Zhang Jiao's Way of Great Peace advocated the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi. In Zhang Jiao's view, the era of the Yellow Emperor was the most beautiful and peaceful, where people had no worries about food and clothing, and rulers were wise and benevolent. In contrast, the Eastern Han Dynasty at that time was riddled with devastation, chilling the heart. Under such social conditions, Zhang Jiao's Way of Great Peace emerged.
Zhang Jiao initially operated under the banner of healing the sick, calling himself the "Great Virtuous Master," as he traveled around treating the poor for free. Because he possessed some medical knowledge and could handle common ailments, he earned widespread support from the common people. Seeing that the populace gradually trusted him, Zhang Jiao began to preach the teachings of the Way of Great Peace, integrating these doctrines with his medical practice. As expected, more and more people joined the Way of Great Peace, and within ten years, his followers had spread across two-thirds of the country, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
At that time, the Way of Great Peace could be considered the most influential organization among the common people. The imperial court had initially been concerned that the Way of Great Peace might pose a threat to the Eastern Han regime, but since Zhang Jue had been consistently promoting the idea of healing and saving people, the court felt reassured. However, what the court never expected was that Zhang Jue was not content with merely treating the sick.
To further expand the influence of the Way of Supreme Peace, Zhang Jiao had his younger brothers Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao accompany him to Jizhou. At that time, a plague had broken out across the country, and Jizhou was severely affected. While treating the sick, Zhang Jiao also sent his two brothers to preach the Way of Supreme Peace among the people. After the number of followers reached several hundred thousand, Zhang Jiao divided them into thirty-six sections, with some sections having as many as ten thousand people and others as few as six or seven thousand. From then on, Zhang Jiao began planning for an uprising.
In fact, many peasant rebel groups had already emerged before Zhang Jue, and although the imperial court suppressed them with military force, there were simply too many uprisings—one would be crushed here while another sprang up there, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. These rebel movements, to some extent, diverted the attention of Eastern Han rulers away from the Way of Supreme Peace, allowing Zhang Jue's influence to grow continuously until the Yellow Turban Rebellion finally erupted.
In 184 AD, seeing that the time was ripe, Zhang Jiao secretly sent messages to his followers across the country, setting the date for the uprising and proclaiming the slogan, "The Azure Heaven is dead; the Yellow Heaven shall rise; in the year of Jiazi, the world will be blessed." Zhang Jiao ordered his men to leave the characters "Jiazi" on streets and alleys in various towns to remind followers not to forget the time. Just then, a traitor emerged from the Way of Supreme Peace, a man named Tang Zhou, whose superior was Ma Yuanyi. After Zhang Jiao announced the uprising, Ma Yuanyi led over ten thousand people from Jingzhou and Yangzhou to secretly gather in Ye County (present-day Linzhang, Hebei) to prepare for the revolt. Taking advantage of the situation, Tang Zhou reported the uprising plan to the Eastern Han rulers. Emperor Ling of Han was greatly alarmed and hastily mobilized troops to arrest followers of the Way of Supreme Peace, executing them on the spot. Ma Yuanyi, caught off guard and unable to mount an effective resistance, was also killed. Emperor Ling then issued a nationwide order to arrest all followers of the Way of Supreme Peace, demanding that Zhang Jiao and his two younger brothers be captured at all costs.
After learning that news of the uprising had leaked, Zhang Jiao could no longer wait for the planned date and decided to launch the rebellion early. He proclaimed himself "General of Heaven," while Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were respectively titled "General of Earth" and "General of Humanity." The rebel army wore yellow headscarves as their emblem, hence they were also known as the "Yellow Turbans." Zhang Jiao and his two brothers led the Yellow Turbans to seize commanderies and counties across the land, executing officials and distributing government wealth and grain to the common people. Emperor Ling of Han, upon learning that the rebel forces had captured many territories, grew deeply anxious. He hastily appointed He Jin as Grand General, commanding a large force of Imperial Guards to suppress Zhang Jiao, and also ordered all commanderies and counties to train soldiers and prepare for battle. This created an opportunity for local powers, as many officials publicly assembled troops to crush the rebellion while secretly using these forces to expand their own influence.
In the early stages of the conflict, the Han army suffered repeated defeats against the Yellow Turban forces, who successively captured more commanderies and counties, emboldening Zhang Jiao and his followers as the Eastern Han regime teetered on the brink of collapse. The Han army lost many generals and soldiers, with even more troops besieged by the Yellow Turbans, creating a dire situation. Emperor Ling of Han ordered the regional warlord Cao Cao to lead reinforcements. Cao Cao, together with the Han commander Huangfu Song, annihilated over ten thousand Yellow Turban troops at Changshe City, greatly boosting the Han army's morale.
The Han army, seizing the momentum, won several more battles, inflicting heavy losses on the Yellow Turban forces. The Yellow Turban general Zhang Mancheng was killed by the Eastern Han general Qin Jie, but the Yellow Turbans fought back fiercely, and Zhao Hong took command in Zhang Mancheng's place, capturing Wancheng within just a few days. Qin Jie allied with local forces to besiege Wancheng, and although the Yellow Turbans suffered many casualties in the fighting, they stubbornly held the city. Zhang Jiao led his troops in a counterattack in Hebei, suffering defeats at first, but later, when internal conflicts arose within the Han army, the Yellow Turbans seized the opportunity to launch an assault, driving the Han forces into a series of retreats. Just as victory seemed within reach, Zhang Jiao fell gravely ill; he did not know how to treat himself, and there were no other doctors in the army, so he soon died of his illness. Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao took control of the Yellow Turban army, but unfortunately, after their victories, they grew overly complacent and arrogant, neglecting the training of their soldiers. One night, the Han army launched a surprise attack on the Yellow Turban camp at Guangzong; Zhang Liang was killed, and tens of thousands of soldiers died bravely. The Han army then marched to Quyang, where they fought the rebel forces led by Zhang Bao, ultimately killing Zhang Bao as well, and nearly all of his over one hundred thousand rebel troops were wiped out.
In 188 AD, the small remnants of the Yellow Turban Army that had survived rose in rebellion once again, with several commanderies and counties falling to their control in succession. Although this uprising was not large in scale, its widespread distribution and numerous bands made suppression extremely troublesome, causing great headaches for the Eastern Han government. The Grand Master of Ceremonies, Liu Yan, proposed to Emperor Ling of Han that local officials be permitted to suppress the rebel forces on their own authority. This allowed local regimes to increase their power while bringing the rebellion under fundamental control. Emperor Ling adopted Liu Yan's proposal, and in the short term, this measure effectively suppressed the rebel army; however, in the long run, the strengthening of local regimes would threaten the central government, as local officials, wielding their own military forces, gradually ceased to obey the emperor's commands.
In 192 AD, under the dual suppression of the central government and local powers, the Yellow Turban Rebellion ultimately ended in failure. However, it dealt a heavy blow to the Eastern Han government, accelerating the dynasty's collapse to some extent and ushering in the era of warlord conflicts that marked the final years of the Eastern Han.