At the end of the Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and various princes appeared on the scene, starting a decades-long scuffle. During this period, a descendant of a large family took the lead in establishing a state, becoming the first prince to openly claim the title of emperor in the late Han Dynasty. This person was Yuan Shu from Runan County.
Yuan Shu (袁術), courtesy name Highway, was a native of Runan County, Runan County (present-day Shangshui County, Zhoukou City, Henan Province). The Yuan Shu family was famous in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and his great-grandfather Yuan An successively served as The Taishou of Chu County, Yin of Henan, Taishu and Situ; Yuan An's eldest son Yuan Jing was once the Taishou of Shu Commandery, and the second son Yuan Chang was Sikong; Yuan Jing's son Yuan Tang was Sikong, Situ, and Taiwei; and Yuan Tang's sons Yuan Feng and Yuan Kui also held the positions of Sikong and Situ, and was one of the most famous families in the Eastern Han Dynasty, known as the "Fourth Dynasty and Three Dukes". Yuan Shu was the son of Yuan Feng.
Like other sons of the great families in the late Han Dynasty, Yuan Shu entered the career path by being elected as filial piety. Filial piety was one of the subjects of the Inspection system in the Han Dynasty, and it was an important way to select talents during the two Han Dynasties, and each county and state recommended a certain number of talents to the imperial court every year, generally in accordance with the standard of recommending one person per 200,000 people. Ru'nan County, where Yuan Shu was located, had a large population, and the number of filial pieties elected was far greater than that of other counties. At the same time, due to the great prestige of the Yuan family, the local officials naturally would not give up this excellent opportunity to curry favor with the Yuan family. Therefore, the young Yuan Shu was easily elected as filial piety.
With the support of the family's forces, Yuan Shu soon stepped onto the political stage of the late Han Dynasty, and his first position was Langzhong. Lang Zhong, a subordinate officer of Lang Zhong Ling, ranked 300 stones, was responsible for the safety of the palace guards, ceremonial activities, and advice and loss. Despite his modest position, he had the opportunity to participate in major events and meet many important courtiers. This is undoubtedly a huge exercise opportunity for young Yuan Shu.
Picture - overlooking Luoyang, the Eastern Han Dynasty built the capital Luoyang
After several years of training as a Lang official, Yuan Shu gradually revealed his great potential in the military. After that, Yuan Shu officially entered the military circles and served as a lieutenant of the Folding Chong School. Lieutenant colonel, was an important military position in the Han Dynasty, ranked more than 2,000 stones, and had an army of 700 people under his command, whose main task was to train soldiers and participate in battles, and was a mid-level position in the army of the Han Dynasty.
Soon after, Yuan Shu's position was further promoted, and he was appointed as the general of the Tiger Ben Zhonglang. Between the general and the lieutenant, Zhonglang was subordinate to Guanglu Qing, ranked 2,000 stones, specializing in the security of the emperor, and had an army of 1,500 men under his command, which was the most elite armed force in the Han Dynasty army. This position made Yuan Shu a key figure influencing the situation in the capital Luoyang.
During the late Han Dynasty, the contradiction between foreign relatives and eunuchs became increasingly acute. The general He Jin took Yuan Shao's advice and ordered several local armies to enter the capital in an attempt to kill the eunuchs. However, the eunuch clique, which was not willing to perish, took the lead and killed He Jin. At this time, Yuan Shu, who served as the general of the Tiger Ben Zhonglang, together with Yuan Shao and others, launched an operation to kill the eunuchs in the capital, and finally wiped out the eunuch clique. However, with the murder of He Jin, the foreign clique also disappeared from the political arena at the end of the Han Dynasty. With the northwestern warlord Dong Zhuo entering the capital to control the imperial court, the imperial court at the end of the Han Dynasty became a puppet from then on.
After Dong Zhuo took control of the imperial government, he appointed Yuan Shu as a post general in an attempt to show favor to Yuan Shu and other clans and consolidate his power. The rear general, who was in charge of the capital's troops, was one of the highest positions in the army at that time. However, Yuan Shu was not seduced by Dong Zhuo's co-optation, but took the opportunity to escape from Luoyang, joined the Kwantung Coalition Army, became the number two person in the Kwantung Coalition Army, and launched a year-long war with Yuan Shao to woo Dong.
During the Battle of Dong, Yuan Shu gradually expanded his strength and established alliances with Gongsun Zhan, Sun Jian, and others. During this period, he controlled Nanyang Commandery, the most populous county in the late Han Dynasty, and became the Taishou of Nanyang Commandery, with its sphere of influence covering Nanyang and parts of Yuzhou and Yangzhou. In order to compete for territory, he fought fiercely with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others for many years, and extended his tentacles to Yanzhou, becoming one of the most powerful separatist forces in the late Han Dynasty. In order to win Yuan Shu over, Li Dai and Guo Feng, who were far away in Chang'an, appointed Yuan Shu as a general in the name of the emperor, which also made Yuan Shu one of the highest military commanders in name.
Figure - Eastern Han Dynasty Chuping SECOND Year (191) Situation Map, Dong Zhuo blackmailed tianzi to order the princes
However, in the following years, Yuan Shu was severely damaged by Cao Cao in the Yanzhou region, and had to withdraw from Yanzhou, gradually losing the strength to compete with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others, thus becoming a local separatist force occupying the Jiang and Huai regions. Despite the heavy blows, Yuan Shu's strength is still not to be underestimated. He not only controlled the three counties of Runan, Peiguo, and Chen under Yuzhou, and occupied Guangling County, which belonged to Xuzhou, but also controlled Jiujiang County, which was subordinate to Yangzhou.
After several years of positive development, Yuan Shu's strength has been restored to a certain extent. At this time, he set his sights on the Xuzhou area. During this period, he defeated Liu Bei, who was then the Pastor of Xuzhou, and formed an alliance with the Lü Bu clique. At the same time, he also sent Sun Jian's son Sun Ce to attack Yangzhou, capturing the counties of Lujiang and Danyang, and controlling parts of Yuzhou, Yangzhou, and Xuzhou.
At the same time that Yuan Shu was frantically expanding his territory and increasing his strength, the situation at the end of the Han Dynasty was even more chaotic. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court was controlled by Li Dai and Guo Feng, and the imperial power was greatly questioned. The princes of all walks of life supported the army and respected themselves, and they secretly planned how to replace the imperial court and stand on their own. Yuan Shu, who had long been known as emperor's ambition, considered himself powerful and supported by the people of the world, and ascended the throne in Shouchun in the first year of Emperor Jian'an (196 AD), and this son of the family who was deeply respected by the imperial court finally became an enemy of the Han Dynasty.
Figure - Situation map of the first year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (196).
However, Yuan Shu obviously overestimated his own strength. Although the situation in the Central Plains was chaotic at this time, and various princes rose up at the same time, the Yu Wei of the Han Court still existed, and no one dared to openly make enemies with the Imperial Court, whether it was the princes or the people, there were still many people who were full of hope for restoring the authority of the Imperial Court. Therefore, when Yuan Shu openly proclaimed himself empress dowager in Shouchun, it immediately caused an uproar. Various princes have expressed their positions one after another, criticizing Yuan Shu, the enemy of the Han Dynasty, and even Yuan Shu's subordinate Sun Ce has openly broken with Yuan Shu.
A year after Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, Cao Cao joined forces with Lü Bu, Liu Bei, and others to launch an attack on Yuan Shu, and soon the army was under the city of Shouchun. Although Shouchun City has a long history, it was once the capital of the State of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, and the fortifications were strong. However, Yuan Shu's perverse actions were unpopular, and the Soldiers and civilians of Shouchun hated this fainting "emperor" to the bone, and the Battle of Shouchun soon ended in Yuan Shu's fiasco. In the following years, the Yuan Shu Group suffered many heavy blows, great losses in power, and its territory became smaller and smaller, gradually falling apart.
Picture - Anhui Huainan City Shou County (Shouchun) ancient city overlook
In the fourth year of Emperor Jian'an (199 AD), the desperate Yuan Shu had to leave Shouchun and attempt to go to Jizhou to join Yuan Shao. On the way north, Yuan Shu was intercepted by Cao Cao and Liu Bei, and had to turn around and flee back to Shouchun. In Jiangting, eighty miles away from Shouchun, Yuan Shu fell ill and eventually died. The first prince to claim the title of emperor during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty thus disappeared into the dust of history.
Reference Books: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zizhi Tongjian