The Uprising of the Yellow Armbands is one of the largest public appearances in ancient China. Its reasons are caused by such factors as the weakness of the royal elite, the feuds of political parties of the nobility, the merciless exploitation of the peasantry and an unprecedented economic decline. And also its difference lies in particularly cruel methods of suppression.
Background of the Yellow Armband Uprising: Briefly on the Situation in the Country
The situation preceding the uprising in China was as follows. In the II century BC e. in the Celestial Empire, the Han dynasty rules, overthrew the Qin dynasty in 206 BC. e. The once prosperous Han empire is in political and economic decline.
Its military power is also weakening. China is losing influence in the western territories, the northeastern and northern lands are attacked by the xianbi tribes (ancient Mongol nomads).
Social inequality is becoming disastrous. Small landowners go broke and become dependent on larger farms called "strong houses." Famine begins among the peasants, the population is massively declining. The situation is aggravated by crop failure and the plague epidemic. Rebellions erupt, peasants declare mass hunger strikes.
Among the two ruling classes, called "scientists" and "eunuchs," the contradictions are becoming stronger, each of the groups is fighting to strengthen political influence.
Reasons for the Yellow Armband Rise
Rebellion erupts for the following reasons. The state is losing control of the average landowners and peasants, dependent on "strong houses". Medium and small owners lease land from large, paying them a huge rent. Those try to hide taxes from the state, appropriating them to themselves.
In this case, the fiscal load increases. The central government is losing its power, as “strong houses” cease to reckon with it. In addition to wealth, they have their own army of up to ten thousand people.
Famine begins and the extinction of entire villages. Many go into the woods, wander, hunger riots break out, cannibalism spreads. The economy is in decline.
A political group called "scientists" is trying to carry out a coup and bring its protege to power. However, the conspiracy is revealed, many rebels are executed, the rest of the dissatisfied are thrown into prisons.
The beginning of performances
As a result of the above events, a large-scale revolt erupts in the empire, which is raised by small landowners, free producers, peasants and slaves. It began in 184 AD. e. and was hereinafter called the Uprising of the Yellow Armbands. The rebellion had fatal consequences for the Han dynasty .
The Yellow Bandage uprising in China was led by Taoist preacher Zhang Jio, who was also the founder of one of the secret sects. They planned to start it on the fifth of the third month of 184 A.D. e. Ma Yuan, one of Zhang Jio's closest associates, traveled to Luoyang County to discuss the details of the uprising with the Allies.
However, because of the denunciation, which revealed the date of the speech against the government and the names of the conspirators, he was arrested and executed. Numerous supporters of Zhang Jio were also executed in the capital.
Upon learning of the execution of Ma Yuan, Zhang Jio ordered the immediate start of the uprising, without waiting for the scheduled date. It was agreed that all participants should tie yellow scarves on their heads, from which came the name "Yellow Bandage Rise".
Continuation of revolutionary events
Together with Zhang Jio, the Yellow Bandage uprising in Ancient China was led by his siblings, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, as military commanders. It rose in the second month of 184 A.D. e., and at the time of the first speech, the army of Zhang Jio totaled more than 360 thousand people. A week later, riots were supported on an impressive territory, from Sichuan to Shandong.
Every day the number of rebels increased at times. The largest revolutionary events took place in the provinces of Henan, Hubei, Hebei and Shandong. Small rebel armies attacking cities killed officials and local nobles, set fire to government buildings, and looted food stores.
They appropriated the wealth of the rich, flooded the fields, released prisoners from prisons, freed slaves. Many of the liberated people joined the rebel army. Finding out that in the neighboring provinces the indignation of the poor is burning, the nobles and the officials fled in a panic.
The feud between political groups
While the uprising of the Yellow Armbands was blazing throughout the empire, hostility between political groups - “scientists” and “eunuchs” —were aggravated at court. The former claimed that the main causes of the uprising were the cruelty and abuse of the “eunuchs” who patronized the “strong houses”. The second, along with their associates, in turn, spoke of high treason on the part of the "scientists."
Emperor Liu Hong (Ling-di) convenes a Council of State at which a decision is made to immediately send an army of 400,000 to suppress rebel forces. However, government troops sent to fight the rebels constantly suffered defeats in the battles.
Observing the helplessness of the imperial army and the authorities as a whole, representatives of the nobility and "strong houses" realized the danger of their situation. Together with influential commanders, they began to form forces for independent struggle against the large army of the people who had risen to the struggle.
Rout of rebellion
The troops gathered by the nobility and "strong houses" began to prevail over the rebel armies. After that, they extremely brutally dealt with all who met him on the way, not sparing women, children and the elderly. The captives were also exterminated. One of the bloodiest military commanders of the army of the nobility was Huangfu Sun, who, according to legend, killed more than two million people.
In the sixth month of 184, punitive forces opposed Zhang Jio's troops in Hebei. He took up defense in one of the cities and successfully restrained the offensive. After his sudden death, the elder brother Zhang Liang takes command.
Desperate resistance was unsuccessful, and Zhang Liang’s army was completely defeated, and he himself died in battle. In this battle, more than 30 thousand rebels were killed, and more than 50 thousand died, drowning in the river and swamps, fleeing. Zhang Jio's younger brother, Zhang Bao, led the remaining rebel forces, but as a result of fierce fighting, he was defeated, captured and executed.
Last resistance
The death of the main leaders of the uprising significantly weakened the rebel forces, but they did not stop their resistance. New leaders appeared, and the fierce struggle against the troops of the nobility and "strong houses" continued again.
By the beginning of 185, the punitive army defeated the main forces of the Yellow Armband uprising in the central provinces of China, however, small detachments continued to resist. After the uprising began all over China, a large wave of resistance and riots unrelated to Zhang Jio and his sect arose. In the battle near Kukunor, the rebels led by Bo-Yem and Bei-Gong defeated the bloody army of Huangfu Song.
For about twenty years, various rebel forces, including the Yellow Armbands, successfully resisted the nobility in many parts of the empire, gaining numerous victories. And only by 205 the army of "strong houses" and the nobility managed to almost completely deal with the rebels.
Historical implications
After briefly speaking about the uprising of the Yellow Armbands in China, one cannot help but mention what these bloody events turned into in the future and what were the consequences.
The last units of the Yellow Armbands were destroyed in 208. The most brutal representative of the nobility Cao Cao, who defeated one of the last leaders of the rebels, Yuan Tanya, completed the massacre.
The suppressors of popular rallies gathered large armies, the heads of "strong houses" and generals completely ceased to take into account the interests of the emperor, who at that time had no authority with them. Drowning in the blood of numerous uprisings of the common people, they began a fierce internecine struggle for influence and power in the empire.
After years of bloody wars, the emperor of the Han dynasty was killed, and China was divided into three parts. The empire was destroyed and the era of the Three Kingdoms began.
This uprising, like other riots, showed the complete failure of the Han empire in the field of protecting its interests and those of the entire ruling class. It is safe to say that the uprising of the Yellow Armbands and the fall of the Han Empire are directly related.