After the death of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the power struggle in the political center reached its peak. As a result, Dong Zhuoyu won the favor, deposed Chang Liyou, and established Liu Wei as Emperor Xian of Han. Later, due to the advance of Dong Zhuo's allies, Dong Zhuo moved the capital to Chang'an. After a series of turmoil, Dong Zhuo was killed, Li Dai and Guo Feng rebelled and killed Wang Yun, Lü Bu was defeated and fled, Li Dai and Guo Feng were on fire, Emperor Xian of Han fled east to return to Luoyang, and Cao Cao worshiped Emperor Xian of Han and moved the capital to Xu County, blackmailing Tianzi to order the princes.
Yuan Shao did not heed the advice of the strategist Tian Feng, shelved his plan to attack Xu County and take away Emperor Xian of Han, and insisted on attacking Gongsun Zhan, who was at the end of the road. Finally, in the third year of Jian'an (198), he captured Yijing and killed Gongsun Zhan.
After Yuan Shao destroyed Gongsun Zhan, he occupied Youzhou and annexed Gongsun Zhan's army. As a result, he held the four prefectures of Jizhou, Qingzhou, Youzhou, and Hezhou, with hundreds of thousands of troops, fertile land and abundant grain and grass in his jurisdiction, and for a time, he became the most extensive land in the world, the most soldiers, grain and grass, and the strongest strength. Along with the increase in strength, there was also Yuan Shao's ambition to become emperor.
Of course, in the chaotic world, there are many people who want to be emperors. As early as the second year of Jian'an (197), Yuan Shu, who had divided Huainan, was once called emperor, but the WeChat accumulated by the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years was still there, and Yuan Shu's strength was not good and unpopular, resulting in his own lack of assets, internal and external difficulties, and rebellion. Just when Yuan Shu was cornered, he saw that Yuan Shao's strength was growing, so he forced yuan shao to give up this hot-headed title of emperor to Yuan Shao, and he wrote to Yuan Shao:
"At present, the Han Dynasty exists in name only, the Son of Heaven is controlled, the government decree is not the original intention of the Son of Heaven, the powerful attack each other, the land is divided, the situation is the same as the situation of the Seven Kingdoms in the last years of the Zhou Dynasty, and the final result is that the strong are king." Our Yuan family is ordered by heaven, it should be the emperor, Fu Ming, XiangRui are all clear, now you own the land of four states, millions of households, so the strength is unmatched. In terms of virtue, no one in the world is more noble than you. Even if Cao Cao had the heart to support the Han Dynasty, he was not unable to disobey the Mandate of Heaven in the end. "
Yuan Shao was very happy to receive Yuan Shu's letter, but he did not dare to show it. Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were originally half-brothers, but Yuan Shu was concubine, Yuan Shao was Shu out, and was passed on to uncle. The fourth and third dukes of the Yuan family are a rich family, and growing up in such a family will inevitably makes people develop willful and irrational problems, and Yuan Shu's title of emperor is an example. Yuan Shao is no exception, for example, he has three sons, the eldest son Yuan Tan, the second son Yuan Xi, the third son Yuan Shang, Yuan Shao favored his stepmother Liu Shi, and he willfully wanted yuan Shang, who was born from his stepmother Liu Shi, to succeed him. Frustrated and persuaded: "Three children of similar ages should be established according to virtue, and similar virtue should be divined, this is the rule since ancient times, and the willful establishment of an heir by a general is the beginning of a disaster." Yuan Shao did not listen to the good words, and under the pretext of inspecting the talents of his heirs, he sent his sons and nephews abroad, leaving only Yuan Shang by his side. The two brothers of the same race not only have similar personality weaknesses, but also have extremely similar desires for power and fame. Yuan Shu made the throne exactly in line with Yuan Shao's wishes.
Even though Yuan Shao wanted to take over the imperial title given up by his brother Yuan Shu, the attitude of his subordinates, generals, and people could not be ignored. So Yuan Shao decided to find a way to test the attitude of public opinion first. He found the master book Geng Bao, asked him to find a basis for himself to claim the title of emperor, and then spread it out to test the tone of public opinion. Geng Bao lived up to Yuan Shao's hopes and reported that:
"Chide has been corrupted, and the Yuan clan is a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, and should obey the will of Heaven and follow the hearts of the people."
The meaning of these few sentences is that according to the theory of "five virtues are born together", the Han Dynasty is Huode, that is, Chide, and Huode should be replaced by Tude, the Yellow Emperor is Tude, the Yuan family is the descendant of the Yellow Emperor, and the Yuan clan replacing the Han Dynasty is Providence.
Yuan Shao made Geng Bao's words public to the military officials, hoping to get everyone's support, but the subordinates thought that Geng Bao's evil words confused the public and confused the public, and they should be killed. Yuan Shao knew that the time was not yet right to claim the title of emperor, and he was afraid that Geng Bao would reveal that this was Yuan Shao's instructions, so he hurriedly ordered Geng Bao to be killed. As a result, Geng Bao, at the cost of his life, only tested Yuan Shao's public opinion attitude of declaring himself emperor.
Editor/Genichi, picture from the web