Preface
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and the heroes rose up to compete for the world. In such troubled times, there is a person who was born in a famous family of the fourth and third princes, with a vast territory and strong military power.
He is Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu was once powerful, and he had fought with Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and other princes. It can be said that he has extraordinary ambition and courage, but also has fatal flaws and weaknesses.
His life is a tragedy of playing a good hand of cards to a pulp. Yuan Shu once had the opportunity to become the protagonist of the world, but because of his conceit, willfulness and other character defects, he led to his failure and demise.
Not only did he not win the support and support of the people of the world, but he was spurned and attacked by the people of the world. His regime was short-lived.
How prominent is Yuan Shu's family background?
Runan Yuan is a prominent family in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the ancestor is Yuan An, the hero of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Runan Yuan produced two famous generals, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.
Their family can be summed up by the words "four generations and three dukes", that is to say, their family has four generations of three dukes, namely Taiwei, Situ, and Sikong, which are the three highest official positions in the Han Dynasty, and only the emperor's relatives and meritorious heroes can hold them.
The status and prestige of the Runan Yuan clan can be said to be the first in the world at that time.
And Yuan Shu, as the son-in-law of the Yuan family in Runan, has been educated by superior family education and society since he was a child, and his talent and bearing are eye-catching.
He started his career very early, and successively served as Langzhong, Shizhong, Shang Shuling and other positions, and his future can be said to be infinitely bright. Therefore, many people in the court at that time wanted to win him over.
At that time, Dong Zhuo, the warlord of Xiliang, took the opportunity to lead his troops into Luoyang, deposed the emperor, and grasped the real power of the imperial court. In order to consolidate his position, Dong Zhuo did not hesitate to win over various forces, including Yuan Shu of the Yuan clan in Runan.
Yuan Shu is not only the famous queen of the fourth world and the third duke, but also the official to the tiger Ben Zhonglang general, with a lot of prestige and power. In order to entrap Yuan Shu, Dong Zhuo named him a general.
This was one of the highest generals at that time, second only to the great generals, and could be described as a very human minister. It can be seen that Yuan Shu's influence in the imperial court is very large, and Dong Zhuo also attaches great importance to him.
At that time, Yuan Shao was a close confidant of Emperor Shao of the Han Dynasty, and Yuan's disciples and clansmen were all over the place, and his power was huge.
If Yuan Shu can seize the opportunity and call on the princes of the world to overthrow Dong Zhuo's tyranny and restore the orthodoxy of the Han family, he may be able to become the overlord of the world in one fell swoop and establish his own dynasty.
However, Yuan Shu didn't do this, he actually ran away when everyone had no warning! He missed a great opportunity.
Yuan Shu's flaws doomed him not to become the overlord of the Three Kingdoms
However, Yuan Shu can run, and he ran to Nanyang. But Yuan Shu's character traits were also exposed, although he was ambitious, he was willful, reckless, and disregarded the general righteousness, which aroused the disgust and attacks of all parties.
Therefore, even though he is actively recruiting talent, no one wants to work for him.
are all disgusted to this part, and the author is embarrassed for Yuan Shu.
For example, Zhang Fan, who later became a counselor of the Wei State.
Zhang Fan was born in a famous family in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and his grandfather was Situ Zhang Xin, who had a quiet personality, was not good at power, loved to read, and had noble morals.
At that time, the world was in turmoil, Dong Zhuo was in power, and the Kwantung princes raised troops to fight, Zhang Fan's younger brother Zhang Cheng wanted to respond, but Zhang Fan and another younger brother Zhang Zhao dissuaded him, thinking that there was no possibility of success. So, Zhang Fan and his two younger brothers fled the Central Plains together and took refuge in Yangzhou.
Yuan Shu heard that Zhang Fan was Zhang Xin's grandson, so he sent someone to hire him, hoping that Zhang Fan could give him advice and assist him in his great cause. But Zhang Fan politely declined Yuan Shu's invitation, saying that he was unwell and could not hold an official position.
There is also Liu Fu, who once fled the Central Plains to avoid Dong Zhuo's expedition and went to Yangzhou to seek safety. Yuan Shu also sent someone to invite him, but Liu Fu was clear about right and wrong, unwilling to be subordinate to Yuan Shu, and politely declined Yuan Shu's solicitation.
Liu Fu not only rejected Yuan Shu, but also saw that Yuan Shu's power was bound to decline, so he secretly contacted Yuan Shu's generals Qi Ji and Qin Yi to persuade them to betray Yuan Shu and defect to Cao Cao together.
The surrender of Liu Fu and others provided an opportunity for Cao Cao to eliminate Yuan Shu, and Cao Cao was very happy, appointed Liu Fu as Situ Peng's subordinate, rewarded him with gold and silver, and praised him for his foresight and loyalty to the Han family.
Liu Fu was later listed by Cao Cao as the assassin of Yangzhou, guarding Hefei and resisting Sun Quan's attack, with outstanding political achievements and military exploits.
There are still many people who politely declined Yuan Shu, and I have to say that Yuan Shu's personnel are extremely bad.
However, Yuan Shu's subordinates still have famous generals, such as Sun Jian, who once served for him.
Sun Jian was originally born in a wealthy family, but because his grandfather Sun Jing had participated in the Yellow Turban Uprising, he was despised by the Shi clan gate lords.
When Dong Zhuo was in charge of the government, hijacking the Son of Heaven, and causing the princes to revolt, Sun Jian, as the Taishou of Changsha, resolutely led his troops to the north and participated in the war against Dong Zhuo.
He showed a brave and resolute style on the battlefield, and made many military exploits, which was appreciated and reused by Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu took a fancy to Sun Jian's ability, so he asked Sun Jian to act as the general of the captives, and the assassin of Yuzhou, in charge of Nanyang County, with Sun Jian as his right-hand man.
Although Sun Jian was attached to Yuan Shu, he did not forget his ideals and ambitions, and he wanted to restore the orthodoxy of the Han family and seek benefits for the common people in the world.
He implemented a series of political reforms in Nanyang County, cracked down on the powerful and powerful, benefited the people, and won the hearts and prestige of the people. Later, Sun Jian found the jade seal in Luoyang City, which was the heirloom of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, symbolizing the authority of the Son of Heaven.
Sun Jian collected the jade seal and secretly planned his future. Unfortunately, Sun Jian was ambushed and seriously wounded while fighting Dong Zhuo's subordinate Hua Xiong, and died young soon after. After his death, his son Sun Ce inherited his legacy and troops, and also continued to rely on Yuan Shu.
Sun Ce inherited his father's bravery and resourcefulness, and at the age of seventeen, he already had military talent and political vision. But Yuan Shu didn't pay attention to him.
In order to keep his power, Sun Ce pretended to be attached to Yuan Shu, and with the help of Yuan Shu, he pacified Jiangdong, recovered Wu County, Huiji and other places, and established his own base area, known as Xiaobawang.
This should have been a blessing for Yuan Shu, because Sun Ce's prestige and territory could add luster and strength to Yuan Shu's hegemony. However, Yuan Shu did not cherish Sun Ce's ability, and wanted to weaken his power and limit his development.
Sun Ce was very disappointed and angry, and decided to break with Yuan Shu, become independent, and break away from Yuan Shu's control.
It can be seen that Yuan Shu is a novice in terms of employing people.
In addition, if you want to build a great career in troubled times, you must have a mature strategy in your chest, but Yuan Shu can be said to have no strategy, which leads him to make enemies everywhere.
To put it more bluntly, the reason for Yuan Shu's failure was largely due to his limited political and diplomatic ability and short-sighted strategic vision.
He does not know how to be kind to others, does not know how to unite the strong, and does not know how to adapt to the situation and formulate reasonable goals and means.
He often clashed and fought with various forces, and instead of forming stable allies and supporters, he invited rebellion and embattlement.
As we all know, Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao are both from the Yuan clan in Runan, Yuan Shu is the son-in-law, and Yuan Shao is the concubine, so Yuan Shu has always looked down on Yuan Shao.
At that time, Yuan Shao wanted to establish Liu Yu of the Han clan as emperor, hoping that Yuan Shu would support him in order to increase his legitimacy and prestige. However, because of his conceit, willfulness, and jealousy, Yuan Shu found all kinds of excuses to oppose Yuan Shao, and even wanted to seize Liu Yu's jade seal and claim himself emperor.
These actions of Yuan Shu aroused Yuan Shao's anger and disgust, and the brother turned his face and became mortal enemies.
Yuan Shu treats his brothers like this for the time being, not to mention others. Yuan Shu had conflicts with Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Lu Bu and Liu Biao successively, and it can be said that he had a bad relationship with his neighbors.
All in all, Yuan Shu had a good hand, but he didn't make it work, plus he was eager to become emperor, he was disintegrated internally, attacked externally, and finally fell into poverty and depression in Huainan.