During the turbulent years of the Three Kingdoms of Han, the clan members of the Han were always very active. In addition to Liu Bei's ancestors being Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, Mu Liu Biao of Jingzhou, Mu Liu Yan of Yizhou, Liu Zhang's father and son, as well as Liu Dai of Yanzhou and Liu Yao of Yangzhou were relatives of the Han nationality. Unfortunately, these Han chinese fought their own battles, and in the end, only the Zhaolie Emperor Liu Bei established the Shu Han regime in Yizhou, allowing the Han Dynasty to last for another forty-three years.
In fact, in addition to Liu Bei, a minister at the end of the Han Dynasty was also closely related to the imperial throne. He is Liu Yu, a herdsman in Youzhou. Unlike Liu Bei, who struggled for half a lifetime and finally ascended the throne as he wished, Liu Bei took the initiative to reject Yuan Shao's support and insisted on taking Emperor Xian of Han as the orthodox. Unfortunately, Liu Yu, who has always been deeply loved by the people with tolerance and benevolence, ended in failure.
Liu Yu is a native of Tan County, Donghai County, Tancheng County, Shandong Province. Like most people at that time, Liu Yu entered the official arena through filial piety. He was born as a petty official, gradually accumulated political achievements, and became the assassin of Youzhou. According to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, during his tenure, he practiced ethical governance and adopted a moderate policy toward the surrounding Ethnic Minorities such as Xianbei and Wuhuan. Not long after, not only the local people were grateful to him, but the foreigners also paid tribute on time and did not dare to come forward to harass him.
Later, Liu Yu was dismissed from his post for official duties, and during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he was appointed minister of Ganling, and was promoted to Zongzheng and promoted to Zongzheng, ju jiuqing no. 1. In the fifth year of Zhongping (188), the imperial court was struggling with the rebellion of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju in the north, and sent Liu Yu to Youzhou to quell the rebellion and serve as a pastor for Youzhou. After Liu Yu took office, he quickly used his prestige to organize the army to recruit troops and horses, and defused the crisis. Emperor Hanling was overjoyed and made him a lieutenant. Ironically, officials at the time were supposed to pay huge sums to the treasury after their promotions. Emperor Hanling learned that Liu Yu was poor and specially asked him not to pay.
Originally, Youzhou was very poor because it was located in the cold place in the north, and even often asked for help from Qingzhou and Jizhou. After Liu Yu took office, he encouraged land reclamation, actively engaged in foreign trade, and vigorously developed salt and iron ore mines, which changed the predicament in a short period of time. Soon after, more than a million refugees from Qingzhou and Xuzhou came to visit, and Liu Yu accepted and settled down one by one. It is worth mentioning that Liu Yu, as a state pastor, lived a frugal life. Not only did he wear worn-out clothes, but he ate only one meat dish for a meal. Under his example, the extravagant atmosphere of Youzhou's giants has also changed.
When Liu Yu ruled Youzhou, the brave and aggressive Gongsun Zhan of Liaoxi stood out. He was sent by the imperial court to fight Wuhuan and was nominally under the jurisdiction of Liu Yu. However, Gongsun Zhan was very dissatisfied with this, and in order to win over his subordinates and let them harass the people, the contradiction between the two arose. In the second year of Chuping (191), the princes led by Han Fu of Jizhou and Yuan Shao, the governor of Bohai, believed that the emperor of the Han Dynasty was held hostage by the thief Dong Zhuo, and it was better to establish a new emperor. And the candidate for this new emperor is Liu Yu.
For the plans of Yuan Shao and others, Liu Yu, who was loyal to the Han Dynasty, categorically refused. At the same time, Emperor Xian of Han also secretly sent Liu He, the son of Liu Yu, to Youzhou for help, hoping that Liu Yu would lead an army to rescue him. own. Unfortunately, when Liu He went to Nanyang, he was detained by Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu complied and sent emissaries to Liu Yu, expressing his hope to send troops to see Emperor Xian of Han. For Yuan Shu's words, Gongsun Zhan quickly realized that something was wrong and persuaded Liu Yu not to send troops, but Liu Yu's savior was impatient and directly sent thousands of cavalry to support Yuan Shu.
Gongsun Zan complained that Liu Yu did not trust him, and instead persuaded Yuan Shu to detain Liu He and annex Liu Yu's troops. Yuan Shu listened to Gongsun Zhan's advice and directly took in the squad sent by Liu Yu. This conflict intensified the conflict between Liu Yu and Gongsun Zhan, and Yuan Shao's addition made the situation even more chaotic. At that time, Yuan Shao became more and more powerful and continued to fight with Gongsun Zhan. Liu Yu was dissatisfied with Gongsun Zhan's atrocities, weakening his power and forbidding him to continue sending troops to Yuan Shao.
Gongsun Zhan was warlike by nature, and naturally was extremely dissatisfied with Liu Yu's restrictions, so he deliberately plundered the people, robbed Liu Yu, and gave gifts to foreigners. Liu Yu was unable to forcibly stop Gongsun Zhan, so he wrote to the shang dynasty accusing Gongsun Zhan of plundering the people; Gongsun Zhan was not willing to show weakness, and the imperial court reproached Liu Yu for not doing a good job. The court at that time had nothing to do with the struggle between the two men, so the conflict between the two sides gradually turned to the bright side.
In the fourth year of Chuping (193), Liu Yu led an army of 100,000 to attack Gongsun Zhan and even beheaded Cheng Xu to show his determination to dissuade him from his work. Although on paper, Liu Yu's strength far exceeded that of Gongsun Zhan, Liu Yu ordered not to hurt anyone and only kill Gongsun Zhan. But; Second, soldiers were forbidden to destroy city dwellings; third, his soldiers had little combat experience. Eventually, the menacing Liu Yu was defeated by Gongsun Zhan and forced to continue to administer the prefectures and counties on the surface.
Not long after, the imperial court sent the envoy Xun Xun to increase Liu Yu's fiefdom and put him in charge of the affairs of the Six Northern Kingdoms. Gongsun Zhan took the opportunity to falsely accuse Liu Yu of conspiring with Yuan Shao and others to rebel, forcing Duan Xun to behead him. In this way, Liu Yu, who was deeply loved by the people of Youzhou, was brutally killed. The fundamental reason for Liu Yu's failure was that he was too benevolent, only suitable to be a virtuous courtier who ruled the world, and did not have the ability to dominate the chaotic world.