During the Three Kingdoms period, Yuan Shu was a famous warlord at that time, relying on the prominent family lineage of the Fourth Dynasty and the Third Duke, taking advantage of Dong Zhuo's disaster and chaos, he fled to Nanyang and Sun Jian to join forces with Sun Jian to divide Huainan and other places, becoming an important warlord at the end of the Han Dynasty. Huainan, which Yuan Shu occupied, was between Cao Cao, Liu Biao, and Liu Bei and Lü Bu, and belonged to the land of the Four Wars. If Yuan Shu joined forces with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao would be attacked on his back and it would be difficult for him to survive, but although the two were brothers, they were not at all in harmony, and even hated each other, which gave Cao Cao the opportunity to eliminate them separately.
After Yuan Shu obtained the jade seal, he gave birth to the ambition of becoming emperor without self-control. Unexpectedly, his emperor's addiction ended after only two years, becoming one of the most despised princes in the Three Kingdoms era, leaving behind a name for thousands of years. Yuan Shu, as the first warlord to claim the title of emperor at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, set a bad example for various princes, but his ending also caused many ambitious people to be hit and did not dare to try easily. So, how did Yuan Shu fail? What about the fate of his children after his death?
Yuan Shu claimed that the emperor's ambition began when Sun Ce presented him with the imperial jade seal, in 195 AD, Emperor Xian of Han was chased by Li Dai and Guo Feng to flee to the north of the Yellow River, Yuan Shu learned of it, thinking that the opportunity to claim the emperor had arrived, he revealed to his subordinates the meaning of the title of emperor, although many of his subordinates did not approve, but did not dare to openly oppose, only the master book Yan Xiang clearly pointed out that Yuan Shu's move was improper, which made Yuan Shu feel very unhappy.
Soon after, a Xiangshi Zhang Yu (張鮍) was a Fortune Teller for Yuan Shu and advocated that he had the title of emperor, and subsequently, Yuan Shu used this public opinion to proclaim himself emperor in Shouchun in 197 AD, calling himself "Zhongjia" and establishing the name Zhongshi. Yuan Shu claimed to be the empress dowager, his power did not expand, but his living standards were raised, and he lived a life of luxury and debauchery and profligacy, and he only took hundreds of people from his harem wives and concubines, and the supply of food and clothing was the best at that time, on the contrary, most of the soldiers under Yuan Shu were worried about whether they could eat enough to eat, and many teams plundered the people, causing even the phenomenon of cannibalism in the Jianghuai region.
Yuan Shu's act of claiming the title of emperor allowed many princes to find reasons to attack him, and it did not take long to attract successive attacks from Sun Ce, Lü Bu, Cao Cao, and others, beating Yuan Shu to the point of dizziness. By 197 AD, there was a severe drought in many farmlands in the Huainan region, which triggered a great famine and more cannibalism, which further weakened Yuan Shu's strength. Later, due to unpopularity, many of Yuan Shu's subordinates betrayed Yuan Shu, and after his subordinates Chen Lan and Lei Bo robbed Yuan Jun's grain and grass, they hid in Haoshan and escaped from Yuan Shu's control. In 199 AD, not many people followed Yuan Shu, and in desperation, Yuan Shu transferred the imperial title to Yuan Shao. Confused, Yuan Shao actually agreed to accept Yuan Shu.
Yuan Shu wanted to defect to Yuan Tan in order to save his life, but was intercepted by Liu Bei and others, and he had to be imprisoned in Shouchun. There was no food supply in the city, and it was June, Yuan Shu was trapped in an irritable mood and wanted to drink some honey to relieve the heat, but unfortunately his soldiers had nowhere to ask for honey to relieve the heat, and finally in despair, Yuan Shu vomited blood and died. At that time, Sun Ce also sent troops to clean up the mess of Yuan Shu, and he robbed Yuan Shu's family. Yuan Shu's son Yuan Yao later became Langzhong of the State of Wu, and his daughter was later incorporated into the harem by Sun Quan and became one of his wives, and a few years later, Yuan Yaode's daughter was promised to Sun Quan's son Sun Fen.
As a warlord at the end of the Han Dynasty, Yuan Shu did not think about how to recruit talents, benefit the people, expand his strength, and only wanted to be an emperor and enjoy his personal life. Therefore, Yuan Shu, who was powerless, became a big laughing stock in the Three Kingdoms period, and was despised by people, and Sun Ce was able to take in his descendants, which was also relatively lenient to Yuan Shu.
Reference: Romance of the Three Kingdoms