In February 197, Yuan Shu, who considered himself the "Chosen Son", ignored the objections of Sun Ce, Yan Xiang, and others, and proclaimed himself emperor at Shouchun (present-day Shouchun, Anhui), with the state as "Dacheng" and the name "Zhongshi".
Stills of Yuan Shu in the old version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
From the current point of view, Yuan Shu called the emperor extremely stupid, after all, the Han court was still there, the Han Tianzi was still alive in Chang'an, and in the feudal society that emphasized "orthodoxy", this was simply to regard himself as a living target, target it in public, and let others eliminate it. In fact, analyzing Yuan Shu's psychology and his strength among the warlords can know his reasons for being called emperor.
First of all, Yuan Shu had the strength to be called emperor. Under the name of "Four Dynasties and Three Dukes", Yuan Shu recruited a large number of civilian and military generals, among which the more famous ones were Ji Ling, Liu Xun, Zhang Xun, Yang Feng, Li Feng, Sun Ce, and Yan Xiang. They either made plans or went on expeditions to the west, laying a large area for Yuan Shu. Before becoming emperor, Yuan Shu had already occupied the six counties of Yangzhou, the three counties of Runan, Chen guo and Peiguo in Yuzhou, and the two counties of Guangling and Xiapi in Xuzhou, for a total of eleven counties. These states and counties are vast in area, numerous in the people, rich in materials and people, less affected by the war, strong in economic strength, in today's terms, the GDP is relatively high, and the people are relatively rich. At that time, Yuan Shao's military strength reached 170,000 people, which was a terrible number, because at that time his brother Yuan Shao was less than 100,000 people, Cao Cao was only 20,000 people, and newly defeated, it was difficult to protect themselves, as for Liu Bei and Lü Bu, they added up to less than 10,000 people. Yuan Shu's territory is vast, the soldiers are wide, and the money is abundant, which is enough to be proud of the crowd and look at the world.
Second, Yuan Shu's allies are not simple people. Because there were many warlords at that time, today I beat you, tomorrow he beat me, and the day after tomorrow I joined forces with you to beat him. In order not to be suddenly eliminated, the warlords liked to form alliances with each other, just as the Allies and the Allies did in World War II. Yuan Shu was naturally no exception, and he formed a solid alliance with Gongsun Zhan and Tao Qian. Gongsun Zhan's army fought for a long time against the foreign army of Xianbei, Wuhuan and other people's style, with a tenacious style and rich combat experience, when suppressing the Yellow Turban Uprising, Gongsun Zhan defeated Zhang Jiao's 300,000 troops with a mere 20,000 horses, and the combat strength was leveraged. Xuzhou, which tao qian administers, has a vast area and the people live in peace, and is an important passage from north to south. Three powerful warlords formed an alliance, and it was too late for others to evade, so how dare they provoke them?
Moreover, Yuan Shu had long wanted to be emperor. Since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there has been a folk proverb "The one who represents the Han Dynasty, when Tu Gaoye". Yuan Shu believes that his words "highway", "tu" through "way", "way" is "road". Therefore, Yuan Shu felt that the "Tu Gao" in the proverb was "highway", that is, he himself, and he had already had the intention of representing Han in his heart. In December 195, Emperor Xian of Han returned east from Chang'an to Caoyang (曹陽, in present-day Lingbao, Henan, on the south bank of the Yellow River), where he was pursued by Li Dai, Guo Feng, and others. After Yuan Shu heard about it, he further strengthened his belief in the death of the Han Dynasty, so he knocked on the side and asked his advisers, but Yan Xiang, Zhang Cheng, and others opposed him to being emperor, and he was very unhappy in his heart, indicating that the mind of wanting to be emperor had occupied his entire body and mind.
Finally, pass on the national jade seal. Receiving the Chuanguo Jade Seal and the blessing of "being ordained by heaven and having a long life", Yuan Shu was even more convinced that he was the chosen emperor of heaven and the person who represented han.
After all, Yuan Shu became emperor, and he could also share the cup of soup, so those who flattered and flattered yuan shu to become emperor, Yuan Shu was of course happy to see it succeed, and did not hesitate to choose his own path of no return.
After Yuan Shu braved the world and set himself up as an arrow target, he was criticized and attacked by "righteous people", and Yuan Shu, who called himself empress, was arrogant and extravagant, coupled with some of his own "divine operations", coupled with natural disasters, and ended his dream of being an emperor in less than two years.
In 199 AD, Yuan Shu was cornered and had to go to his brother Yuan Shao. Unexpectedly, he was intercepted and killed by Liu Bei halfway and had to return to Shouchun. In June of that year, Yuan Shu was chased to Jiangting by thieves again, and there were only thirty wheat crumbs left in the army, Yuan Shu felt that it was difficult to swallow his meal, so he wanted to drink honey water, and the retinue said: "Stop there is blood water, an there is honey water?" Yuan Shu shouted and fell to the ground, vomiting blood for a long time and dying. After Yuan Shu's death, his nephew Yuan Yin sent his coffin and family to Lujiang, where he was killed by Xu Xuan (a man loyal to the Han Dynasty, who was plundered by Yuan Shu, who made him a high official, and he did not do it, and Yuan Shu did not dare to force him). Xu Xuan found the jade seal and ran to XuDu (許都, in modern Xuchang, Henan) to offer it to Cao Cao, who returned it to Emperor Xian of Han, and at this point, the Han family received the jade seal of chuanguo.
Chao Qin Twilight Chu Cat: Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao's brothers are both sons of Sikong Yuan Feng, but Yuan Shu is born of Yuan Feng, that is, the authentic eldest wife; Yuan Shao is Born of Shu Chu, that is, the little wife (concubine, but not Xiao San) or Yao Shu. In the large family with a strict patriarchal system, Yuan Shu's status was higher than that of Yuan Shao. Later, Yuan Shao was passed on to his uncle, and his status was the same as that of Yuan Shu, but Yuan Shu looked down on Yuan Shao in his bones. The two of them worked together at first, but eventually turned against each other, parted ways, and were finally broken by each other. If the two brothers had joined forces, history would certainly not have been like this, but unfortunately, history has never been hypothetical.