The Yellow Turban Rebellion Emperor Ling of Han

chariots , cavalry, detail of mural dahuting tomb (chinese: 打虎亭汉墓, pinyin: dahuting han mu) of late eastern han dynasty (25-220 ad), located in zhengzhou, henan province, china

sometime before 183, major taoist rebel movement had started in ji province (present-day central hebei) – taiping sect (太平教), led zhang jiao, claimed had magical powers heal sick. 183, teachings , followers had spread 8 provinces – ji province, qing province (present-day central , eastern shandong), xu province (present-day northern jiangsu , anhui), province (present-day northern hebei, liaoning, beijing , tianjin), jing province (present-day hubei , hunan), yang province (present-day southern jiangsu , anhui, jiangxi , zhejiang), yan province (present-day western shandong), , yu province (present-day central , eastern henan). several key imperial officials became concerned zhang jiao s hold on followers, , suggested taiping sect disbanded. emperor ling did not listen them.

zhang jiao had in fact planned rebellion. commissioned 36 military commanders, set shadow government, , wrote declaration: blue heaven dead. yellow heaven come being. year jiazi. world blessed. (under traditional chinese sexagenary cycle calendar method, 184 first year of cycle, known jiazi.) zhang jiao had supporters write jiazi in large characters white talc everywhere – including on doors of government offices in imperial capital , other cities. 1 of zhang jiao s followers, ma yuanyi (馬元義), plotted 2 eunuchs start uprising inside palace.

early in 184, plot discovered, , ma yuanyi arrested , executed. emperor ling ordered taiping sect members arrested , executed, , zhang jiao declared rebellion. every member of rebellion wore yellow turban or headscarf symbol – , therefore rebellion became known it. within month, zhang jiao controlled large areas of territory. under suggestion eunuch lü qiang (呂強), sympathetic partisans, emperor ling pardoned partisans ward off possibility join yellow turbans. (lü qiang himself became victim, however, when other eunuchs, in retaliation, falsely accused him of wanting depose emperor, , committed suicide later year.)

emperor ling sent out number of military commanders against yellow turbans, , in these campaigns several of them distinguished – including huangfu song, cao cao, fu xie (傅燮), zhu jun, lu zhi, , dong zhuo. key military development great implications later yellow turbans fought troops deployed battle-tested liang province (涼州; present-day gansu) had been accustomed suppressing rebellions qiang tribes. in late 184, zhang jiao killed, , while rest of yellow turbans not defeated immediately, gradually dissipated following year. because of liang province forces contributions campaign, began feared , began down on troops other provinces. during , in aftermaths of yellow turban rebellion, many people other provinces, in order ward off pillaging yellow turbans or governmental forces, organised military groups, , number resisted government forces, , after yellow turbans defeated, central government s control of provinces no longer used be.