Zhang Liang (Yellow Turban)张梁

Style & Daoist names

General of Man

Period

Eastern Han

Dates

? — 184

Role

Leader of the Way of Great Peace

Birthplace

Julu

Life

Zhang Liang, younger brother of Zhang Jiao, was one of the leaders of the Way of Great Peace, styling himself "General of Man" during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. After Zhang Jiao died of illness, Zhang Liang took command of the main force and held Guangzong (present-day Weixian, Hebei); in the tenth month of the first year of the Zhongping era (184) he fought a fierce battle with Huangfu Song, at first winning and then being defeated; Zhang Liang was killed in battle, over thirty thousand of the Yellow Turban forces were beheaded, and more than fifty thousand drowned themselves in the river. Huangfu Song also had Zhang Jiao's coffin split open and his corpse mutilated, and sent the head to the capital. Zhang Liang's defeat marked the collapse of the main Yellow Turban forces. Historical sources record very little of his individual deeds. After Zhang Jiao's death, Zhang Liang effectively commanded the core of the rebel army, holding a standoff with Huangfu Song at Guangzong for over a month; his death in battle and the mutilation of Zhang Jiao's corpse marked the end of the Way of Great Peace's political and military movement, after which the Way of Great Peace gradually faded from the historical record, its thought surviving within Daoism through the Scripture of Great Peace.

Contributions & Influence

• One of the principal leaders of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, commanding the main force at Guangzong