“Turmoil”: Battle for the Han Empire sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

“I am not blind, Gongda,” Cao Cao replied. “They were smashed: next time, they will be crushed!”
Cao Cao’s men - and local men more than any other - chanted his name and revelled in their triumph. Once again, Cao Cao noted that many of those local men had once served his former friend Zhang Miao, and some might have opposed his rule only a short time ago; their reverence made the victory all the sweeter.

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9

In the northwest of the country, the level of chaos was at a surprising low. A decade earlier, the administrative corruption had driven the local people - Han Chinese and other ethnic groups, such as the Qiang and the Di - to rise up in rebellion that became increasingly organised. Many Han officials joined that rebellion by choice or by force, and two - the former major Ma Teng and the former Attendant Official Han Sui - had even forsaken their Chinese roots, married Qiang women and later rose to the rank of chieftains of rival tribes. The northwest province of Liang was considered by some to be a lost cause as the rebels captured settlement after settlement and gained recruits from across the social spectrum: the Han court could not allow the loss of the region, primarily because it would place the former Han capital, Chang’an - then a thriving trade city and symbol of authority and stability - at risk of being seized.
     Many were sent from the current Han capital Luoyang to deal with that rebellion - most notably Sun Jian, a hero of past and later campaigns, and Tao Qian, Liu Bei’s predecessor as Governor of Xu Province - but none were truly successful. Two men came close to victory after four years of intermittent campaigning: one was a decorated commander of the loyalist coalition that defeated the first Yellow Turban uprising, Huangfu Song, and the other was the local warlord Dong Zhuo.

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