The Three Kingdoms was a short and bloody period of Chinese history. Although relatively short, this historical period has been greatly romanticized in Chinese culture. Stories have been told and passed on through the centuries in many ways, some in the forms of operas, folk stories, and novels and in more recent times, films and TV episodes.
This period starts in 220 AD in strict terms, but most scholars and researchers say to give a more accurate account it is better to start from the time of the Yellow Turbans in 188 AD, which will give a more detailed introduction.
After series of Child Han Emperors taking the throne in succession, the Han Empire was not ruled by a single emperor for a long time but by the Emperor’s elder relatives entwined with court eunuchs who greedily would not let go of there power when the Emperors had come of age. With many leading officials not happy, dissatisfaction soon reached its peak. Two waves of Court Officials open protests under two separate ruling of Emperors Huan and Ling were dealt with court eunuchs persuading the Emperor to have them all executed. Soon after in 184AD after much chaos had spread through China, Zhang Jue, the leader of the Dao Supreme Harmony Daoist movement along with his two brothers Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, led a rebellion Known as the Yellow Turban Rebellion against the Han government under the rule of the puppet Emperor Ling.
The Yellow Turban rebellion quickly gained strength with the accumulation of 36 bases scattered throughout China and a following of several hundred thousand strong. There motto was “The Han Emperor is already dead, Lord Zhang Jue shall take his stead, the year cycle is at its head, into fortune shall all be lead” . Emperor Ling sent Generals Huangfu Song, Lu Zhi, and Zhu Jun with there armies and the Yellow Turbans were ultimately defeated with there surviving followers dispersed throughout China hiding in mountainous regions. With surviving Bandits all across China frequently rebelling and raiding, the Han government had no way of control, so Emperor Ling with the suggestion from his governor Liu Yan returned power to the provinces giving the local governors authority to command there armies and states with no direction from the Emperor, this action lead to Officials ignoring the ruling Han and slowly but surely becoming rulers themselves in there own right.
After Emperor Lings death there was a conspiracy to replace the rightful ruling emperor with another chosen by the Ten Attendants of the imperial palace and to kill the general He Jin, who would be a hindrance to there plan, the General got news of this and plotted with warlord Yuan Shao to assassinate the Ten Attendants ( ten palace eunuchs who controlled much of the imperial court with there leader Zhang Rhang). He Also gave word to General Dong Zhuo to move his army in to keep rule, Dong Zhuo lead a large and skillful army up north defending China against the powerful northern tribe of the Qiang.
The eunuchs found out the generals plan and killed him before warlord Yuan Shao arrived. Upon Yuan Shao’s arrival he quickly assassinated the Ten Attendants and there two thousand of so followers. This left a void in the imperial court and when Dong Zhou arrived with his highly skilled army he had no problems with little resistance filling that void and effectively taking power.
Dong Zhou although at the beginning wanted what was best for the empire by re-establishing one of the surviving relatives of the Han, Emperor Xian and thereby returning power and order to the rightful ruling family. But gradually the general became lost in his ideals and became cruel, executing all who opposed him, ignoring the laws and protocol of the imperial court and openly disrespecting the Emperor. Eventually the other warlords of the surrounding provinces united to defeat Dong Zhou driving him West to Chang’an, although he did not go without first driving masses of people west with him and left the biggest city in China at the time, Louyang burning behind him, not to leave it to the enemy. He was assassinated later by his adopted son with the help of a court official named Wang Yun.
At this point in 191 AD there was many separate warlords vying for control, you had Yuan Shao in the north of Ye, Cao Cao directly in the south beneath him, Sun Ce in the lower Yanzi, Liu Zhang in Yixzhou in the West and Ma Teng along with a band of other warlords in the NorthWest, these main players were consuming the other smaller warlords with each one growing more powerful. Cao Cao at this time was conquering neighbouring rivals up North and made a decisive decision to receive Emperor Xian who fled Luoyang in the west from general Li Jue. This decision won him favour with rivals who were more willing to join him and along with hiring farmers to support his army who were happy to do so for stability, gave him the ingredients he needed for success and not long after and with many important battles won he became the ultimate ruler of the North having full control of the now Kingdom of Wei.
From here Cao Cao turned his attention to the south with longings for a single unified China and marched his armies down defeating one province after another. He aquired a sizeable fleet of ships at the seizure of Jianling and it all came to head in the winter of 208 AD on the Yangtze river at the naval battle of RedCliffs. In the south two forces joined, warlords Liu Bei, a recent refugee of the north and Sun Quan, who's army were expert in the naval field. Cao Cao knew that to have control of the south he needed control of the navy. Liu Bei and Sun Quan had a total of 50,000 against Cao Caos 200,000 men. The battle was a series of skirmishes with Cao Cao losing each fight due to the long battle and journey previously had, not used to being navy men and loyalty of men who had just been defeated by him and forced to join. Liu Bei and Sun Quan made a final decisive move against Cao Caos fleet by sending fireships (ships equipped with bundles of reids and timber soaked in animal fat),throwing these fire bombs on board of the enemy, setting much of Cao Caos Fleet on fire, and sending him back up North defeated winning the battle of RedCliffs and ensuring there control of the south. This important victory created the Kingdoms of Shu and Wu down south while leaving Wei up north.
Cao Cao 211 AD returned and was contented with authorising his power in the NorthWest region. In 217 AD the puppet Emperor gave title to Cao Cao as the Prince of Wei. In 220 AD he died and his son Cao Pi took his position and soon after in the same year took Emperor Xian's position also, ending the Han era and starting The Three Kingdoms proper.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms
This period starts in 220 AD in strict terms, but most scholars and researchers say to give a more accurate account it is better to start from the time of the Yellow Turbans in 188 AD, which will give a more detailed introduction.
After series of Child Han Emperors taking the throne in succession, the Han Empire was not ruled by a single emperor for a long time but by the Emperor’s elder relatives entwined with court eunuchs who greedily would not let go of there power when the Emperors had come of age. With many leading officials not happy, dissatisfaction soon reached its peak. Two waves of Court Officials open protests under two separate ruling of Emperors Huan and Ling were dealt with court eunuchs persuading the Emperor to have them all executed. Soon after in 184AD after much chaos had spread through China, Zhang Jue, the leader of the Dao Supreme Harmony Daoist movement along with his two brothers Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, led a rebellion Known as the Yellow Turban Rebellion against the Han government under the rule of the puppet Emperor Ling.
The Yellow Turban rebellion quickly gained strength with the accumulation of 36 bases scattered throughout China and a following of several hundred thousand strong. There motto was “The Han Emperor is already dead, Lord Zhang Jue shall take his stead, the year cycle is at its head, into fortune shall all be lead” . Emperor Ling sent Generals Huangfu Song, Lu Zhi, and Zhu Jun with there armies and the Yellow Turbans were ultimately defeated with there surviving followers dispersed throughout China hiding in mountainous regions. With surviving Bandits all across China frequently rebelling and raiding, the Han government had no way of control, so Emperor Ling with the suggestion from his governor Liu Yan returned power to the provinces giving the local governors authority to command there armies and states with no direction from the Emperor, this action lead to Officials ignoring the ruling Han and slowly but surely becoming rulers themselves in there own right.
After Emperor Lings death there was a conspiracy to replace the rightful ruling emperor with another chosen by the Ten Attendants of the imperial palace and to kill the general He Jin, who would be a hindrance to there plan, the General got news of this and plotted with warlord Yuan Shao to assassinate the Ten Attendants ( ten palace eunuchs who controlled much of the imperial court with there leader Zhang Rhang). He Also gave word to General Dong Zhuo to move his army in to keep rule, Dong Zhuo lead a large and skillful army up north defending China against the powerful northern tribe of the Qiang.
The eunuchs found out the generals plan and killed him before warlord Yuan Shao arrived. Upon Yuan Shao’s arrival he quickly assassinated the Ten Attendants and there two thousand of so followers. This left a void in the imperial court and when Dong Zhou arrived with his highly skilled army he had no problems with little resistance filling that void and effectively taking power.
Dong Zhou although at the beginning wanted what was best for the empire by re-establishing one of the surviving relatives of the Han, Emperor Xian and thereby returning power and order to the rightful ruling family. But gradually the general became lost in his ideals and became cruel, executing all who opposed him, ignoring the laws and protocol of the imperial court and openly disrespecting the Emperor. Eventually the other warlords of the surrounding provinces united to defeat Dong Zhou driving him West to Chang’an, although he did not go without first driving masses of people west with him and left the biggest city in China at the time, Louyang burning behind him, not to leave it to the enemy. He was assassinated later by his adopted son with the help of a court official named Wang Yun.
At this point in 191 AD there was many separate warlords vying for control, you had Yuan Shao in the north of Ye, Cao Cao directly in the south beneath him, Sun Ce in the lower Yanzi, Liu Zhang in Yixzhou in the West and Ma Teng along with a band of other warlords in the NorthWest, these main players were consuming the other smaller warlords with each one growing more powerful. Cao Cao at this time was conquering neighbouring rivals up North and made a decisive decision to receive Emperor Xian who fled Luoyang in the west from general Li Jue. This decision won him favour with rivals who were more willing to join him and along with hiring farmers to support his army who were happy to do so for stability, gave him the ingredients he needed for success and not long after and with many important battles won he became the ultimate ruler of the North having full control of the now Kingdom of Wei.
From here Cao Cao turned his attention to the south with longings for a single unified China and marched his armies down defeating one province after another. He aquired a sizeable fleet of ships at the seizure of Jianling and it all came to head in the winter of 208 AD on the Yangtze river at the naval battle of RedCliffs. In the south two forces joined, warlords Liu Bei, a recent refugee of the north and Sun Quan, who's army were expert in the naval field. Cao Cao knew that to have control of the south he needed control of the navy. Liu Bei and Sun Quan had a total of 50,000 against Cao Caos 200,000 men. The battle was a series of skirmishes with Cao Cao losing each fight due to the long battle and journey previously had, not used to being navy men and loyalty of men who had just been defeated by him and forced to join. Liu Bei and Sun Quan made a final decisive move against Cao Caos fleet by sending fireships (ships equipped with bundles of reids and timber soaked in animal fat),throwing these fire bombs on board of the enemy, setting much of Cao Caos Fleet on fire, and sending him back up North defeated winning the battle of RedCliffs and ensuring there control of the south. This important victory created the Kingdoms of Shu and Wu down south while leaving Wei up north.
Cao Cao 211 AD returned and was contented with authorising his power in the NorthWest region. In 217 AD the puppet Emperor gave title to Cao Cao as the Prince of Wei. In 220 AD he died and his son Cao Pi took his position and soon after in the same year took Emperor Xian's position also, ending the Han era and starting The Three Kingdoms proper.
Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms
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