At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was a famous period of division in The history of our country, and countless heroes emerged during this period and were recruited by major forces one after another, forming a spectacular situation of "countless people across states and counties".
Among these princes, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan, although they laughed longer, were the founders of the situation of dividing the world into three parts. However, in the beginning, it was the two brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu who enjoyed a great reputation in the world and attracted many sages to turn to.
Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were from the famous and prestigious clan of the late Han Dynasty, "Runan's Yuan Clan". From their great-grandfather's generation, four generations of this family held the high-status official position of "Three Dukes" in the dynasty.
Zhou Yi, a chancellor at the end of the Han Dynasty, once commented: "'Yuan Shu'en IV, protégés are all over the world. However, although Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were brothers, they were half-siblings, so the two often confronted each other, and Yuan Shu thought that he was a concubine, so he looked down on Yuan Shao, so much so that he called him "'house slave'". Then, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, who also had many generals, if they went to war, which side would win?
To compare the strength of the two, we should find the right point in time, otherwise, comparing Yuan Shao's heyday with Yuan Shu's decline, the answer will naturally be unfair.
In order to make the comparison more exciting, we assume that Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are at their peak and have unprecedented strength, for Yuan Shao, the most powerful period is of course the eve of the outbreak of the Battle of Guandu, and for Yuan Shu, the time of emperor is also the time when the power is the most powerful.
Therefore, what we compare here is Yuan Shao in the fifth year of Jian'an (200) and Yuan Shu in the second year of Jian'an (197). Yuan Shaoben served in the palace, and after Dong Zhuo entered the capital, Yuan Shao, who did not want to serve the thieves of the state, chose to flee Luoyang, and in order to win over the Yuan family's power and not stimulate the people of the world, Dong Zhuo not only did not pursue, but also "worshiped Shao Bohai Taishou and sealed the Marquis of Fengxiang." Later, Yuan Shao used the Bohai Sea as his base and gradually expanded to the entire Hebei region.
Soon, Yuan Shao successively occupied Jizhou, Qingzhou, Hezhou, and Youzhou, becoming the hegemon of Hebei across the four prefectures. At the same time, Yuan Shao relied on his identity and fame to recruit sages and expand his talent lineup. On the other hand, Yuan Shu also fled because he did not want to obey Dong Zhuo, but he claimed to be the legitimate heir of the Yuan family, and chose to return to Nanyang near the Yuan family's base, and traveled to Huainan, and took in Sun Jian, who was known for his bravery.
Later, Yuan Shu defeated Liu Bei in Xuzhou and captured Guangling and other places, expanding his territory to the maximum and reaching its peak. However, from the perspective of the scope of rule, Yuan Shu occupied several counties around Huainan, while Yuan Shao was the overlord of the whole of Hebei, and also occupied some areas of present-day Eastern China, whether in terms of area or land quality, population, resources, and even geographical location, Yuan Shao was in an advantage. So, let's look at the next project – fame.
As mentioned above, Yuan Shu regarded himself as the orthodoxy of the Yuan family and regarded Yuan Shao as a family slave, but the real situation at that time was that "Hao Jie was attached to Shao", and the reason was because Yuan Shu was "extravagant and wanton, unscrupulous, and the people suffered", while Yuan Shao was "a man of government and a man of virtue", so people praised Yuan Shao's famous family style, and they were very afraid and disgusted with Yuan Shu. Therefore, the personality and way of treating these two brothers has led to a huge gap in their reputation.
A good reputation is particularly important in the chaotic world of "the king chooses the subject, the subject also chooses the king".
Liu Bei attracted Xu Shu and Zhuge Liang because of his benevolence, while Cao Cao attracted many Haojie in the name of aicai.
Placed on the Yuan brothers, a good reputation helped Yuan Shao attract the support of Tian Feng, Frustrated Zhi, Xu You, and even Guo Jia, but Guo Jia later switched to Cao Cao. In addition, Zhang Gao, Gao Lan, Yan Liang, and Wen Ugly, who are known as the "Four Pillars of Hebei", are also used.
On the other hand, Yuan Shu's reputation for his bad personality and improper behavior spread out, which directly led to the withering of his talents. Speaking of the talents under Yuan Shu, perhaps the only people who can leave some impressions in people's minds are Ji Ling, the fierce general who repeatedly consulted Liu Bei and witnessed the Yuanmen shooting incident with him, and Yan Xiang, a strategist who repeatedly advised Yuan Shu but was not valued, but never abandoned. From the perspective of talent comparison, Yuan Shao is still a big victory.
In ancient times, the size and quality of land often determined the size of the population, and the size of the population affected the size of the soldiers. Yuan Shao occupied the four prefectures of Hebei, of which Jizhou and Qingzhou had been developed for a long time, which was not only suitable for farming and living, so as to obtain a large number of young and strong people, but also had the advantage of being close to the sea, and could harvest rich fishery resources and sea salt. In addition, the production of good horses in Hezhou and Youzhou also provided excellent war horse resources for Yuan Shao's army.
As for Yuan Shu, the area of Huainan that he occupied was not much developed in the Three Kingdoms period, and with the many rivers and humid environment there, it can be said that it is very unlivable compared with Yuan Shao's territory.
Coupled with the improper management methods of Yuan Shu and the alienation of the people, the natural quantity and quality of the army he could recruit and drive were at a disadvantage.
In general, if Yuan Shao went to war with Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, who was in an all-round position, had a high probability of winning victory.