[4] Despite receiving relatively little attention in the hands of traditional historians, the rebellion nonetheless had lasting importance as it weakened Han Chinese power in the northwest and prepared that land for a number of non-Han-ruled states in the centuries to come.
[6][7] The situation escalated in October or November 184 when the troops of the Auxiliary of Loyal Barbarians From Huangzhong (湟中義從胡), which consisted of Qiang and Lesser Yuezhi recruits sent to suppress the disturbances, mutinied against their Han Chinese superiors in the military camp of Lianju (令居;[8] northwest of present-day Lanzhou)[4] and joined the insurgents, killing the Colonel Protector of the Qiang (護羌校尉), Leng Zheng (冷徵), in the process.
[6] The rebels were helped by the fact that the local governor Zuo Chang (左昌), Inspector of Liang Province (涼州刺史), had embezzled the funds allocated for the defence force, making no relief possible.
The hostages – which included Bian Zhang, the former Prefect of Xin'an (新安縣令); and Han Sui, Attendant Official of Liang Province (涼州從事) – were then persuaded to join the rebels' cause.
[11] After this episode, Zuo Chang was replaced by Song Nie (宋臬), a devout Confucian who believed that the situation could be remedied only by teaching the people the Classic of Filial Piety.
He submitted this proposal to the imperial court despite his junior officials' advice and was promptly dismissed in favour of Yang Yong (楊雍).
In response, the imperial court appointed Huangfu Song, the famed conqueror of the Yellow Turbans, as the General of Chariots and Cavalry on the Left (左車騎將軍) in charge of defense of Chang'an.
However, Huangfu achieved no immediate success, and was dismissed in the seventh lunar month of 185 after a four-month tenure after being slandered by the eunuchs in the imperial court.
Should this region be occupied by the barbarians, so they could cause trouble by their great military strength, then this would be of the utmost danger to our empire and a serious loss to the nation.
In the eighth lunar month of 185, the high minister Zhang Wen was given the military post of General of Chariots and Cavalry (車騎將軍) to assume Huangfu Song's responsibilities.
Taking advantage of the situation, Dong Zhuo smashed the rebel army in a sudden attack, forcing Bian Zhang and Han Sui to retreat west to Yuzhong (榆中; near present-day Lanzhou) of Jincheng commandery.
[18] Seeing an advantage to be gained from this situation, Geng Bi (耿鄙), the newly installed Inspector of Liang Province, attempted to re-establish Han-Chinese power in the region without major military assistance from other parts of the country.
The mutineers joined the rebels under the command of the Didao native Wang Guo (王國), and together they besieged Hanyang, east of Longxi.
[23] By the end of 188, the imperial court had all but abandoned hope of recovering Liang Province and, for the most part, left the regional defences to their own devices.
Huangfu, however, had a different opinion – he argued that Chencang's strong defences would not be easily captured and they would only need to wait for Wang Guo's men to become discouraged.
Huangfu led his men to attack, leaving Dong Zhuo behind as rearguard, and achieved a great victory, cutting off more than ten thousand heads.
By the end of the year, civil insurrection had spread across China and the Liang Province Rebellion became subsumed as an outlying disturbance in the fragmentation of the Han dynasty.
[30] As China disintegrated into chaos, the three rebel leaders of Liang Province became warlords in their own right and took different approaches to adapt to the new geopolitical situation.
On the other hand, Han Sui and Ma Teng became involved in the wider affairs of the empire, starting with their reconciliation with Dong Zhuo, who asked for their support to deal with the coalition against him.
Ma Chao fled south to Zhang Lu, and later to the southwestern warlord Liu Bei in Sichuan, where he died in 221 without ever seeing the north again.
[37] Compared to the Han dynasty, Cao Wei's territory shrank in the northwest as some outlying former commanderies, such as Song Jian's realm of Fuhan, were simply abandoned.
[38] During the early Western Jin period, the various tribes in the northwest rebelled against their Chinese overlords, first under Tufa Shujineng (270–280) and then Qi Wannian (296–299), devastating the region.
[4] The Liang Province Rebellion is featured as playable stages in the seventh installment of Koei's Dynasty Warriors video game series, and focuses on Sun Jian's involvement in aiding Dong Zhuo on behalf of the Han imperial court.