The period of Chinese history known as Three Kingdoms has its roots in the collapse of the Han Dynasty. In reality the three kingdoms Wei, Wu, and Shu Han only existed simultaneously for about 40 years, but the period is generally considered to be a century long, beginning in the mid 80¡¦s of the 2nd century.
The Eastern Han Dynasty was so called because it was the revived Han Dynasty after a brief period of chaos, when a rogue emperor named Wang Mang ruled China for about 20 years. The Eastern Han, by the 160¡¦s, was facing several very serious problems.
For one, the difference between the wealthy and the poor was very wide. Rich people, usually officials or nobles, have the means to acquire more wealth for themselves and suppress those less fortunate, while poor people have virtually no means of bettering themselves. Large estates are hoarded by wealthy elites and large tracts of land became fallow. Many small farmers and peasants were rendered landless and forced to roam the countryside. In times of famine, many regions are reported to be hot grounds for cannibalism.
A serious political problem was the lack of mature emperors and the rivalry between maternal relatives and the eunuchs. All four of the last four Han emperors ascended the throne as infants, and their mothers, the Tai Hou, held onto power until they matured. In turn, they gave high offices to their relatives, which are not related by blood to the royal family. This, of course, was a threat to the emperor since the family of the mother was not considered to be ¡¥his people¡¦. The emperor would then install his most trusted servants, those who serve him the most, into high offices to balance the roles of his maternal relatives. These people are eunuchs. Regardless of which party was in power, both the eunuchs and the maternal relatives were extremely corrupt and disrupted law and order.
Yet another serious problem was the sale of government positions. Due to the severe famines in the countryside, the emperor Ling Di ordered certain government positions to be up for sale, in hopes of gathering the funds necessary to help the famines. However, this was to cause an even more severe problem. Regardless of their financial situation, those who bought government positions sought to immediately garner as much wealth as they can from whatever source they can find, and would either buy a higher position or sell his current position to the highest bidder. This meant that corruption was rampant at all levels with absolutely no bounds.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion was one of the many peasant rebellions in Chinese history. This, however, was not one that succeeded. Initiated by Zhang Jiao from Ju Lu, the Yellow Turban Rebellion rampaged across the country, involving more than 500,000 peasants. The imperial army, although decrepit from years of corruption and lack of training, was lead by some very good generals, namely Generally Huang-Pu Song, and the rebellion was eventually put down. However, the cost of putting down the rebellion was enormous for the imperial government.
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He Jin and Zhang Rang
He Jin was the brother of the mother of Emperor Shao Di. Like all other maternal relatives, his goal was to kick the eunuchs out of power and to obtain power himself. His chief competitor was the eunuch Zhang Rang, and the other nine eunuchs known as the ¡§ten usual servants¡¨. He Jin was the commanding general that put down the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and possessed the command of the army even after the rebellion was put down. Zhang Rang, fearing his power, imprisoned He Jin. He Jin managed to send out a message to one of his generals, Dong Zhuo, but this message was discovered. Fearing repercussion, Zhang Rang murdered He Jin. Dong Zhuo, however, did receive the message and took the army into the capital city. He then arrested and executed all ten eunuchs. However, Dong Zhuo would be a much worse dictator than both He Jin and Zhang Rang.
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Dong Zhuo vs. the 18 Noble Alliance
Dong Zhuo did not hesitate to make himself virtual dictator of the entire empire. He disposed of the older emperor Shao Di, and replaced him with his cousin, Xian Di. He then gave himself the title Supreme Chancellor, and possessed all the powers of the emperor. He gave all of his family members, even children and women, official titles and government positions. He was also exceptionally cruel; it was not unusual for him to take his troops out into a village and allow them to rape all the women and kill all the men, children, and old people. His biggest defect, however, was lack of diplomacy and arrogance. Thinking he is supreme lord of China, he managed to displease almost every major noble family in the entire empire. Thus, it was easy for a minor official, named Cao Cao, to gather an alliance against him.
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A noble named Yuan Shao, who is the eldest son of a very prestigious family, headed this alliance. 17 other nobles participated. Their army and combined resources was immense, and Dong Zhuo was forced to retreat. Dong Zhuo did not want to leave the spoils of war to his enemies, and so he ordered the burning of Luo Yang, the ancient capital of the Han Dynasty. The alliance, however, was not very tight knit¡K each noble was jealous of the next. Hence, nobody really thought of pursuing Dong Zhuo. The only noble who did was Cao Cao, and with only 3,000 men, he was not very successful.