In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the masses rose up, and during that time, dozens of armed forces of all sizes were produced throughout the country, and they attacked each other.
When people understand the history from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, they often mention the three forces of Wei, Shu and Wu, but in fact, this is only the result of the final competition of warlords. During the Three Kingdoms period, in addition to the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu, there was actually another state in the north, which was the Yan State established by the Gongsun clan.
Like the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu, the State of Yan was also a divided state, and when its power was at its greatest, it once controlled the entire Youzhou region. The ancestor of the Gongsun clan of Liaodong was Gongsun Du, who was once the Liaodong Taishou at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. When Dong Zhuo was in chaos, Gongsun Du was given the title of Taishou of Liaodong Province, and his long-term confrontation with Gongsun Zhan in the Youzhou region also dominated the side.
Gongsun Du was weak at first, and he could only rely on the Montenegrin army, but later Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu defeated the Montenegrin army, and he was able to gain a foothold in Liaodong. Gongsun Du, like Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan, was also a male lord, but because he was too outward-looking, he was not valued by the princes of the Central Plains.
During Gongsun Du's garrison in Liaodong, the economy of Liaodong was gradually restored, and in order to strengthen the strength of Liaodong, Gongsun Du also launched foreign wars. He had long been enemies of Wu Huan and Xianbei, and once controlled a large number of territories. It recruited talents, opened museums and schools, and gradually formed its own influence in Liaodong.
Gongsun Du's most impressive achievement was to go to Goguryeo, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Goguryeo once tried to invade the Central Plains, in this case, Gongsun Du took the initiative to attack, he led the army to break the invading forces of Goguryeo, and even once expanded the territory to Goguryeo territory. After this battle, Goguryeo no longer dared to invade the Central Plains at will, and the territory of the northern Part of the Eastern Han Dynasty was also permanently consolidated.
Gongsun Du presented himself as the King of Liaodong, and although he announced to the outside world that he still regarded himself as a Han subject, he had actually become the de facto emperor. During Gongsun Du's reign in Liaodong, Liaodong gradually stabilized, and even ethnic minority forces such as Wuhuan, Xianbei, and Xiongnu also sent envoys to submit.
Just when the warlords in the Central Plains were fighting each other, Gongsun Du was secretly developing his own reality, and by the eve of the Battle of Guandu, Gongsun Du's army and horses had exceeded 20,000, and he had become the de facto king of Liaodong.
In 204 AD, Gongsun Du died in Liaodong, and his son Gongsun Kang took the throne and continued to rule Liaodong. During the reign of Gongsun Kang, Cao Cao was fighting with Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi for the north, and in that year, Cao Cao led an army to attack the city of Yicheng, Yuan Shao's eldest son Yuan Tan was killed, and Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang fled north to Karasuma. In 207, Cao Cao again led an army to conquer Karasuma, and the Karasuma chieftain Tatun was defeated, and Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang had to defect to Gongsun Kang.
Liaodong's forces were weak and weak, and they were not at all the opponents of Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands of troops, and because of the strength of Cao's army, Gongsun Kang had no choice but to order yuan xi and Yuan Shang to be killed, and handed over the heads of the two to Cao Jun. After this incident, Cao Cao passed on the edict of Emperor Xian of Han and crowned Gongsun Kang as the Marquis of Xiangping.
Although Gongsun Kang was nominally a Han courtier, he actually violated Cao Cao's instructions, because he was not subject to Cao Cao's control, so he did not have time to take care of the affairs of the Central Plains. During the reign of Gongsun Kang, the Liaodong army once again launched an attack on Goguryeo, which defeated goguryeo soldiers and horses and trapped its capital, threatening Liaodong.
Gongsun Kang died in 221 AD, and due to the weakness of his sons Gongsun Huang and Gongsun Yuan, the Liaodong ministers established Gongsun Kang's younger brother Gongsun Gong as the King of Liaodong. Seven years later, in 228 AD, Gongsun Kang's son Gongsun Yuan attacked the throne, and Liaodong was once again transferred to Gongsun Du's vein.
Gongsun Yuan was the last lord of Liaodong, and when he reigned, he even vainly wanted to claim the title of king. In order to coerce the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui to recognize him as the King of Yan, Gongsun Yuan actually sent envoys to collude with Sun Quan of Eastern Wu, and his plot was finally discovered by Cao Rui.
In 238, Cao Rui sent Sima Yi to lead a 100,000-strong Wei army to invade Liaodong in the north, but Gongsun Yuan was defeated and had to lead his troops to surrender. After Sima Yi entered Xiangping, Gongsun Yuan's clan was all beheaded by the Wei army, and the Yan state regime that had divided Liaodong for more than fifty years was finally destroyed by the Wei state.