You're listening to an airwave media podcast.

Hello and welcome to the history of China.

Hello and welcome to the history of China.

Episode 36, The Battle of Guangandu.

Last time, we launched into the early stages of the Three Kingdoms Period, with the reigns of some of the last emperors of Han, Juan, Shao, and Sien.

We chronicled the rise of the followers of the Way of Eternal Peace and their apocalyptic

religious fervor leading to the Yellow Turbine rebellion, which, though ultimately

doomed to destruction, would serve to further destabilize the empire, already reeling

from endemic governmental corruption and nepotism.

We left off with the fall of the eunuch marquise at the hands of the fearsome general Dong

Juho and his reign of terror from Chang'an while holding Emperor Sheehan captive, before finally being beheaded

by his own adopted son and bodyguard, Liu Bhu in 192, CE.

Today we'll be shifting focus away from Chang'on and the Emperor, at least for now, to one of the figures

central to this entire period, the General Tsau Tau Tau.

We mentioned him last episode, back when he had just been a colonel in the Army of the Western

Garden and eventually became a co-captain of the Imperial Guard, before being forced to abandon Loyang with the arrival of

Dong Jules-Laiang Army.

Tau, along with his co-captain, Yuan Shau, had amassed a sizable force to resist the

tyranny of the self-appointed imperial chancellor, Dong.

But with Dong Joa's unexpected execution, the factions within China shattered.

Dong Joa's cult of personality had been the only thing keeping his fractious subordinates united, and with his death they began to vie for power amongst themselves.

As for the anti-Dong coalition, well, they were almost equally disunified and held together only by their mutual hatred

...