Dong Zhuo (? - May 22, 192), courtesy name Zhongying, was born in Lintao, Longxi (now Minxian County, Gansu Province). At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a powerful official deposed the Young Emperor of the Han Dynasty and established the Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and took the order hostage. The political power of the Eastern Han Dynasty ceased to exist in name only.
Dong Zhuo grew up in Liangzhou and made good friends with Qiang people. At the end of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo was awarded the title of Lang Zhonglang. He followed the general Zhang Huan who protected the Xiongnu to attack the Hanyang Qiang people. The captain of the northern part of Shu County and the captain of Wuji in the western region were dismissed from their posts due to circumstances. He was recruited by Situ and Yuan Wei and served as the governor of Bingzhou. He participated in the suppression of the Yellow Turban Uprising and the Liangzhou Rebellion and was quite meritorious.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the antagonism between the Ten Constant Ministers and the ministers of the DPRK became increasingly obvious. The powerful general He Chu made a foolish move, which was to summon local princes to Beijing to try to kill the Ten Constant Ministers. This move opened the prelude to chaos in the world at the end of the Han Dynasty. Dong Zhuo's rebellious behavior after entering Beijing caused the princes of the world to raise armies to attack him. Under the circumstances of successive unfavorable battles, Dong Zhuo chose to abandon Luoyang and move the capital to Chang'an. There have always been many theories about why Dong Zhuo moved the capital to Chang'an. They mainly focus on saying that Dong Zhuo chose to move the capital in order to avoid the military attack of the Guandong princes. In fact, if you carefully analyze the situation at the time, there are many reasons behind it, and they are not what you think. So simple.
First, avoiding the soldiers of the Dong Alliance is the most direct reason.
Although there were no eighteen princes as mentioned in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the alliance against Dong had almost eleven people in total. This put a lot of pressure on Dong Zhuo, who had insufficient troops in Luoyang at the time. Moreover, after several battles, he suffered consecutive defeats. In particular, Sun Jian put the greatest pressure on Dong Zhuo. Under the circumstances at that time, it was a good choice for Dong Zhuo to avoid the military forces of the alliance against Dong and move the capital to Chang'an.
Second, Dong Zhuo grew up in Liangzhou and was good at making use of the terrain. Most of
's soldiers are Liangzhou cavalry. To the northwest of Chang'an are Longxi and Liangzhou, which are close to his base camp. In addition, when heading west from Luoyang to Chang'an, there are many checkpoints on the road, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. From the way he moved the capital The defensive arrangements can be seen: Dong Yue was stationed in Lianchi, Duan Suan was stationed in Huayin , and Zhongniu Fu was stationed in Anyi. It is not easy for the heroes of Guandong to enter Chang'an.
Third, his base camp is not stable at this time.
Han Sui, Ma Teng, Bian Zhang and others continued to rebel in Liangzhou, and it lasted for a long time. Dong Zhuo always regarded Liangzhou as his rear area, and the rebellion of Ma Teng and others brought him A huge hidden danger. While moving the capital to Chang'an to keep the heroes of Guandong out of Hangu Pass , he could also concentrate his energy and troops on dealing with Han Sui, Ma Teng and others.
Fourth, the trouble caused by the activity of the remaining parts of the Yellow Turban.
Although the Yellow Turban Uprising was suppressed by the Eastern Han Dynasty, the resistance in various places did not stop. The remaining Yellow Turbans were still very active, especially the White Wave Army in the Hedong area not far from Luoyang. caused a lot of trouble to Dong Zhuo and distracted Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo was unable to deal with the Kwantung heroes and the Baibo Army at the same time, so he chose to retreat and move the capital, not only to avoid the Kwantung heroes, but also to avoid the Baibo Army.
Fifth, break the old order and establish a new order.
It is the same reason as Cao Cao later used the emperor to control the princes. At that time, the Han Dynasty still had a certain appeal. Dong Zhuo had the emperor in his hands and stood at the height of righteousness, and he could be invincible. Luoyang has been the imperial capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty for a long time, and the interests of aristocratic families are intertwined. Moving the capital to Chang'an can break the old order and establish a new order. Within the scope of his own strength, Dong Zhuo could do whatever he wanted without being constrained from doing anything out of the ordinary in Luoyang.
Sixth, it is convenient for collecting wealth.
Dong Zhuo's army spent a lot of money and lacked money and food. Taking advantage of the opportunity of moving the capital, he moved the wealthy people of Luoyang to Chang'an together, so that he could have a better excuse to collect private wealth for military use.
Therefore, for Dong Zhuo, abandoning Luoyang and moving the capital to Chang'an was really his best choice at the time, but this was not the case for the Eastern Han Dynasty court. Moving the capital to Chang'an further weakened the influence of the Han Dynasty. From this moment on, the Han Dynasty was just It's just a symbol, a tool used by the princes.
