuo Feng of ineffective combat, and Emperor Ling was furious, dismissed Lu Zhi, and escorted him back to Beijing, where he was sentenced to a punishment that was lighter than the death penalty. Later, Dong Zhonglang, a general from Dongzhonglang and Dong Zhuo, a native of Longxi, replaced Lu Zhi.

After Lu Zhizhi was deposed, Zhang Jiao was given a respite, he organized the army, strengthened training, and replaced work with ease, and broke Dong Zhuo, who was also punished and dismissed. At this time, Huangfu Song and the Yellow Turban Army fought in Cangting, capturing the Yellow Turban Army general Bu Si, so Emperor Ling issued an edict to lead the army to conquer Zhang Jiao with Huangfu Song as the main leader.

After Huang Fu Song led the army to arrive, it happened that Zhang Jiao died of illness, but the Yellow Turban Army led by Zhang Liang was also brave and good at fighting, and Huang Fu Song failed to win. The next day, Huangfu Song closed the camp gate and let the soldiers rest to observe the changes in the enemy army. Seeing that the mood of the Yellow Turban Army was gradually relaxed, he took advantage of the night to deploy the army, and when the rooster crowed in the early morning, he galloped towards the enemy formation. In the evening, the Yellow Turban Army was defeated, Zhang Liang was beheaded, more than 30,000 Yellow Turban troops were killed, and about 50,000 were forced to fall into the river and drown.

In November, Huangfu Song and Julu Taishou Guo Dian beheaded Zhang Bao in Quyang, conquered Quyang, and captured more than 100,000 people.

As a result, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was put down in less than ten months from its outbreak to its end.

Although the three brothers of Zhang Jiao died, the Yellow Turban Army did not end in the real sense, and there were many other parties, including dozens of large and small forces such as Black Mountain, Baibo, Huanglong, Zuoxiao, and Qingniujiao. In the fifth year of Zhongping (188), the remnants of the Yellow Turbans rebelled again, and the remnants of the Yellow Turbans rose up one after another. Although the Yellow Turban Rebellion was put down, it did not mark the end, but only a prologue before the curtain began. After that, the imperial court delegated power to the localities, and the Eastern Han Dynasty fell into extinction step by step.