In the early days of Emperor Jian'an of the Han Dynasty, the confused overall situation of the world has become clear.

At that time, the world was headed by the seven princes of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, Liu Biao, Lu Bu, Liu Zhang, and Gongsun Zhan, and there were countless other small and medium-sized princes.

After Dong Zhuo's rebellion, Yuan Shao first captured Han Fu's Jizhou, and then defeated Gongsun Chan several times in succession, besieged Gongsun Chan in Yijing, and even sent his eldest son Yuan Tan to seize Qingzhou from Tian Kai and Kong Rong. This makes Yuan Shao almost have Ji, Qing, You, and the four states, but the two nails of Gongsun Zan and Zhang Yan have still not been pulled out. Later, the imperial court worshiped Yuan Shao as a general, and was in charge of Jizhou, Qingzhou, Youzhou, and Bingzhou, Yuan Shao became the rightful lord of the north, and he was only one step away from unifying the north, and he was undoubtedly the most extensive territory, the largest population, and the strongest prince on the Central Plains continent at that time.

After Yuan Shu failed in the battle with Cao Cao in the Chenliu area, he gave up Nanyang and came to Yangzhou instead, killing Chen Wen, the assassin of Yangzhou, and led Yangzhou Mu, also known as Xuzhou Bo. Li Guo's court awarded Yuan Shu as the general of the left, and entered the Yang Zhai Marquis. Then Yuan Shu defeated Liu Bei in Xuzhou and got the Guangling area in Xuzhou. In the past, he also had the dependence of He Yi, Liu Pi, Huang Shao, He Man, and others, who were the Yellow Turban commanders in Runan and Yingchuan, all of whom each had tens of thousands of people, and Yuan Shu roughly controlled Yuzhou. Later, Yuan Shu relied on Sun Ce to basically pacify the Jiangdong area, and Yangzhou basically fell into the hands of Yuan Shu.

At this time, Yuan Shu had roughly obtained Yuzhou and Yangzhou and part of Xuzhou, and in terms of comprehensive strength such as territory and population, Yuan Shu was the second largest prince after Yuan Shao in strength at that time.

Sun Ce was Sun Jian's eldest son, after Sun Jian's death he attached himself to Yuan Shu, and after borrowing troops from Yuan Shu, he crusaded against Jiangdong and grew rapidly, and has become a force of his own, and caused Yuan Shu's jealousy, Yuan Shu used Zu Lang, who had defeated Sun Ce, and Tai Shi Ci, who was brave and martial, to restrain him.

After the death of Chen Wen, Li Guo's court ordered Liu Xiang to assassinate the history of Yangzhou, at first Yuan Shu and Liu Xiang were good, but the two still broke up because of interests, Yuan Shu then sent Sun Ce and others to crusade against Liu Xuan, Liu Xiang was defeated by Sun Ce, and finally died of illness.

Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shu, Tao Qian, and Lü Bu within a few years, and used Yuan Shao as a foreign aid, thus truly controlling Yanzhou, and later moved the capital to Xuchang, coercing the Son of Heaven and ordering the princes. At this time, although Cao Cao only had one state, he obtained a huge political advantage that other princes could not compare with the Son of Heaven, and after the Son of Heaven, Cao Cao sat on the direct train of rapid development, and gradually became the most threatening force in the Central Plains.

After Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty left Chang'an, the princes of Guanzhong had no leader, and after Li Guo and the two were killed, the Xiliang Army founded by Dong Zhuo had been basically wiped out, and then Ma Teng and Han Sui were the strongest, but there were still more than ten princes on the land of Yongliang. Later, Cao Cao adopted Xun Yu's suggestion and sent Zhong Xuan to act as the lieutenant of Sili as a servant, and supervise the troops in Guanzhong.

Jingzhou Assassin Wang Rong was killed by Sun Jian, and Liu Biao was able to succeed him. Later, Liu Biao rode into Jing and successfully controlled Jingzhou with the help of Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue, Cai Mao and others, and in the battle of the Kwantung Coalition Army against Dong, he did not have a clear position and did not express his opposition to Dong, but at the same time Yuan Shu was the Taishou of Nanyang. After Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu fell out, Liu Biao supported Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu as enemies, and successfully killed Yuan Shu's subordinate Sun Jian and repelled Yuan Shu's attack. Later, Liu Biao took advantage of Liu Yan's death to seek Yizhou, but failed. After Zhang Ji's death in attacking Nanyang County, Liu Biao lured the rest of Zhang Ji and made his nephew Zhang Xiutun soldiers in Wancheng as a vassal of his north. Later, he put down the rebellion of Zhang Xian and Zhang Yi's father and son.

Liu Biao sat on Jingzhou, which was more than enough to defend but not enough to capture, and later he paid tribute to Xuchang, but at the same time continued to form an alliance with Yuan Shao.

Zhang Xiu was Zhang Ji's nephew, who commanded the rest of Zhang Ji's army after Zhang Ji's death, and later accepted the alliance with Liu Biao at the suggestion of Jia Xu, as a vassal force in Liu Biao's north, defending him against the foreign enemy Cao Cao.

After Lü Bu was expelled from Yanzhou by Cao Cao, he was taken in by Liu Bei in Xuzhou, but Lü Bu seized Xuzhou while Liu Bei and Yuan Shu were at a standoff. Then Lu Bu stopped, but despite this, "Lu Bu among the people, the red rabbit among the horses", who dares to despise it?

After Liu Bei lost Xuzhou, he started his wandering career again, he first attached himself to Lü Bu, but was soon expelled by Lü Bu, so Liu Bei took refuge in Cao Cao, and was appointed by Cao Cao as the pastor of Yuzhou to guard Peicheng (Note 1), but Lü Bu again sent Gao Shun and Zhang Liao to crusade, although Cao Cao also sent Xiahoudun to support, but in the end Peicheng still fell to the enemy, and Liu Bei had no choice but to flee back to Xuchang.

Liu Zhang was the son of Liu Yan, and after Liu Yan's death, Liu Zhang became the pastor of Yizhou. But Liu Zhang's personality is weak, not only his subordinates Zhang Lu and Zhao Wei look down on him, but even Liu Biao of Jingzhou thinks that Liu Zhang can be bullied, and he led troops to rebel at the beginning of Liu Zhang's ascension, but was defeated by Zhao Wei, and Zhao Wei also had bad intentions, and then rebelled, and finally Liu Zhang was pacified with the help of the "Dongzhou soldiers" left by his father.

Zhang Lu, with the support of Liu Yan, became the Sima of Duyi, and led his troops to attack Hanzhong Taishou Sugu with Sima Zhang Xiu of other departments. After Zhang Xiu killed Su Gu, Zhang Lu killed Zhang Xiu again and captured his soldiers. Zhang Lu took control of Hanzhong in this way, and later attached himself to Liu Yan, but after Liu Yan's death, Zhang Lu and his son Liu Zhang had many contradictions, and finally the two met each other.

At the peak of history, Gongsun Chan controlled most of Youzhou and Qingzhou, and also controlled Bohai County in Jizhou. But he fell into disadvantage after many battles with Yuan Shao, and killed Liu Yu, the pastor of Youzhou, and then the internal and external forces gradually shrank, and he could only shrink into Yijing, and Gongsun Chan himself gradually lost his ambition and became more and more greedy, and finally even his own subordinates did not trust, and then Gongsun Zhan's defeat was already expected.

Gongsun Du was recommended by fellow villager Xu Rong and was appointed by Dong Zhuo as the Taishou of Liaodong. At that time, Liaodong was located in a remote area, but these could not stop Gongsun Du's ambition in the slightest. After Dong Zhuo's rebellion, the world was in turmoil, and Gongsun Du took the opportunity to establish himself as the Marquis of Liaodong and the pastor of Pingzhou. Later, he attacked Goguryeo in the east, attacked Wuhuan in the west, took the Liaodong Peninsula in the south, crossed the sea to take the Donglai counties in the north of the Jiaodong Peninsula, expanded the territory, and became the de facto king of Liaodong.

After Zhu Fu was killed by the locals, the imperial court sent Zhang Jin to serve as the assassin of Jiaoluan. Later, at the request of Shi Xie, the imperial court appointed Zhang Jin as the pastor of Jiaozhou, although Zhang Jin owned a state, but Jiaozhou was too far away from the Central Plains, and the strength was too weak, so it did not have too much impact on the Central Plains at that time.

At the beginning of the troubled times, the two brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu had the highest prestige and the strongest strength, and a few years later, the comprehensive strength of the two of them was still difficult to match with other princes, but Yuan Shao had become overly proud under the continuous victory, arrogant, and did not listen to good advice, and Yuan Shu was even more than enough, and Sun Ce was worried.

At this time, Cao Cao implemented the policy of Fengtianzi, controlled the imperial court, and implemented the strategy of Tuntian to accumulate strength, and the transformation of strength and weakness had begun.

Note 1: Xiao Pei and Pei Cheng may have been in the same place during the Three Kingdoms, but I can't be sure.