[Finally Emperor]

In history, in addition to Yan Xiang, Zhang Fan, Zhang Cheng, Chen Qi and others who resolutely opposed Yuan Shu's claim to be emperor, there was also a heavyweight who also actively dissuaded Yuan Shu, and this person was Sun Ce, who had already gone to Jiangdong at that time.

After Sun Ce heard that Yuan Shu was preparing to claim the title of Son of Heaven, he wrote a letter to dissuade Yuan Shu and said: "Dong Zhuo was brutal and unreasonable, dug the tomb of the royal family, and inflicted poison on the Queen Mother. After the death of the culprit Dong Zhuo, the young Son of Heaven returned to the east, and sent an envoy to the court to follow the orders of the imperial court, preach the kindness of the imperial court, ask to stop the war, repair the virtues of Wende, and start from scratch with the imperial court. However, Yuan Shao in the north of the Yellow River and the Black Mountain thieves had bad intentions, Cao Cao poisoned Xuzhou in the east, Liu Biao in the south in Jingzhou and caused trouble, Gongsun Zan rebelled north of the Great Wall, Liu Miao divided the territory by force, and Liu Bei competed for the leader of the alliance, so he failed to obey the order to put away his weapons and stop the war.

I thought that you were in the same mind as the country, but you left the country alone and completely held your own intention to seize the world, which is probably not what the whole country expects of you. Cheng Tang crusaded against Ji, saying that "there are many sins in Youxia"; King Wu of Zhou crusaded against Zhou, saying that "the sins of the Yin Dynasty are very heavy". Although these two sons of heaven had the morality of the saints, if the sons of heaven at that time had not been immorally sinned, they would not have been able to take the world by force. The current emperor is not guilty of crimes against the world, but because he is young, he is coerced by evil ministers, which is different from the time of King Wu of Chengtang Zhou.

In addition, I heard that the young emperor is wise and knowledgeable, intelligent and agile, and has precocious qualifications, although the world has not yet enjoyed the emperor's favor, but his heart is obedient to him. If you assist the Son of Heaven and revitalize the imperial court, then you will have the virtues of Zhou Gongdan and Summoning Gongxi, which is the expectation of the people of the world. Your family has inherited the position of prime minister of the Han family for five generations, and no one can compare the prosperity of the nobles and favors, so you should be loyal to the court and keep the discipline to repay the Son of Heaven. Many contemporary people are confused by the book of diagrams, and they attach words and phrases that are not in line with each other, just to please their masters, regardless of success or failure. This is a cautious thing from ancient times to the present, how can you not think about it seriously! Contrary opinions, dissenting opinions invite hatred, but as long as it is good for you, you who are noble and wise, I dare not hide it. ”

Yuan Shu thought that he had the soldiers of Huainan, and expected that Sun Ce would definitely support him, and he was also very depressed after receiving Sun Ce's letter, but he still decided to go his own way, so Sun Ce broke off his friendship with Yuan Shu.

In the second year of Jian'an (197), Zhang Shu, a native of Hanoi, divined a hexagram for Yuan Shu, saying that he had the destiny to be the emperor, and Yuan Shu took this as a reason to officially announce that he had ascended the throne as the emperor and established the name Zhongshi. After Yuan Shu became the emperor, he appointed Jiujiang Taishou as Huainan Yin, placed ministers and courtiers, and built an altar for the emperor to worship the emperor in the south and north of the city.

After becoming emperor, Yuan Shu lived a luxurious and lascivious life, and spent extravagantly. There were hundreds of wives and concubines in the harem, all of whom wore Luo Qili costumes and had all kinds of exquisite food, but the soldiers in his army were not well fed and clothed, and they were hungry and cold. Under his corrupt rule, the people in the Jianghuai region were struggling to make a living, coupled with the drought, the grain harvest failed, many places were cut off from people, and there was even a phenomenon of cannibalism in the famine.

【Bucket Turn】

After Yuan Shu became emperor, his external environment began to deteriorate dramatically.

In the south, Sun Ce severed his relationship with Yuan Shu, broke away from Yuan Shu in Jiangdong and became independent, expelled Yuan Yin, the Danyang Taishou appointed by Yuan Shu, and wrote to Wu Jing, the Taishou of Guangling, and Sun Ben, the general under Yuan Shu, so that both of them abandoned Yuan Shu and took refuge in Sun Ce, and Yuan Shu also lost large areas of land such as Jiangdong and Guangling, and his sphere of influence began to shrink rapidly.

In the north, Lü Bu of Xuzhou chose to give up his marriage with Yuan Shu under the persuasion of Chen Jue, recovered his daughter, and also put Yuan Shu's envoy Han Yin in shackles and shackles, and sent him to Xudu Market to be beheaded and displayed to the public, and the alliance between Yuan Shu and Lü Bu broke down.

In the West, after Yuan Shu became emperor, the Xuchang court could not tolerate him at all for legal reasons, and Cao Cao began to contact other princes to encircle and suppress Yuan Shu.

After becoming emperor, the territory that Yuan Shu could control was basically only the Huainan area, as well as some counties and counties in Yuzhou, and the sphere of influence in the heyday of Yuan Shu could not be compared at all, and Yuan Shu's strength began to shrink greatly.

After seeing Lü Bu betraying the alliance and killing his envoy, the angry Yuan Shu immediately took Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui as generals, and united Han Xian, Yang Feng and others to crusade against Lü Bu with a total of seven armies, but Lü Bu used Chen Deng's counter-strategy to lure Han Xian and Yang Feng against him, defeated Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui in Xiapi, chased and killed Yuan Shu's army all the way to Jianghuai, and captured Qiao Rui, Yuan Jian and others alive, and later Lü Bu put Qiao Rui back.

Yuan Shu also led his troops to attack the state of Chen in Yuzhou, which was taken by Cao Cao, and lured and killed Liu Chong, the king of Chen, and Luo Jun, the prime minister of Chen, so Cao Cao personally conscripted Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu was very frightened when he found out, and immediately crossed the Huai River and fled, leaving Zhang Xun and Qiao Rui to lead Li Feng, Liang Gang, Le and other generals to resist Cao Cao in Qiyang. Cao Cao defeated the two and killed Qiao Rui, Li Feng, Liang Gang, and Le Zhuo, and Zhang Xun retreated and fled.

After Yuan Shu's strength was greatly damaged, in order to alleviate the external situation, he started peace talks with Lu Bu again, and Lu Bu was also very wary of Cao Cao, so in the third year of Jian'an (198), Yuan Shu and Lu Bu formed an alliance again to fight against Cao Cao.

Cao Cao then gave up the crusade against Wancheng Zhang Xiu, and instead marched to Xuzhou to conquer Lü Bu, Lü Bu's army was defeated in three battles, and was surrounded by Cao Cao in Xiapi City, Lü Bu sent Xu Bi and Wang Kai to Yuan Shu to ask for support, but Yuan Shu said: "Lü Bu does not give his daughter to my son, of course it will fail, why do you come to contact me again?" ”

Xu Yan and Wang Kai said to Yuan Shu: "If you don't save Lu Bu now, you will be the next one to fail!" If Lu Bu is defeated, it will not be far from your defeat. ”

Yuan Shu then sent troops as Lu Bu's support.

Lü Bu was afraid that Yuan Shu would think that he would not give his daughter to him, so he would not send troops to save her, so he tied his daughter to a horse and personally sent her out of the city at night, where he came into contact with Cao Cao's soldiers, but was separated by arrows and could not pass, and was forced to retreat into the city.

But at that time, Yuan Shu not only did not mobilize the army to rescue Lu Bu because he was untrustworthy and uneasy about Lu Bu's words, but more importantly, Yuan Shu was powerless to save Lu Bu at that time, after Sun Ce betrayed and lost to Lu Bu and Cao Cao successively, Yuan Shu's power had declined to a low point, and he was no longer able to fight against Cao Cao and support Lu Bu.

After Lü Bu's defeat, Yuan Shu lost his only foreign aid and faced Cao Cao, Sun Ce, and Liu Biao from three sides, and was only one step away from complete defeat.