Whether in history books or in romance novels, Dong Zhuo's image is completely a villain, but a closer look at Dong Zhuo's experience before he took over the political affairs has a completely different record from others. Today, Bian Xiao will tell you the story of Dong Zhuo and how he changed from a hero beyond the Great Wall to a traitor.
Dong Zhuo's hometown belongs to Liangzhou in today's Gansu generation and the Eastern Han Dynasty. After several generations of management, Xiliang generation is no longer a barren land, but compared with the stability and prosperity of the Central Plains, Xiliang is still much worse. Because the local Qiang and Hu live together, the culture is different from that of the Central Plains.
The young hero Dong Zhuo was born in such an environment. Dong Zhuo, a Han nationality, had no resistance to Hu Qiang when he was young. On the contrary, he was kind to them and frequented tribes in Hu Qiang. Therefore, Dong Zhuo made many Qiang leaders. When Dong Zhuo came of age, he became a local official. At this time, the Huns still existed, harassing the frontiers of the Han Dynasty. At this time, Dong Zhuo was ordered to lead the troops against Xiongnu. With his bravery and prestige in the frontier, Xiongnu was quickly defeated by Dong Zhuo. Duan Qirui, the secretariat of Bing, thought Dong Zhuo was young and talented, so he recommended Dong Zhuo to the court.
The record of this paragraph is quite different from Dong Zhuo's impression on the world. It seems that Dong Zhuo was not so cruel when he was young. It is no exaggeration to use this sentence on Dong Zhuo. "People are born with good nature.". What happened to Dong Zhuo? That's why he likes it.
After Dong Zhuo entered the power center of the Han Dynasty, he was quickly reused by virtue of his own strength. From the year of 166, Xianbei people began to make an insurrection again, and attacked the Eastern Han Dynasty together with the rebellious Hu Qiang. The court worshipped Zhang Huan as a corps commander to protect the Huns and let him put down the rebellion in the north. At that time, Dong Zhuo was appointed as Zhang Huan's army Sima (commanding the troops directly under the general). In the war against Xianbei, Dong Zhuo fought bravely and made many meritorious deeds. Later, officials worshipped the corps commander and distributed gold, silver and jewels awarded by the court to his soldiers. Zhang Huan's army returned to Korea in A.D. 168 after its prosperity. A dramatic event happened during this period, which was unfortunate from the historical trend and the sense of honor of celebrities.
Party disaster 168 AD, Zhang Huan led his troops back to the DPRK and returned home in triumph. Naturally, he was in high spirits. But at this time, a great event happened in Luoyang City, and eunuchs headed by Cao Jie of Changqiu staged a coup. Dou Wu and other scholar-officials saw eunuchs playing politics and were determined to eradicate eunuchs. However, things were exposed in advance, and eunuchs hijacked Emperor Han Ling, issued a false imperial edict, and lied about Dou Wu's rebellion. Dou Wu and others saw that the eunuchs had gone too far, so they led the troops to make a crusade, and there was chaos in Luoyang. At this time, Zhang Huan just came back with the army. When he saw Luoyang city in flames, he knew that the city would change. When he asked, it turned out that Dou Wu had rebelled and wanted to catch Emperor Han Ling. In desperation, Zhang Huan didn't think too much, so he led the army to attack "rebellion against Dou Wu". Dou Wu had no advantage, but was stirred up by Zhang Huan, so it failed and Dou Wu was defeated.
Originally it had nothing to do with Dong Zhuo, but according to records, Dong Zhuo's positive image began to change at this time. Zhang Huan and eunuchs were not on the same side, but they were tricked into attacking Dou Wu. Afterwards, the court (eunuch) thought that Zhang Huan and his men had made great contributions to pacify the frontier before, and they were greatly helped this time, so they were rewarded. But because Zhang Huan was cheated and hated eunuchs, she didn't accept the reward. Otherwise, Zhang Huan insisted on rehabilitating Dou Wu and others on the premise of being dismissed.
As mentioned earlier, Dong Zhuo was made a corps commander because of his outstanding military exploits, and was later awarded by the imperial court. This happened after the army returned to Korea. Compared with Zhang Huan who made up for his mistakes at all costs, Dong Zhuo obviously didn't take them seriously and accepted the imperial reward with a clear conscience. Presumably, after this, the literati will not have any good views on Dong Zhuo, and Zhang Huan should break with Dong Zhuo.