The Dragon-Slaying Youth Became an Evil Dragon

["Their combat power was even more terrifying. For example, when Xu Xiao led ten thousand Great Snow Dragon Cavalry Army troops to the border and faced sixty thousand Liyang soldiers, he so frightened Cai Nan that he led his army to its knees. All sixty thousand bowed before the King of Northern Liang at once."]

"This Great Snow Dragon Cavalry really was extraordinary! Of the grades A, B, C, and D, grade-A horses must have been the finest warhorses. They had the best weapons and the finest horses, with three mounts per man. Both men and horses wore armor, and one horse wore heavy armor. They could fight as light cavalry or heavy cavalry. I've never seen cavalry like that!"

A Mongolian cavalryman from a certain plane said, "That's impossible! At a full gallop, a horse in heavy armor can't keep up with one in light armor, and it has to rest at intervals. It's nothing but a burden! On the battlefield, it'd be full of weaknesses!"

A Song man from another plane said, "I've seen light cavalry, and I've seen heavy cavalry, but I've never seen cavalry that could do both."

"For ten thousand cavalry to defeat sixty thousand men is no great difficulty, but to make all sixty thousand kneel before the fighting even started—that's truly a wonder!"

["When Xu Fengnian went to Western Chu to fetch Jiang Ni, the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry Army routed Cai Nan's forces with a single charge."]

"I've only heard of Xiang Yu, Hegemon-King of Western Chu. I've never heard of this Jiang Ni."

["Yuan Zuozong even gazed into the distance and said, 'My foster father once said that the only sound in the world louder than thunder is the sound of our Northern Liang horses' hooves.'"]

"The sound of ten thousand galloping horses can shake a man's heart, but to say it's louder than thunder is surely an exaggeration!"

"To this day, I have never heard hoofbeats louder than thunder!"

["During the first great war between Northern Liang and Northern Mang, at Gourd Pass in Youzhou, Northern Liang used ten thousand Great Snow Dragon Cavalry Army troops and the two heavily armored cavalry forces, the Zhihu Army and the Weixiong Army, to swallow nearly two hundred thousand of Yang Yuanzan's troops in one bite. Forty-six Northern Mang generals, including the great general Yang Yuanzan, died in battle."]

"Ten thousand wiped out an army of nearly two hundred thousand. What a terrifying feat!"

"What era was Northern Liang from, anyway?"

"Northern Mang sounds like a northern steppe tribe, and the battlefield was in Youzhou. If Northern Liang wiped out a steppe army of two hundred thousand with ten thousand Great Snow Dragon Cavalry, that really was terrifying!"

["In the second great war between Northern Liang and Northern Mang, Northern Liang's 320,000 iron cavalry died in battle. Most of its cavalry forces were battered until their formations were incomplete; only the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry Army remained intact."]

["In the end, this cavalry force refused to be commanded by Xie Xichui, who had entered the capital to serve as an official, and disbanded on the spot."]

["Thus, Northern Liang's 300,000 iron cavalry were no more."]

"Northern Liang and the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry sound fake. If he was that formidable, he'd have unified the world long ago. The heavenly screen couldn't possibly have failed to mention it."

["A million households lie scattered across Northern Liang; how many iron coats wrap withered bones? Fame and glory are entrusted to a jug of wine; tell me, how many handfuls of earth cover emperors and generals?"]

["The magnificent Northern Liang Requiem Song told of all Northern Liang's sorrow."]

"Was Northern Liang made up in a storybook or not? Why is there a Northern Liang Requiem? It doesn't sound made up!"

Some of the ancients were baffled, unsure whether Northern Liang and the Great Snow Dragon Cavalry were fictional.

The system left them in suspense.

[From roaming the world with a sword to bringing chaos upon it, the dragon-slaying youth became an evil dragon #Eastern Han #history]

"Dragon-slaying?!"

"An evil dragon?!"

Most emperors used the image of a dragon to describe themselves, calling themselves true dragon sons of heaven.

Slaying a dragon was a grave act of disrespect!

And "evil dragon" was hardly a flattering term either!

["This was the true historical story of a dragon-slaying youth who became an evil dragon. His name is surely familiar to everyone: Dong Zhuo."]

"Dong the traitor! Is he worthy of being called a dragon?"

"I wish I could eat his flesh and drink his blood!"

["In the final years of the Eastern Han, when its decline was already plain to see, a youth in Dingxi, Gansu, labored all day with his face to the yellow earth and his back to the sky. Ever since his father had resigned from office and returned home, he had lived this hard life day after day to ease his family's burden."]

["One day, he happened upon a saber in a field. It shone brilliantly, bore patterns, and sliced through jade as though it were mud. Only later did he learn that it had been Xiang Yu's own saber. After passing through many hands over several hundred years, it had been found by Dong Zhuo, stirring a flood of feelings in his heart."]

Xiang Yu: My saber?

Liu Bang: Hm? Xiang Yu's saber!

["Before returning home, he had traveled through the northwest, where his forthright character and formidable martial skills won him the friendship of many Qiang heroes."]

["After he returned home, those Qiang came to his hometown to visit him. Reunited with them after a long separation, Dong Zhuo slaughtered his family's plow ox to hold a feast. Grateful for his loyalty and generosity, the chieftains gathered a thousand head of livestock after returning home and gave them to Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo thus became known for his courage and chivalry, and gained the means to leave the fields behind. Unwilling to spend his life in obscurity, he took the Hegemon-King Saber and set out to travel once more."]

["War was raging at the time, and the Xiongnu repeatedly raided and plundered the border. Dong Zhuo patrolled beneath the frontier passes and suppressed bandits, winning renown throughout the provinces and commanderies and inspiring awe among the Qiang and Hu. Later, the inspector of Bingzhou recommended him as a military commander, and he joined the campaign against a rebellion in Hanyang. For his service in suppressing the revolt, he was appointed a gentleman of the household, but he gave all his rewards to his subordinates, leaving these words: 'The one credited is myself; the ones who earned it are the soldiers.'"]

"What did Dong Zhuo mean by that?" an illiterate butcher asked a scholar beside him.

The scholar replied offhandedly, "I'm the one credited by the court, but the soldiers are the ones who earned those military merits."

"Wasn't Dong Zhuo quite a good man? Why did he become so cruel and heartless?"

"Dong Zhuo was buying people's loyalty!"

["At this time, the young man had entered officialdom with a heart full of devotion to his country. Later, Dong Zhuo served as northern commandant, inspector of Bingzhou, and grand administrator of Hedong. He pacified the northwest, guarded Chang'an, and fought the Yellow Turbans, repeatedly earning merit, yet he also rose and fell amid the tides of officialdom."]

["During Emperor Ling's reign, eunuchs threw the government into chaos, while the highly decorated frontier general suffered plots and jealous hostility from the capital."]

["At the time, the Yellow Turban rebellion raged and warlords sprang up on all sides. Lu Zhi suppressed the Yellow Turbans, only to be imprisoned on the advice of a eunuch. Dong Zhuo took his place, bearing the imperial authority to wage the campaign, but in less than two months, he too was thrown into prison because of a eunuch's advice."]

"Those eunuchs really caused no end of harm!"

"Even someone as cruel as Dong Zhuo was done in by eunuchs!"

["Only after the Yellow Turban rebellion had subsided and a general amnesty was declared throughout the land did Dong Zhuo escape disaster."]

"If only Dong Zhuo had died in prison!"

"Without Dong Zhuo, someone else would have taken his place!"

["Later, when the Qiang in Liangzhou rebelled, Dong Zhuo was finally recalled to service. He fought the Liangzhou rebels and was granted a marquisate and appointed a general."]

["Yet he had seen Lu Zhi, who suppressed the Yellow Turbans, suffer because of advice given at court, and Huangfu Song humiliated after suppressing the Liangzhou rebellion. He himself had not escaped disaster either. He seemed to have understood a principle: victory and defeat were decided not only on the battlefield, but also at court."]

["Later, the court promoted Dong Zhuo to minister steward and summoned him to the capital, but Dong Zhuo refused. It appointed Dong Zhuo governor of Bingzhou, and he refused again."]

["Only after Emperor Ling died and the imperial in-laws clashed with the eunuchs at court did Dong Zhuo accept He Jin's invitation to enter the capital and rid the emperor's side of evil influences. Unexpectedly, after the eunuchs killed He Jin, they sealed the imperial palace. Yuan Shu, general of the household of the Tiger Braves, set fire to the southern palace, forcing the eunuchs to flee the imperial palace. From then on, the capital fell into chaos."]

["Dong Zhuo advanced with his troops and met the emperor, whom the eunuchs had taken away, at Northern Mang."]

["Afterward, Dong Zhuo took control of the capital, personally killed members of the eunuch faction, deposed the young emperor and installed a new one, poisoned the deposed emperor and the empress dowager, burned Luoyang, and moved the capital to Chang'an. Holding the son of heaven hostage, he commanded the lords, monopolized the government, and brought chaos to the realm."]

["The Han Dynasty founded by Liu Bang had its last breath snuffed out by Dong Zhuo's own hand."]

Seeing this, Liu Bang and the emperors of the Han Dynasty felt deeply distressed.

["To the farthest shores of the realm, all were the king's subjects. With the Han imperial house collapsing, Dong Zhuo was regarded as the source of the disaster and became the man all the lords under heaven joined forces to punish."]

["The lords from every quarter led their armies to Luoyang. Facing their attack from across the land, Dong Zhuo still held in the flames of war the same saber Xiang Yu had worn, which he had found in the field years before."]

["But Dong Zhuo was no longer the wandering hero who had once patrolled against bandits and put down rebellions and unrest."]