Zhang Liang | |
Force(s): | Yellow Turbans |
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Significant Battle(s): | |
Real name: | Zhang Liang |
Chinese name: | 张梁 |
Born: | 143 |
Died: | 184 |
Zhang Liang was the brother of Zhang Bao and Zhang Jiao, other Yellow Turbans. He was killed by Huangfu Song.
Biography[]
Zhang Liang hailed from Julu district and was the youngest of three brothers from the area, Jue being the eldest and Bao being the second. After Liang’s eldest brother had thoroughly versed himself in the art of magic, he went on to teach Liang and his brother, Bao, too of its secrets, and in time Zhang Liang acquired such arts as summoning the wind and invoking the rain, and was just as capable in doing such as his two older brothers. As time progressed, the three Zhang brothers began to accumulate a following, who Zhang Liang and his two brothers versed in the mystic ways they had already mastered themselves, and named the following the Yellow Scarves.
As the strength of the Scarves began to increase, Zhang Liang’s eldest brother, Jue, proposed to him and Bao, “Popular support is the hardest thing to win. Today the people favour us. Why waste this chance to seize the realm for ourselves?”
All three brothers were united in their decision to move against the Han, and so the Zhang brothers had yellow banners made ready in preparation of their first uprising. However, before it reached the set date for the rebellion, the Han court caught word of the uprising and the three brothers were forced to march their armies prematurely. Zhang Liang was titled General of People by his eldest brother and set off with his other brother, Bao, to Yingchuan, while Zhang Jue headed for Guanzhong. Wherever their armies went, government troops scattered without offering battle, but when Zhang Liang reached Yingchuan with his older brother, he was met by a massive imperial army commanded by Generals Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun. After briefly skirmishing with the force, Liang led his army in retreat to Changshe, where he and his brother established a string of encampments alongside a field.
On the same night that the camps had been made, Zhang Liang noticed a fire rising at one side of the field his army had encamped upon. The fire quickly spread throughout the encampments, and the Yellow Scarves were beset by an ambush force led by imperial commanders Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun. Unable to offer any resistance to the Han army, Zhang Liang gathered what he could of his forces and fled the field with his brother, Bao. As he was fleeing, Liang ran into a new contingent of men, this one flying flags of red and commanded by a Han Cavalry General named Cao Cao. Surrounded on all sides, Zhang Liang led his men straight into Cao’s ranks and was able to cut a path through. Zhang Liang and his brother then split their troops to fight the government forces on different fronts, Bao taking ninety thousand to remain at Yingchuan, and Liang taking a smaller amount to aid Zhang Jue in his fight at Quyang.
Zhang Liang arrived at Quyang to find that his elder brother, Jue, had been killed in battle, and that his men were without leadership. Liang took over Zhang Jue’s army as commander and continued fighting the imperial forces, commanded by Huangfu Song. Zhang Liang fought seven successive battles with the Han army, but lost each and fled back to Quyang. Before he could reach the city, however, Huangfu Song caught up with the Yellow Scarf leader and killed him. His other brother, Bao, suffered a similar fate, and the Yellow Scarf rebellion was fully quelled later in the year.