At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the death of Emperor Ling of Han intensified the contradiction between the eunuch clique and the foreign clique. Empress He's brother, the general He Jin, adopted Yuan Shao's strategy and summoned foreign troops into Beijing to hang and kill the eunuchs, but before he could succeed, he himself was ambushed and killed by the eunuchs who jumped the wall in a hurry. The eunuch clique was subsequently wiped out. Just as Yuan Shao was about to reach the peak of power, Dong Zhuo was summoned to lead his army and horses to the capital. Dong Zhuo was suspicious and planned to blackmail tianzi to order the princes. Yuan Shao was jealous of Dong Zhuobing's strong horse and had no choice but to flee.
Dong Zhuo deposed Liu Xie in the capital and made Liu Xie emperor, that is, Emperor Xian of Han, which offended the ministers, and also allowed the soldiers to rape and plunder and kill civilians in the capital, offending the nobles and the people, and causing the common anger of the heavens and the gods. The princes of various places exchanged letters, intending to attack Dong Zhuo. Even Dong Zhuo's subordinates who were sent to serve as officials in various places opposed Dong Zhuo. Jizhou Mu Hanfu was originally arranged by Dong Zhuo to monitor Yuan Shao, but after Weighing it up, Han Fu decided to go along with the general trend and support Yuan Shao in raising troops to fight Dong.
The fourth and third dukes of the Yuan family, the accumulated contacts and endowments are very wide, protégés and former officials are all over the world, plus Yuan Shao has made meritorious contributions to the destruction of the eunuch clique, and he openly opposes Dong Zhuo's abolition of Chang Liyou in the court, so with Yuan Shao's seniority and fame, he carries the banner of seeking Dong, and the world naturally gathers accordingly.
In the first month of the first year of Chuping (190), the second year of the death of the Han Ling Emperor, the Kwantung states and counties rose up together to attack Dong Zhuo. Yuan Shao was elected as the leader of the coalition forces and called himself a general of the Che Riders. The coalition forces were initially united and obeyed the command of the Allied Lord. Yuan Shao then ordered Hanoi to be the prince of Kuangtun and Han Fu to stay in Yecheng to supply the army with food. Yuzhou Thorn Shi Kong Yingtun Bing Yingchuan, Yanzhou Thorn Shi Liu Dai, Chen Liu Taishou Zhang Miao, Guangling Taishou Zhang Chao, Dongjun Taishou Qiao Mao, Shanyang Taishou Yuan Yi, Jibei Xiang Bao Xin and Cao Cao Tun Sour Jujube, and the later general Yuan Shu Tun Luyang. The army performed its duties and morale was high.
The sheer power of the Allies really frightened Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo thought that it would be difficult to defeat the Allies for a while, and the capital was far away from his base camp, and the people's hearts were turned against him, and it was difficult to hold on, so he decided to hold the people hostage and the Han Xian Emperor to move the capital to Chang'an, and killed more than fifty yuan family members before leaving.
It is reasonable to say that the coalition troops are in full swing, Dong Zhuo hastily fled, and the victory of Dong Zhuo is in front of him. But at this time, Yuan Shao's character weakness was exposed. At the beginning, Yuan Shao provoked the contradiction between the eunuch and He Jin, and the high moves were frequent, but his good strategizing did not mean that he was good at gathering people's hearts. Gathering people's hearts and minds is a quality that a general must have. To gather people's hearts and minds, it is also necessary for generals to have a long-term vision, be open-minded, treat others sincerely, and do not care about profits and losses. These are the opposite of Yuan Shao's personality traits. Yuan Shao is good at small things, has many concerns, acts conservatively, and is preoccupied with gains and losses. When the Allies and Dong Zhuo's army were short-armed, Yuan Shao did not take the lead in the battle to preserve his strength. The first battle was extremely important to boost morale, and although Yuan Shao's careful thinking was not clear, all the troops and horses knew it, and everyone naturally felt chills.
When people's hearts are scattered, morale is gone. The commanders of the various roads and horses also had different intentions and did not want to fight for the selfish Yuan Shao. The generals of the front-line sour jujube garrison held a banquet every day, refused to engage Dong Zhuo's army, and even looted and burned civilians to replenish military salaries and materials. The same is true of other armies. Yuan Shao was unable to control all the armies, extended the sun and the moon, ran out of military food, and scattered the armies, and could not please Dong.
Dong Zhuo arrived in Chang'an, intending to abandon Emperor Xian and establish Liu Yu, the weak Youzhou Mu, as emperor. On the other hand, Yuan Shao did not reflect on the reasons for the failure of the court, still thinking that he had a call for a rallying arm, the world gathered corresponding appeals, coupled with the discord between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu also had the heart of self-reliance, so Yuan Shao also planned to blackmail tianzi to order the princes, he wrote to Yuan Shu, saying: "Liu Xie is not the bloodline of the Han family, and should establish Liu Yu as a new king in the capital, and at the same time close the Fortress of Guanjin, so that Dong Zhuo will die of exhaustion." Yuan Shu disagreed. Yuan Shao, under the guise of the Kwantung generals, sent Zhang Qi, the former Prince of Lelang, to meet liu Yu and present it to the public. Liu Yu resolutely refused. Yuan Shao was not dead-hearted, and asked him to take the shang shu and undertake the worship, but Liu Yu refused. Yuan Shao's plan thus went bankrupt.
Editor/Genichi, picture from the web