There is a saying called "wearing a dragon robe is not like a prince", describing a person with no appearance, no connotation, even if he is forcibly pushed to a high position, he cannot sit steadily, let alone play his due role. This is the case with the famous tyrant Yuan Shu during the Three Kingdoms period, as a representative of playing a good hand of cards, when posterity mentions him, he often has a mocking tone.
Before the three-legged situation emerged, Yuan Shu was the only prince who openly claimed the title of emperor, and this seemingly confident approach directly led to his downfall. But this incident also made many people feel strange, Yuan Shu's strength is obviously not the strongest, there are not many powerful generals under him, and the territory he rules is also the land of four wars, why does he dare to claim the title of emperor? Where did Yuan Shu's confidence come from?
First, the land soldiers have more food
Yuan Shu initially served as the Taishou of Nanyang, but his base camp was in the Huainan region, which is the area that borders present-day Anhui, Jiangxi, and Jiangsu. Later, Yuan Shu also captured parts of Yuzhou and Xuzhou through continuous foreign wars, and also had the idea of developing to the Jiangdong region, and his sphere of influence was further expanded.
Only in terms of territorial area, the size of the area controlled by Yuan Shu was second only to Liu Biao, and even better than his brother Yuan Shao. We all know that the "feudalism" of the feudal dynasty refers to the division of land and the establishment of princes, while the main economic pillar of ancient China was agriculture, and the large land area means that there is more arable land and a large population, so the grain output and the number of soldiers are relatively sufficient.
Therefore, the princes with large territory are often relatively powerful, and as long as they are good at management, they will have the hope of winning the world. From the records in the history books, it can also be seen that Yuan Shu at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty did have a large number of soldiers, and when Liu Bei and Yuan Shu were at war, Yuan Shu's general Ji Ling led an army of 30,000 to conquest.
Ji Ling was only a general, and he brought 30,000 people on the expedition, so objectively speaking, the total number of soldiers and horses of Yuan Shu was at least 60,000-80,000. I believe many people know that during the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao used all his elite and only put together 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers and horses. After Yuan Shao annexed the entire Hebei region and the Youhe region, he only gathered 100,000 people.
It can be seen from this that there are indeed a lot of soldiers under Yuan Shu's command, otherwise it would be impossible to guard a land of four wars for several years. There is also a very key point, the Huainan region has a warm climate, suitable for agricultural production, every year during the autumn harvest, Yuan Shu can reserve a large amount of grain and grass. Fighting a war is money and grain, Yuan Shu's family foundation is very thick, and he is not afraid of other princes at all, so he will have the confidence to be called emperor.
Second, Yuan Shu had many fierce generals under his command
The claim that there were no fierce generals under Yuan Shu was actually a fallacy. Many people have watched too many novels and TV dramas, believing that the marching and fighting in the Three Kingdoms era all depend on the personal ability of military generals, as long as they have several top military generals, they can calm the world. There are also people who think that as long as they have 1-2 top strategists, they can fight invincible hands all over the world.
Because of this, only about Zhang Zhao Ma huang and other personal stories, relatively brilliant military generals, it is easier to be remembered. But in fact, marching and fighting has never been a stage for military generals to be brave and fierce, mainly relying on strategic deployment and the ability to respond to opportunities, and Yuan Shu's command is not without good ministers and fierce generals.
The first is the Ji Ling we mentioned earlier, from the perspective of personal performance, although he is not as brave as Guan Zhang, he can also rank at the upper middle level, at least similar to Hua Xiong. Moreover, Ji Ling is more good at marching and fighting, and more often serves as the commander of the army, rather than rushing to the front of the line and singled out with the other side.
The second is Qiao Rui, although he is not very famous, he is indeed heroic and has sacrificed his life for Yuan Shu. After Yuan Shu became emperor, Cao Cao launched various princes to jointly attack Yuan Shu, and Qiaorui desperately resisted the attack of the coalition army, and eventually was outnumbered, and the soldiers were defeated and killed. From this point of view alone, QiaoRui is worthy of the title of fierce general.
The third is Wu Jing. Speaking of Wu Jing, many people may not know, but if you talk about Wu Guotai, I believe many people know that he is Wu Guotai's younger brother, Sun Jian's brother-in-law, Sun Ce and Sun Quan's uncle. In his early years, Wu Jing followed Sun Jian in his southern expedition to the north, and later followed Sun Ce to Defect to Yuan Shu, making great contributions to the expansion of Yuan Shu. However, after Sun Ce defected, Wu Jing also left Yuan Shu.
In addition, Zhang Xun, Li Feng, Le Yi, and Liang Gang were all fierce generals under Yuan Shu, among whom Zhang Xun was regarded as the commander of the Yuan Shu clique and had a higher status than Ji Ling. It's just that Yuan Shu was finally besieged by Qunxiong, and most of his generals were killed in the melee, so they didn't have too much popularity, but it didn't mean that they weren't brave enough.
Three, two hidden forces
The reason why Yuan Shu was able to claim the title of emperor unscrupulously, in addition to the large number of soldiers and generals, there was also a very important reason, that is, he had two hidden forces, and he could exert miraculous effects at critical times. First, Sun Ce was also a subordinate of Yuan Shu at that time. After Sun Jian and Liu Biao were killed in battle, Sun Ce inherited the position of head of the family, and in order to find a place to live, he temporarily surrendered to Yuan Shu's command, and fought for him everywhere, establishing an immortal merit.
What is even more frightening is that Sun Ce is not alone, he has many old subordinates in Jiangdong, including Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Han Dang and others, all of whom are the ministers left to him by Sun Jian, and they are also fierce generals who can fight in battle. And these people were all counted under Yuan Shu at the beginning, you can imagine how powerful he is, and it is not unusual to dare to claim the title of emperor.
Second, Yuan Shu and Lü Bu are relatives. After Yuan Shu intervened in Liu Bei and Lü Bu's Xuzhou dispute, he became the object of joint flattery between the two forces, which showed that his strength was stronger than That of Liu Bei and Lü Bu combined. In order to gain external support to deal with the combined forces of Liu Bei and Cao Cao, Lü Bu formed a family with Yuan Shu.
The feudal era attached great importance to this, if the two families were married, then no matter what happened, they had to face it together. Lü Bu is the world's most famous flying general, Liu Guanzhang's three people can not be beaten together, anyone who hears Lü Bu's name, do not dare to fight easily, this is Yuan Shu's biggest confidence.
Four family powers
Yuan Shu was born into the Yuan family, which was known as the Fourth Dynasty and Three Dukes, and the Han Dynasty's filial piety and conquest system were in the hands of these warriors, and the Yuan clan could be said to be the leader of the shi clan at that time. Originally monopolized by the elite in the Western Han Dynasty, shitu was controlled by local hao clans in the eastern Han Dynasty, so that the family gate appeared and became a very important political feature of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The collusion between these large and small hao clans formed a huge political force, which was an important reason for the formation of the door valve politics in the late Eastern Han Dynasty until the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
In general, Yuan Shu dared to risk offending all the people of the world and claimed the title of emperor in a bright and upright manner, mainly because of the large territory, sufficient soldiers, sufficient grain and grass, and coupled with the two hidden forces of Sun Ce and Lü Bu, he finally ascended to the throne. At the same time, Yuan Shu came from the fourth Gongmingmen family, and was a concubine, with relatively high fame and status, which could play an effect of calling on the support of the people at that time.