However, the rise of power often means that the fall is imminent, and when the Han Dynasty comes to an end, Dong Zhuo's situation is also in trouble. In the end, Dong Zhuo was slaughtered, what will happen to the generals under him who originally swallowed mountains and rivers? Will the flames of the battlefield continue to bloom, or will it fall? Or will someone finally be able to escape this catastrophe and achieve positive results?
It is said that Dong Zhuo was originally a cloth cloth, and relying on his brave and good martial arts, he slowly made a name for himself in the army. At that time, the government was rotten, the eunuchs were autocratic, the emperor was young and ownerless, and there were many contradictions between the government and the opposition. Dong Zhuo saw this opportunity and sent an edict to Beijing to suppress the scourge of the party, but unexpectedly, the power was rolling in his hands.
The cunning and treacherous Dong Zhuo was not satisfied with the position of power, and actually imprisoned the emperor of the current dynasty under his command, and coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes. So the heroes of the world gathered together and stood up to fight against this traitor. The Battle of Xuchang broke out, and the army of the princes pressed the border, although Dong Zhuo repelled the coalition army with the bravery of his generals, but he was also greatly injured. There are even more troubles in the future, the palace infighting and conspiracy continues, and the eunuchs come and go, and they are extremely vicious to him.
Just when Dong Zhuo was terrified, his most trusted son, Lu Bu, was used to sow discord and loyalty. Confused for a while, Lu Bu actually killed his father to seize power, and killed Dong Zhuo with his own hands! In this way, this lifelong reputation that he has worked hard for was cut off by his closest people. The power fell, and the emperor was released back to the palace, and Dong Zhuo was restored to the common people.
Once Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu, the soldiers under his command who were greatly injured fled in all directions, some took refuge with the new lord, and some chose to make a living alone. Among them, there are some tragic fates worth remembering.
After Lu Bu betrayed Dong Zhuo, Gao Shun, the general who had helped him for many years, still chose to be loyal. Gao Shun was personally in charge of Lu Bu's most elite "trapped camp" troops, but unfortunately he failed to resolve Lu Bu's violent nature in the end. When Cao Cao surrounded Xiapi, Gao Shun commanded the trapped camp to fight bravely to kill the enemy, but Cao Cao ordered the Yellow River embankment to be blown up, so that the entire camp was submerged. When Gao Shun was dying, he still regarded death as home, rejected Cao Cao's letter of surrender, and finally died a heroic martyr.
And Zhang Ji suffered an even more tragic fate. In order to survive, he led the remnants of the army to attack Liu Biao in Jingzhou, but when he was attacking, an arrow shot from the city and hit him in the center of his eyebrows. In this way, this famous general who was in and out of the past died under Jingzhou. What's even more sentimental is that his nephew Zhang Xiu, in order to inherit the great cause, finally fell into the bad luck of being killed by Cao Cao.
As for Li Dian, another general under Lu Bu, although he was lucky enough to escape, he also had a bad fate. He originally wanted to leave the Central Plains to avoid its edge, but under the persuasion of Jia Xu, he counterattacked Chang'an with Guo Yan and others. Unexpectedly, after seizing Chang'an, in order to avenge Dong Zhuo's murder, they wantonly slaughtered the officials and civilians in Chang'an, and their behavior was even more tyrannical than Dong Zhuo's. In the end, due to internal strife and splitting, Li Dian and Guo Yan attacked each other, resulting in the almost total annihilation of the armies of both sides. Li Dian was completely annihilated by our army in a desperate situation, and he even broke the hope of staying in this world.
Although Dong Zhuo had been killed by Lu Bu, some of the generals under his command did not give up resistance. With the remnants of the army in their hands, they are eyeing the Central Plains region and forming a force to be reckoned with.
Among them, the most famous is Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu, a pair of masters and apprentices. Zhang Xiu was originally the nephew of Dong Zhuo's general Zhang Ji, and after Zhang Ji's death, he inherited his uncle's army. Jia Xu is Zhang Xiu's staff officer, and the two cooperate tacitly and have infinite wisdom. With their shrewd military command, they defeated Cao Cao's army several times, and Cao Cao's eldest son, Cao Ang, was killed at their hands.
However, Jia Xu's wisdom is not only used on the battlefield, he is also very good at strategizing. It was he who persuaded Zhang Xiu to finally choose to surrender to Cao Cao, thus avoiding the fate of being completely wiped out. It can be said to be a shrewd choice under trade-offs, but it is a pity that Zhang Xiu was later killed by Cao Pi, and in the end he could not escape death.
Compared with Zhang Xiu's master and apprentice, the actions of Guo Yan and Li Dao are much more vicious. After they seized Chang'an, they were almost unscrupulous towards the people and the ministers of civil and military affairs, and their behavior was even more brutal and murderous than Dong Zhuo back then. There was also infighting between the two due to the uneven distribution of power, and their strength was greatly damaged. In the end, Guo Yan was killed by his cronies, and Li Dao was ordered by Cao Cao to Yi clan, which can be said to have suffered a monstrous murderous reputation.
As for Xu Rong, although he is also a fierce general under Dong Zhuo, his style of action seems to be more stable and decent. In the Battle of Bianshui, he single-handedly repelled Cao Cao's pursuers; During the Battle of Liangdong, he fought bravely to defeat the enemy and defeated Sun Jian's army. It can be said that Xu Rong was the general with the most outstanding record against the alliance of the princes under Dong Zhuo's account at that time. However, in the end, he was severely injured in Wang Yun's army, outnumbered, and killed.
In the turbulent war era, the soldiers under Dong Zhuo experienced countless life and death struggles. Some eventually became heroic martyrs on the battlefield, while others encountered misfortune on the way.
After Cao Cao defeated Lü Bu, Niu Fu, the most loyal and brave veteran under Dong Zhuo, took refuge in Yuan Shao. At that time, Niu Fu had a huge amount of money and planned to use it to fund Yuan Shao's army. Who knew that on the way, he was plundered by Zhang Xiu's gangsters, and he was seriously injured and died. Such a suffocating encounter really makes people deplore the tragic ending of this veteran.
Another famous general, Hua Xiong, was killed in the Battle of Bishui. At that time, he only had hundreds of soldiers under his command, but he faced Cao Cao's army of tens of thousands alone. The two sides fought fiercely, and Hua Xiong was finally martyred, but it also added a heavy blow to Cao Cao's march. With such a brave spirit, it is no wonder that future generations admire and admire it.
In contrast, Zhang Liao, a general, is another fierce general who is active on the battlefield. He was the best at riding and archery, and his horse corps was known for his maneuvers. With his ability to fight bravely, he successively defeated many strong enemies such as Liu Bei and Ma Chao in Sichuan, Long, and other places, and made great achievements. Even if he dies in the end, Zhang Liao's reputation has long been widely praised among the frontier pawns.
After years of conquest and turmoil, the original fierce generals under Dong Zhuo also passed away on the battlefield. Only his henchman Chen Gong, who finally achieved positive results and was able to retreat with his whole body.
Chen Gong followed Dong Zhuo to fight when he was young, and because of his bravery, he soon became an important minister under Dong Zhuo's account. After Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu that year, Chen Gong chose to surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao saw that he was loyal and brave, so he naturally reused it. Chen Gong has been in the army for many years and has made countless meritorious achievements, but because of his high position, he is inevitably plagued by jealousy and slander.
In the end, in the siege of Xiaxia, Chen Gong was framed by Cao Pi for rebellion and was forced to commit suicide. Despite the tragic ending, Chen Gong was more fortunate than Dong Zhuo's brave generals after all, at least he lived to the twilight of his life, and also made great achievements for Cao Wei. If he hadn't taken refuge in Cao Cao back then, I'm afraid his end would have been the same as those colleagues who suffered misfortune.
In the final analysis, in the turbulent times, whether it is a powerful minister like Dong Zhuo who once covered the sky with one hand, or many loyal and brave people under his hands, they will inevitably suffer a tragic end of no return in the end. It can be seen how fragile human life is when war is raging, and often only a single thought will cause disaster. So in this turbulent era, it is a great luck to be able to save his own life, let alone be able to mix in it like Chen Gong and catch up later?
In general, the generals under Dong Zhuo's command who were known for their bravery and martial arts in the end, except for Chen Gong, all suffered aftermaths of varying degrees without exception. Some of them were killed and imprisoned, some were killed in battle, and some were subjected to violent reprisals; There are even some people who kill themselves because they choose the wrong position, which is the so-called "people are angry and have many disasters". Therefore, looking at the overall situation, Dong Zhuo's army, which was already known as having many generals, was so fragmented in the end, which shows that its foundation is unstable.