Geng Bi in 187 attacks the western fringe prefecture Longxi with a combined army from six prefectures.

Longxi had previously been captured by the forces of Han Sui when its Grand Administrator Li Xiangru defected.

The gentry and common folk are frustrated, however, by Geng Bi's appointment of the corrupt official Cheng Qiu.

When the army reaches Longxi's capital Didao in the fourth month of 187, mutiny breaks out within Geng Bi's ranks, killing Cheng Qiu and Geng successively.

The mutineers join the rebels under the command of the Didao native Wang Guo, and together they besiege Hanyang, east of Longxi.

Fu Xie, as Grand Administrator of Hanyang, treats the people well and is widely respected, and the rebels are hesitant to fight him.

The rebels on several occasions try to persuade Fu Xie to either flee the city or surrender, but Fu is determined to defend the prefecture to the death despite his dwindling number of men and supplies.

So Fu leads  a desperate final charge and dies in battle.

Geng Bi's subordinate, Major Ma Teng, brings his troops to join Han Sui after this affair.

They make Wang Guo their leader, and together the rebels raid the region around Chang'an.

For the first time, the rebels extend their sway over the entire Liang Province.

In light of this, Zhang Wen is dismissed from his post for his failure to quell the rebellion.

The Yellow Turbans, nearly four hundred thousand strong by the fourth year of the rebellion, regularly battle the highly trained and better-armed imperial forces in Shandong and …

Cleander has meanwhile proceeded to concentrate power in his own hands and to enrich himself by becoming responsible for all public offices: he sells and bestows entry to the Senate, army commands, governorships and, increasingly, even the suffect consulships to the highest bidder.

Unrest around the empire increases, with large numbers of army deserters causing trouble in Gaul and Germany.

Pescennius Niger mops up the deserters in Gaul in a military campaign, and a revolt in Brittany is put down by two legions brought over from Britain.

In 187, one of the leaders of the deserters, Maternus, comes from Gaul intending to assassinate Commodus at the Festival of the Great Goddess in March, but he is betrayed and executed.

In the same year, Pertinax unmasks a conspiracy by two enemies of Cleander—Antistius Burrus (one of Commodus's brothers-in-law) and Arrius Antoninus.

As a result, Commodus appears even more rarely in public, preferring to live on his estates.

Emperor Ling, having not altered his wasteful and corrupt ways despite the conflict, continues to levy heavy taxes and continues to sell offices.

As a result, the agrarian and other military rebellions multiply.

In 188, under the suggestions of Liu Yan, Governor of Yi Province, Emperor Ling greatly increases the political and military power of the provincial governors and selects key officials to serve in these posts.

The imperial court has by the end of 188 all but abandoned hope of recovering Liang Province and, for the most part, leaves the regional defenses to their own devices.

However, when Wang Guo leads a major force east to attack Chencang (east of present-day Baoji), a gateway to Chang'an, the court once again appoints Huangfu Song to answer this obvious threat.

Huangfu, now General of the Left, is given twenty thousand men; Dong Zhuo, himself commanding another twenty thousand men, is to assist Huangfu.

When Huangfu and Dong reach Chencang, Dong urges Huangfu to relieve the siege immediately.

Huangfu, however, has a different opinion—he argues that Chencang's strong defenses will not be easily captured and they only need to wait for Wang Guo's men to become discouraged.

Wang Guo's men lay siege to Chencang for more than eighty days with no success, as predicted.

Cleander disposes of the current praetorian prefect, Atilius Aebutianus, early in 188, and himself takes over supreme command of the Praetorians at the new rank of a pugione ("dagger-bearer") with two praetorian prefects subordinate to him.

Wang Guo's men become worn out and abandon the siege in spring 189.

Huangfu Song, with his men rested, orders his men to give chase.

Dong Zhuo protests, citing the rule of warfare that a retreating army is not to be pursued (lest the enemy retaliate in desperation).

Huangfu dismisses the protest, saying Wang Guo's retreat is not an organized retreat but a result of losing all will to fight.

Huangfu leads his men to attack, leaving Dong Zhuo behind as a rearguard, and achieves a great victory, cutting off more than ten thousand heads.

Dong Zhuo is said to be ashamed and angry at this and bears a grudge against Huangfu from this point forward.

Wang Guo is subsequently deposed by Han Sui and Ma Teng after his defeat in Chencang, and Yan Zhong, former Prefect of Xindu, is elected to take his place as the leader of the Liang Province rebels.

However, Yan Zhong dies soon after, leaving the rebels to fight among themselves and finally splinter into three groups: Han Sui's group in Jincheng, …

…Ma Teng's group in the Wei Valley, and …