The Eastern Han General Who Quelled the Yellow Turbans
One of the finest fighting generals of the late Eastern Han, called to the crisis when the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, who split forces with Zhu Jun and broke the main Yellow Turban armies at Yingchuan, Runan, Dong commandery and elsewhere — the foremost hero of the suppression. For all his merit he was unswervingly loyal to the Han house; when his officers urged him to seize the chaos and set himself up, he sternly refused. When Dong Zhuo, in power, sought to remove him, he chose to submit to arrest rather than raise arms — a famous general with the power to rewrite history who chose to keep his place.
After the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun campaigned separately; at Yingchuan he broke Bo Cai’s Yellow Turban force with fire, then quelled the revolts in Runan, Chen, Dong commandery and elsewhere in turn, and for his merit was made General of the Left Chariots and Cavalry — the foremost hero of quelling the great rebellion that had shaken the Eastern Han’s foundations, his prestige unmatched for a time.
When Huangfu Song stood decorated and holding heavy troops, his officer Yan Zhong urged him to seize the chaos to depose and enthrone at will — "the sacred vessel shifts in the space of a glance" — but he flatly refused and held to his loyalty to the Han. Later, when Dong Zhuo in power grew suspicious and imprisoned Huangfu Song, he still did not raise arms in resistance, and in the end met a peaceful death — all his life he held troops enough to rewrite history, yet never took that step.
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