Chapter 63: A Single Battle Moves the World, Liu Hong Collapses

The outcome of this battle had, in fact, been decided from the very beginning.

The strengths the Yellow Turban Army relied upon—

—all crumbled to nothing when faced with Gu Xi.

Moreover, the core issues plaguing the Yellow Turban Army were often magnified at such moments.

For someone like Gu Xi, whose mastery over the human heart had long reached the heavens,

he only needed to amplify these problems.

That was enough to throw the Yellow Turban Army into total chaos.

The result was self-evident.

Zhang Jiao appearing in person did indeed significantly boost the morale of the entire Yellow Turban Army.

But what of it?

Gu Xi sending people to infiltrate their ranks was the very method to break this stalemate!

And most crucially, when the Han Army charged, Gu Xi left a path open, allowing the Yellow Turban soldiers, who had already lost their composure, to cast aside their armor and flee.

In such a state,

one person leaving might not be enough to affect the army's morale.

But what about ten, or a hundred?

What about a thousand, or ten thousand?

The entire battle line of the Yellow Turban Army collapsed rapidly, and countless people tore off their yellow turbans and fled in a panic.

This trend influenced the entire army even further.

The problems in military discipline were completely exposed.

The outcome was set!

—Late in the sixth month of the sixth year of Jianning.

Zhang Jiao and Gu Xi fought on the banks of the Zhanghe.

The Yellow Turban Army was routed and fled.

The Han Army returned to Yecheng, completely tearing open the Yellow Turban Army's defensive line in Jizhou.

Gu Xi had clearly made his preparations long ago.

Facing the surrendering Yellow Turban soldiers, he quickly established a strategy: incorporating the able-bodied into the army and granting them land.

His previous policies proved immensely useful at this moment.

Why did Gu Xi want to requisition land from the great clans?

The implications were numerous.

It was not just to take this opportunity to tear a hole in the influence of the great clans.

It was also intended to reduce casualties.

No matter what, he had to provide these commoners with a way out.

Otherwise, the bloodshed caused by this great chaos would surely far exceed anything in the past.

The common people are the foundation of a nation's prosperity!

Gu Xi's vision was no longer limited to suppressing the rebellion; he intended to truly change everything in the current Great Han!

With the strength of one man, he would once again extend the life of the Great Han!

He quickly had this matter publicized, while simultaneously sending out almost all the disciples around him.

This was to supervise the various regions and prevent the local generals from killing indiscriminately in pursuit of merit!

Yingchuan, Yuzhou.

Gu Xi's strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" had indeed been a great help to Huangfu Song.

Now, with the battle in Jizhou concluded and the Yellow Turban Army in a panic, Huangfu Song naturally would not let any opportunity slip by, and he launched a direct counterattack!

—August.

Huangfu Song defeated Bo Cai at Changshe.

At the same time, the Nanyang Administrator Qin Jie killed the Yellow Turban commander Zhang Mancheng, and the Yuzhou Yellow Turbans retreated continuously.

They were later besieged at Wancheng.

Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and others arrived from all directions, spreading news of the Jizhou campaign to break the rebels' resolve.

Finally, the gates of Wancheng were thrown open.

The rebels were defeated at Wan.

Battles erupted everywhere, and the Han Army, with morale greatly bolstered, continuously surrounded and killed the Yellow Turbans, driving them into a constant retreat.

This matter was truly too fatal!

The news of Zhang Jiao's defeat in Jizhou was like a signal, once again proving Gu Xi's invincible reputation!

Under such circumstances, how could the morale of the Yellow Turban Army not shatter?

And the most critical point was—

Gu Xi had consistently restrained the soldiers' desire to kill, and his policies greatly encouraged the ambition of humble-born scholars to earn merit.

Under these various policies, the blow to the entire Yellow Turban movement was simply too great!

The battle situation everywhere was completely reversed!

This was destined to be an extremely long war.

Furthermore, with Gu Xi's policy allowing those of humble birth to obtain the qualifications of Filial and Incorrupt through "suppressing the rebels," talents from all over emerged, and many had already made names for themselves.

Not to mention Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and the others.

This also included many of humble birth.

Of course, there were also Gu clan disciples; warriors with the attributes of Gu Tao had the greatest advantage in such a situation.

Most importantly, his identity as a Gu clan disciple gave him too much of a boost.

Facing a Yellow Turban Army devoid of any fighting spirit,

he could take them down without any effort.

By now, he had long since made a name for himself throughout the world.

Luoyang.

Looking at the battle reports sent from all directions, Liu Hong was radiant and laughed aloud.

"As expected of the Grand Tutor!"

"A single battle has completely turned the tide; how dare mere rebels disturb my Great Han?"

He laughed quite unrestrainedly.

In truth, for some time now, Liu Hong's mood had been very tense.

Zhang Jiao's strength had far exceeded his expectations.

Especially when the situation in the various commanderies was unclear and Zhang Jiao took Handan to threaten Henei, Liu Hong had truly felt the taste of a falling nation.

But now, that feeling had finally dissipated!

"Quickly announce this to the court officials; with the Grand Tutor here, I have no worries."

"Have the people in the palace prepare."

"I am going to the marketplace!"

For Liu Hong,

he had been stifled for some time; now that his heart was at ease, he naturally wanted to relax.

"This servant obeys." Jian Shuo immediately accepted the order and left.

Before long, the laughter that had been absent from the imperial palace for many days rang out once again.

But regarding this matter,

the attitudes of the court officials were quite different.

They had already heard of Gu Xi's various measures, and in their hearts, they could not help but worry about their own land.

Gu Xi had actually distributed these lands.

If that were the case, even after the great chaos ended, could the land still belong to them?

People have always been like this.

When sensing the crisis of annihilation, no one cares about such things.

But as this crisis recedes,

they begin to think about the land they have sacrificed.

In truth, Gu Xi had not really been serious this time.

Although it was said to be thirty percent of the land,

how many years had it been since the Great Han last conducted a land survey? The land in the hands of the clans had long since multiplied many times over compared to the past.

To them, this bit of land was merely a drop in the ocean!

But human nature has always been this way.

These were assets they had already swallowed.

How could they easily spit them out?

This was clearly not the thought of just one person.

From this day on, people from various clans contacted one another, and an invisible net was spread once again.

Of course, they would not take action at such a time.

They were merely making preparations.

Regardless, from the day the war truly concluded, this matter had to come to an end.

As long as this matter dragged on.

For them, it brought a hundred harms and not a single benefit!

Gu Xi did not care in the slightest about the changes within Luoyang.

He was simply on the battlefield, arranging everything step by step.

This great victory.

And it urged him to accelerate the offensive.

Instead, he maintained his previous rhythm, constantly weakening the Yellow Turban Army with momentum and reputation.

This was a simple open conspiracy.

After the previous crushing defeat, even Zhang Jiao could no longer stabilize the morale of the Yellow Turban Army.

Every day, people defected.

Incidents of Daoist followers in various places binding their channel commanders to surrender occurred with increasing frequency.

It was under these circumstances.

—The seventh year of Jianning, February.

Gu Xi defeated Zhang Jiao again at Handan; from then on, the entire Yellow Turban defensive line in Jizhou was completely torn open by Gu Xi.

Zhang Jiao could only gather his remnants and retreat to Guangzong, where he was besieged by Gu Xi.

The overall situation was settled!

Gu Xi was not in a hurry to attack the city; he was still arranging everything step by step, as if he intended to force Zhang Jiao and his followers to surrender.

But Zhang Jiao had clearly already made his decision.

He simply chose to let his followers leave, then once again engaged in a final showdown with Gu Xi.

This was a great battle without any suspense.

With such morale, and no longer possessing a numerical advantage, how could the Yellow Turban Army possibly defeat the Han Army personally led by Gu Xi?

The outcome was self-evident.

Zhang Jiao was defeated and retreated again, but this time, he had nowhere left to retreat.

The entire Yellow Turban defensive line in the Hebei region had long since completely collapsed.

In many places, there was not even a need for Gu Xi to go personally.

The Yellow Turban followers all surrendered at the mere sight of his banner.

In fact, Zhang Jiao could have retreated to Youzhou or Yanzhou to plot his next move.

Although heading to these places also meant facing the offensives of various Han armies, compared to the battlefield where Gu Xi was personally present, he would naturally have had a chance in those regions.

However, Zhang Jiao seemed to have no such intention, merely leading his dwindling number of followers to skirmish with the Han Army in Jizhou.

—He seemed to want to die in Jizhou!

Gu Yi was also quite surprised by this.

In the original history, this man Zhang Jiao was highly controversial.

Some called him the cause of the chaotic times, as it was precisely because of the Yellow Turban Rebellion he launched that the chaos of the late Eastern Han Dynasty truly began;

Others called him a man of great righteousness, who had three hundred thousand followers under his command, yet ended up dying without an heir.

His appearance seemed as if he wanted to teach the world of that time a lesson.

Gu Yi did not want to concern himself with the original history now.

For the current Zhang Jiao.

He was clearly a man of great righteousness, who took on the suffering of the common people and made all sorts of plans; whether he succeeded or failed, it was all to save the world.

Zhang Jiao was indeed strong enough.

If not for the existence of Gu Xi, a Yellow Turban Army with such strength would absolutely have dealt a fatal blow to the Great Han!

However, this matter was destined to remain unexamined in detail.

If the Gu Shizi had not appeared, how could Zhang Jiao have been so strong?

All the causes and effects within had signs long ago.

Under these circumstances, Zhang Jiao naturally could not hold out for long.

—The seventh year of Jianning, October.

Zhang Jiao was defeated again at Ganling.

He committed suicide after the battle.

His younger brothers, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang, died one after another before the battle lines.

Gu Xi ordered his men to secretly collect the bodies of the three brothers and send them back to Julu for burial.

With one battle, Jizhou was settled!

When the news spread, the whole world was shocked!

Luoyang.

"Zhang Jiao is dead?"

Upon hearing this news, Liu Hong was stunned for a moment, then immediately burst into loud laughter.

"Good! Good!"

"Such a rebel deserves exactly this."

"Where is his corpse? Has it been sent back to Luoyang? I want him hacked into ten thousand pieces!"

Jian Shuo shook his head and sighed, "The bodies of the three Zhang brothers were all trampled into meat paste on the battlefield; they cannot be recovered."

Hearing this, Liu Hong could not help but frown, saying with some disappointment, "What a pity."

"By the way, how is the Grand Tutor's health?"

"He is of advanced age, and now that Zhang Jiao is dealt with, the others are not worth worrying about; it is time to let the Grand Tutor return to the capital to enjoy his twilight years."

Liu Hong seemed to have planned all this long ago, waving his hand as he said, "Send someone to take my imperial edict to Jizhou."

"Order the Grand Tutor to hand over military command to Lu Zhi."

"He may return to the capital to recuperate and receive rewards, or he may rest in Julu."

Regarding this, Jian Shuo was naturally overjoyed.

With Liu Hong still alive, the only person these eunuchs feared was Gu Xi.

Now that Liu Hong was going to strip Gu Xi of his power again.

How could he not be excited?

The news spread extremely quickly in Luoyang.

Completely different from what Liu Hong had anticipated, he had originally thought the scholar-officials would make a huge fuss over this.

But the scholar-officials said almost nothing.

They merely proposed that since Zhang Jiao was now dead and the situation in the four provinces was gradually stabilizing, the wartime policies established by Gu Xi should be abolished, and so on.

Regarding this, Liu Hong treated it entirely as a trade of interests and, without much hesitation, agreed directly.

He needed balance in the imperial court.

In Liu Hong's view.

The court situation he had built since ascending the throne had reached a state of balance.

At the very least, the scholars could not directly threaten his imperial power.

As for whether this move would trigger another rebellion, Liu Hong had naturally considered it, but he did not care at all.

The imperial court was currently powerful, and Zhang Jiao was dead; how could the displaced refugees have such great courage?

The messenger quickly left Luoyang and headed straight for Jizhou.

At the same time, this news also spread like wildfire.

—Before Gu Xi even received the news.

The news that the imperial court intended to dismiss Gu Xi again and abolish the policies he had set stirred up a monstrous storm across the world!

Chaos erupted again in all directions!

The most critical point was—a rebellion had also broken out in Liangzhou, pressing directly toward the Three Auxiliaries.

The news spread instantly.

The generals and soldiers who were fighting the Yellow Turbans in all directions petitioned Liu Hong one after another, stating that the edict should be withdrawn and that the hearts of the people should not be provoked at this time.

When he heard this news.

Liu Hong was furious!

He attributed this matter entirely to Gu Xi.

Liu Hong truly could not understand why Gu Xi alone could stir up such a monstrous wave.

Could it be that the common people of the world only recognized Gu Xi and not him, the Emperor?

Could this still be considered the behavior of a subject?

If this continued, did the world belong to the Liu family or the Gu family?

This matter was a huge blow to Liu Hong.

—The most critical part was, he vomited blood!

Years of indulgence had destined that Liu Hong's lifespan would be affected.

The current Liu Hong had not been restricted by the relatives of the Empress, and his process of indulgence far exceeded that of the original history.

The body naturally could not withstand such consumption.

Once this matter broke, it quickly sobered up all the scholars and court officials who had just been present; the situation changed abruptly.

However, Liu Hong was different from the several generations of emperors before him.

Liu Hong had sons.

Up until now, Liu Hong already had two heirs.

Liu Bian and Liu Xie.

This could indeed stabilize the morale of the army to a certain extent.

But the shortcoming was that both were still young and destined to be unable to personally wield supreme power.

Originally, for the scholar-official faction, they had only wanted to preserve their own interests.

But now it was different; both the emperors Liu Zhi and Liu Hong had maintained an attitude of suppression toward them.

Among the scholars of the world today, who did not miss the state of the court during the years when Gu Xi served as regent?

Immediately, someone submitted a memorial suggesting that Gu Xi should be recalled to the imperial court to prevent any unforeseen events.

Once this memorial was issued, it struck directly at the heart of the matter.

The Twelve Regular Attendants appointed by Liu Hong naturally could not agree to this.

Although they had never committed any illicit acts against Gu Xi or the Gu family over these years.

Yet, based on their understanding of Gu Xi.

Would Gu Xi let them off?

Obviously not!

As long as Gu Xi returned to the court to take control of the overall situation, these people were destined to die without a burial place.

It was precisely because of this that these people exhausted every possible means to obstruct this matter.

Furthermore, they brought up everything about how powerless Liu Zhi had been when facing the scholars during his reign.

Sure enough, this move still had an effect.

Liu Hong was very clear about the current situation and immediately made a judgment!

He allowed Gu Xi to take on the title of suppressing rebels to quell the rebellion.

And he himself imitated the Liu Zhi of the past, dividing power among the eunuchs, scholars, and imperial relatives.

He gave He Jin the authority to command troops.

By doing this, he intended to curb Gu Xi, and then use the scholars and eunuchs to keep each other in check.

And just after he had settled all of this.

The ninth year of Jianning, the sixth month.

——Liu Hong passed away in Luoyangcheng.

——————

"The sudden change in the political situation during the late Eastern Han dynasty was precisely caused by the institutional flaws of the feudal dynasty.

The successive deaths of several generations of emperors caused the loss of imperial power.

Although the existence of Gu Xi stabilized the court, it could not fundamentally resolve the imbalance of imperial power.

The rise of the scholar-official group was destined to threaten the imperial power.

Starting from Emperor Huan, promoting eunuchs to suppress scholars and implementing the Proscription of Partisan Prohibitions to abandon Gu Xi—all these measures were attempts to restore imperial power.

But looking at the situation from the perspective of later generations, this move can be called the root of the chaotic times at the end of the Han."

——《History of the Rise and Fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty》

(End of this chapter)