[Self-Destruction]

Yuan Shu was besieged by Cao Cao, Sun Ce, Liu Biao and other princes after becoming emperor, but it is very interesting that what led to Yuan Shu's final defeat was not the invasion of foreign enemies, but the internal self-defeat.

Politically, after Yuan Shu's theft, the absurdity and extravagance became more and more serious, the corruption was very serious, and then there was a great drought from the sky. Under the double blow of natural and man-made disasters, the people in the Jianghuai area under Yuan Shu's rule were struggling to make a living, and the economy was basically collapsed.

After two major military defeats in the military, the main generals under Yuan Shu's command were basically dead, and some of the generals also began to betray Yuan Shu, which made Yuan Shu's army begin to weaken rapidly.

At that time, the scholars and the people were hungry and cold, and the grain in the Yangtze River and Huai River was almost exhausted.

At that time, Shu Zhong should serve as Yuan Shu's Pei Guo Minister, Yuan Shu gave him 100,000 Hu rice as military rations, and Shu Zhong should give all the food to the hungry people. Yuan Shu was furious when he heard this, and the troops were ready to kill him. Zhong Ying said: "I knew that I had to die, so I did this. I am willing to save the people from the calamity and hardship with my own life. ”

Yuan Shu took his hand and said, "Zhong Ying, do you just want to enjoy the world's fame for yourself, and don't want to share it with me?" ”

Although Yuan Shu still has a reputation for himself, because of his natural pride and indulgence, self-esteem and arrogance, and contempt for others, the situation of internal and external difficulties has become worse and worse. The soldiers in his army were not well fed and clothed, and they were hungry and cold. Natural and man-made disasters in the Jianghuai region under his rule have cut off people in many places, and there is even a phenomenon of cannibalism in the famine.

Soon, Yuan Shu even used up all his property, and he couldn't even stand on his own.

In the summer of the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Yuan Shu burned his palace on the spot, his imperial cause was finally shattered, and he finally woke up from the emperor's dream.

In order to get rid of the embarrassment he was facing, Yuan Shu once went to his old ministry to take refuge in his old department, and even prepared to give up the throne to his brother Yuan Shao, who had never looked at him.

Yuan Shu first defected to his subordinates Lei Bo and Chen Lan who were entrenched in Lishan, but was ruthlessly rejected by Lei Bo and others.

At that time, Yuan Shu was already very poor and embarrassed, and his soldiers began to scatter and flee. Yuan Shu was sad and angry, and didn't know what to do, so he simply gave the title of emperor to Yuan Shao and wrote to Yuan Shao: "The Han family has lost the world for a long time, and the Son of Heaven is just relying on others to support him. This is no different from the Seven Kingdoms in the last years of the Zhou Dynasty, only the powerful side annexed the other. The Yuan family should rule the world under the mandate of heaven, and the auspicious fortune of the Fu is clear. Now that you have four states and a million people, no one can compete with you in terms of power, and no one can be higher than you in terms of status. Although Cao Cao wanted to help the weakened imperial court, how could he reconnect the broken mandate of heaven and revitalize the already extinct imperial court? I respectfully send you the Mandate of Heaven in the hope that you will revitalize it. ”

Although Yuan Shao didn't say anything, he secretly agreed with Yuan Shu's opinion in his heart.

So Yuan Shu went to Qingzhou to seek refuge with his nephew Yuan Tan, and Cao Cao sent Liu Bei and others to block the way, but Yuan Shu fell ill and died halfway through.

According to the records of historical materials such as the Book of Wu, Yuan Shu may also have been stopped by Liu Bei and could not go to Qingzhou, and then after being rejected by Lei Bo and others, he ran out of food and ammunition in Jiangting, eighty miles away from Shouchun.

At that time, it was the height of summer, the weather was very hot, Yuan Shu wanted to drink honey syrup, so he asked the kitchen, and found that there were only 30 wheat crumbs. So he sat on the bed, sighed for a long time, and said loudly: "Why did I Yuan Shu come here!" ”

In the end, he vomited blood and died.

Later, Yuan Shu's wife and children took refuge in Yuan Shu's former subordinate Lujiang Taishou Liu Xun, and the jade seal was brought back to Xuchang by Xu Xuan. After Sun Ce defeated Liu Xun, they were taken into custody by Sun Ce. Yuan Shu's daughter was elected to Sun Quan's harem, and his son Yuan Yao served as Langzhong in Wu State, and later Yuan Yao's daughter married Sun Quan's son Sun Fen.

Yuan Shu was the only powerful prince in the history of the Three Kingdoms who claimed the title of emperor in the early stage, and the only major prince who was not destroyed by others in the end, but collapsed on his own.

[Inevitable Failure]

Why Yuan Shu failed to claim the title of emperor is actually too obvious, because whether at that time or today, from ancient times to the present, from top to bottom, from left to right, there is no possibility that Yuan Shu will finally succeed in becoming emperor.

The timing of Yuan Shu being called emperor was wrong, and Yuan Shu itself did not have the capital to be emperor, no matter from the external environment or the internal situation of Yuan Shu Group, Yuan Shu was killing himself when he called the emperor.

First of all, let's take a look at the Han family that Yuan Shu wants to replace. After the nonsense of the two emperors Heng and Ling, and the nonsense of Dong Zhuo, Li Dao and others, the Han family has indeed lost its dominance over the whole country. But the Han family has not lost the hearts of the people, and the rule of the old Liu family for nearly 500 years has penetrated into the bone marrow of the people at that time. Besides, the two emperors of Heng and Ling did have a faint monarch, but Emperor Xian was young, and there was no chance to make mistakes at all, and people in the world still had expectations for Emperor Xian, which can be seen from Yuan Shao's failure to set up another one.

And Yuan Shu wants to replace the Han family, why? The old Yuan family is the fourth generation and the third prince, but the old Liu family is four or five hundred years old! There's no way those scholars will buy your Yuan Shu's account at all. It is true that the Han family has begun to decline, but it has not yet been Yuan Shu's turn to point fingers.

When Yuan Shu became emperor, Cao Cao, Liu Biao, Liu Zhang, Yuan Shao, and Gongsun Zan among the mainstream princes were basically unlikely to surrender to Yuan Shu, even if their ally Lu Bu turned against each other because of this, the external environment itself was not suitable.

And at that time, there were deep internal contradictions within the Yuan Shu Group. Within the Yuan Shu group, one of the largest factions is the Sun faction, originally led by Sun Jian, and now led by his Sun Tzu Ce, these people control almost more than half of the land in Yuan Shu's sphere of influence, and their strength has threatened Yuan Shu himself.

Yuan Shu has already begun to be unable to hold Sun Ce hostage, and Sun Ce himself is firmly opposed to Yuan Shu becoming emperor, did Yuan Shu solve Sun Ce before becoming emperor? No, so after Yuan Shu became emperor, the Yuan Shu group was directly split, and the Yuan Shu group lost more than half of its strength.

And except for those people in the Sun family, Yuan Shu's other subordinates basically couldn't take it, at that time, Yuan Shu's side of the Wenchen was headed by Yang Hong, and the military generals were headed by Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui, and their civil and military level can be imagined.

The timing of the emperor is not right, there are threats from other princes outside, and the loyal and incompetent subordinates have different intentions, any of these three can already cause a fatal blow to Yuan Shu's imperial cause, but these are not the most fatal for Yuan Shu.

In history, the most decisive reason for the failure of Yuan Shu to become emperor was the lack of internal affairs, which can also be said to be the most important reason for Yuan Shu's final failure.

What is the political level of Yuan Shu in history, basically he only cares about his own personal level, as for how other people live and live, it is not within the scope of Yuan Shu's consideration, so whether it is Nanyang or Jianghuai, after being controlled by Yuan Shu, the people can only ask for more blessings.

A man with this level of internal affairs dares to be the emperor? The iron itself is not hard!

This is also the reason why, before other princes can crusade against Yuan Shu, the Yuan Shu group has already been destroyed.

Moreover, the Jianghuai area itself is located in the Central Plains, with enemies on all sides, and there is no natural danger of the Yangtze River for the south, and it is easy to ride on foot for the north, and it is not a good place for the founding of the country at all.

The time, the place, the people are all gone, if Yuan Shu is not destroyed, he will be destroyed, and if Yuan Shu does not die, he will die.