The Man Who Flubbed the Last Chance to Reunify China
China was ruled by the Han Dynasty from 202 BC to 220 AD. It fell into serious decline in its last decades. Uprisings, such as the Yellow Turban Rebellion, swept the country, and the imperial armies failed to put them down. In what turned out to be a costly mistake, the government issued a call for help that was answered by regional strongmen, who raised their own forces to fight the rebels. They crushed the rebellions, but now with private armies under their command, turned into warlords who posed an even greater threat to the Han government. The new warlords fought amongst themselves, and the imperial government was unable to control the chaos it had unleashed.
China was split into independent fiefdoms ruled by warlords, and the emperors were reduced to figureheads and puppets. Eventually, a warlord Cao Cao (alternatively, Tsao Tsao) came to the fore. Cao Cao proved himself a ruthlessly capable general and politician. He defeated the warlords of northern China, and reunited it in the emperor’s name. That done, he turned his turned his attention to southern China. With a massive army that he claimed numbered more than 800,000 men, he marched to defeat his main remaining rivals, southern warlords Liu Pei and Sun Quan, and complete the reunification of China. As seen below, it ended in a shambolic defeat.