Zhang Jiao was a historical figure in the late Eastern Han Dynasty of China (c. 2nd century AD), the founder of the early Taoist sect Taiping Dao, and one of the main leaders of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, a large-scale peasant revolt in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. His life and deeds are not only recorded in the official history "Book of the Later Han" and "Zizhi Tongjian", but also depicted in ** "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and film and television works.
Zhang Jiao's birthplace and year of birth are unknown, only that he is a native of Julu County (now Ningjin County, Hebei), He believes in Huang Lao's doctrine, that is, Taoism represented by "Laozi" and "Zhuangzi", advocating the rule of inaction, quiet and natural, and opposing ** and luxury. Zhang Jiao also learned some mysterious spells and spells, and was believed to have certain magical powers. He called himself a "great sage and good teacher" and taught his disciples on it, and founded the Taiping Tao, a sect of Taoism with the Taiping Sutra as its main classic. His Taiping Dao advocated that "the sky is dead, the yellow sky should stand, the age is in Jiazi, and the world is auspicious", that is, the Eastern Han Dynasty has lost the mandate of heaven, and a new era will be created by the believers of Taiping Dao.
In the process of preaching, Zhang Jiao took advantage of the social turmoil and the difficulties of people's livelihood at that time, as well as the superstition and ignorance of the people. He used the spell of water to heal people, and many patients were cured after kneeling down and repenting because they drank the water he had recited, and worshiped Zhang Jiao as a god. At the same time, Zhang Jiao also sent ** to walk around, preaching his deeds and the concept of Taiping Dao, in more than ten years, the number of believers has expanded by hundreds of thousands, all over Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Youzhou, Jizhou, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Yanzhou and Yuzhou, all obeying Zhang Jiao's orders. At that time, the ** in the county did not see Zhang Jiao's intentions, but thought that Zhang Jiao was good at education, which made the people return to their hearts. In order to facilitate the uprising, Zhang Jiao divided the followers who followed him into thirty-six parties, one side was an army, and he took Qu Shuai as the general of all parties, and commanded more than 10,000 people in the big way, and six or seven thousand people in the small side.
In the first year of Zhongping (184), Zhang Jiao took the slogan of "Cangtian is dead, Huangtian should stand, the age is in Jiazi, and the world is auspicious", proclaimed himself the general of Tiangong, and called on the 36 parties of Taiping Road to revolt on the same day, because the rebel army wore a yellow scarf as a logo, and the people at that time called them "Yellow Turban" and "Moth Thief", and later generations also called this uprising "Yellow Turban Uprising". The Yellow Turban Rebellion was the first peasant uprising in the form of religion in Chinese history, which dealt a heavy blow to the ruling order of the Eastern Han Dynasty, created a situation of warlord secession in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and finally led to the collapse of the Eastern Han Dynasty. [8] Zhang Jiao's rebel army burned the official mansion and plundered the dock forts where the powerful landlords gathered, and all the prefectures and counties could not resist, all of them fell, and there were many escapes, but in about ten days, the world responded in groups, and the Beijing division was greatly shaken.
The imperial court sent Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song, Dong Zhuo and other generals to attack Zhang Jiao, and after many fierce battles, Zhang Jiao was forced to retreat to Guangzong (now east of Wei County, Hebei). Soon, Zhang Jiao died of illness, shortly after his death, in October, Huangfu Song and Zhang Liang fought in Guangzong, Zhang Liang was defeated and died on the spot, Zhang Jiao was also dissected coffin, cut off the head, and sent the head to Luoyang to show the public. After losing his leadership, the Yellow Turban Rebellion also fell into a single struggle between all parties, and was successfully quelled by the Eastern Han Dynasty.