total war three kingdoms yellow turban rebellion

Total war three kingdoms yellow turban rebellion pro#

When the year is jiǎzǐ, there will be prosperity under Heaven! The Azure Sky is already dead the Yellow Sky will soon rise. When the rebellion was proclaimed, Zhang Jue created a 16-word slogan: Zhang Jue, who was said to be a sorcerer, called himself the 'Great Teacher' ( 大賢良師). The rebels were the first followers of the Way of Supreme Peace ( 太平道 Tàipíng Dào) and venerated the deity Huang–Lao, who according to Zhang Jue, had given him a sacred book called the Crucial Keys to the Way of Peace ( 太平要術 Tàipíng Yàoshù) based on the Taipingjing. The brothers saw how the local government abused the peasants through harsh labour and heavy taxes, leaving them overburdened and hungry.

Total war three kingdoms yellow turban rebellion pro#

They were healers, usually accepting patients pro bono who could not afford to pay them. The brothers had founded a Taoist religious sect in present-day Shandong. The rebellion was led by Zhang Jue (also referred to as Zhang Jiao, known to his followers as the 'General of Heaven') and his two younger brothers Zhang Bao ( 張寶) and Zhang Liang ( 張梁), who were born in Julu Commandery. Government offices were plundered and destroyed and the imperial armies were immediately forced on the defensive. Despite the inevitable lack of co-ordination and overall preparation, tens of thousands of men rose in rebellion. Rebel sympathizers in Luoyang were arrested and executed, and the revolt in the provinces had to begin ahead of time, in the second month of 184. Zhang Jue intended to launch an uprising throughout the Han Empire, but the plan was betrayed before he was ready. The rebels even had allies in the imperial court, and most government officials were either ignorant of their intentions or intimidated by their power. Zhang Jue sent disciples out to gain support and organize followers throughout north China in preparation for a revolt. The Taoist sect of Zhang Jue took advantage of public sentiment to further their plans for a new beginning. Political discontent, as well as droughts and plagues, fuelled public resentment against the Han government. The government was widely regarded as corrupt and incapable and the famines and floods were seen as an indication that a decadent emperor had lost his Mandate of Heaven. Ten of the most powerful eunuchs formed a group known as the Ten Attendants, and Emperor Ling referred to one of them ( Zhang Rang) as his 'foster father'. The power of the landowners had become a long-standing problem, but in the run-up to the rebellion, the court eunuchs in particular gained considerably in influence over the emperor, which they abused to enrich themselves. The strain led to landowners, landless peasants and unemployed veterans forming armed bands (around 170 ) and eventually private armies.Īt the same time, the Han central government was weakening internally. The peasants also suffered from high taxation, imposed to fund the construction of fortifications along the Silk Road and garrisons against foreign infiltration and invasion.

Famine, along with smaller floods along the lower course of the Yellow River, forced many farmers and former military settlers to seek employment in the south, where large landowners took advantage of the labour surplus and amassed large fortunes. The revolt was also used as the opening event in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.įurther information: History of the Han dynasty and Society and culture of the Han dynastyĪ major cause of the rebellion was an agrarian crisis in the north of China. The rebellion, which got its name from the colour of the cloths that the rebels wore on their heads, marked an important point in the history of Taoism due to the rebels' association with secret Taoist societies. It took 21 years until the uprising was fully suppressed in 205 AD. Although the main rebellion was suppressed by 185 AD, pockets of resistance continued and smaller rebellions emerged in later years. The uprising broke out in 184 AD during the reign of Emperor Ling. The Yellow Turban Rebellion, also translated as the Yellow Scarves Rebellion, was a peasant revolt in China against the Eastern Han dynasty.

Northwest China ( Tong Pass * Jicheng * Lucheng * Qi Mtns.

Northern China ( Liyang * Ye * Nanpi * White Wolf Mtn.).