Dong Zhuo, campaign against

Zhang Daoling had announced in 142 that Laozi had appeared to him and commanded him to rid the world of decadence and establish a new state consisting only of the ‘chosen people.’

Becoming the first Celestial Master, Zhang had begun to spread his newly founded movement throughout the province of Sichuan.

The movement was initially called the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, because each person wishing to join was required to donate five pecks of rice.

The movement has spread rapidly, particularly under his son Zhang Heng and grandson Zhang Lu.

The Zhangs have been able to convert many groups to their cause, such as the Bandun Man (belonging to the Ba people), which strengthen their movement.

Zhang Xiu (not related to Zhang Lu) rebels against the Han Dynasty in 184.

Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu are sent in 191, to conquer the Hanzhong Valley, just north of Sichuan, a city under Zhang Xiu's control.

Zhang Xiu is killed during the subsequent battle, and Zhang Lu establishes the theocratic state of Zhanghan, enjoying full independence.

The Yellow Turban Rebellion, also translated as Yellow Scarves Rebellion, is a peasant revolt that breaks out in 184 in China during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty.

The rebellion, which takes its name from the color of the scarves that the rebels wear on their heads, marks an important point in the history of Taoism due to the rebels' association with secret Taoist societies.

The revolt is also used as the opening event in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The Liang Province Rebellion of 184 to 189 starts as an insurrection of the Qiang peoples against the Han Dynasty in the western province of Liang (Liangzhou, more-or-less today's Wuwei, in the province of Gansu) of second century China, but the Lesser Yuezhi and sympathetic Han rebels soon join the cause to wrestle control of the province away from central authority.

This rebellion, which closely follows the Yellow Turban Rebellion, is part of a series of disturbances that will lead to the decline and ultimate downfall of the Han Dynasty.

Despite receiving relatively little attention in the hands of traditional historians, the rebellion nonetheless has lasting importance, as it removes Han Chinese power in the Northwest and prepares that land for a number of non-Han-Chinese states in the centuries to come.

A coalition of warlords and regional officials in the late Eastern Han Dynasty initiates a punitive expedition against the warlord Dong Zhuo in 190.

The members of the coalition claim that Dong intends to usurp the throne by holding Emperor Xian hostage and by establishing a strong influence in the imperial court.

They justify their campaign as to remove Dong from power.

The campaign leads to the evacuation of the capital Luoyang and the shifting of the imperial court to Chang'an.

It is a prelude to the end of the Han Dynasty and, subsequently, the Three Kingdoms period.

It has appeared for some months that Dong, now in complete control of the central government, is going to leave the former emperor alone.

This will not last, however.

In early 190, after a coalition of provincial officials and exiles, led by Yuan Shao, rebels against his authority, Dong becomes weary of keeping the Prince Bian alive.

Less than a month after the rebellion starts, Dong orders his subordinate Li Ru to force the prince to drink poisoned wine, although Li does permit the fourteen-year-old prince to say farewell to his wife Consort Tang and his concubines before doing so.

He is buried in the tomb originally intended for the late eunuch Zhao Zhong and given the posthumous name Prince Huai.

While the coalition still fears Dong Zhuo's military power and did not directly advance on Luoyang, Dong Zhuo is also fearful of their collective strength, and therefore determines to move the capital west to the old Western Han capital Chang'an, closer to his power base in Liang Province (covering present-day Gansu).

On April 9, 190, he forces Emperor Xian to relocate to Chang'an and sets fire to Luoyang, leaving it largely in ruins.

Zhang Lu had inherited control of the Celestial Masters religious group upon the death of his father, Zhang Heng, and therefore became its third leader (the first was Zhang Daoling).

The religion enjoys its greatest popularity in Yi Province (present day Sichuan), but when Zhang Lu takes control of the group, it is being challenged in the area by a shamanistic religion led by Zhang Xiu (no family relation to Zhang Lu, or to the contemporary minor warlord of the same name).

Against this background, both Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu are abruptly ordered by Liu Yan, Governor of Yi Province, to go together to attack the forces of the official Han governor of Hanzhong, Su Gu, and take over his territory.

However, having his own designs, Zhang Lu kills Zhang Xiu and absorbs his armies and religious followers into his own group before he departs for the campaign against Hanzhong.

Zhang Lu manages to defeat Su Gu, and upon taking control of Hanzhong, renames the region Han'ning, ruling it by the principles of his religion.

Zhang abolishes private ownership, promotes Taoism, and builds “inns of quality” for travelers.

He distributes grain to the region’s inhabitants and encourages them to atone for their sins by working on improving the region’s roads.

A number of officials, led by Wang Yun and Dong Zhuo's adopted son Lü Bu, assassinate Dong on May 22, 192, after the coalition collapses.

For a while, it appears that the Han regime might return to normal, as Wang Yun quickly establishes relatively friendly relations with the local officials resisting Dong but by this time acting more as local warlords.

However, due to Wang Yun's failure to pacify Dong Zhuo's former subordinates, they rise in revolt and kill Wang.

China sinks into civil war and chaos after the splitting of the coalition against Dong Zhuo in 192.

Liu Bei, overrun by rebels, moves north to join Gongsun Zan, who is at war with Yuan Shao for control of Ji Province (Hebei) and Qing Province (Shandong).

Gongsun Zan appoints Liu Bei as the Prefect of Pingyuan County under Tian Kai to fight Yuan Shao in Shandong, but is held off by Yuan Shao's oldest son, Yuan Tan, and later loses Gongsun Zan's interest in the area to Yuan Tan.