Here is a comprehensive ranking of those monarchs during the Three Kingdoms period, mainly referring to the ability, sphere of influence, influence, reign time and related development of the monarch at that time, the list only includes the princes at the state level and have enough influence, such as Han Sui, Jin Shang, Gongsun Du, Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi and other small and medium-sized princes are not discussed, such as puppet monarchs Liu Xie, Cao Fang, Sun Liang, etc. are not counted, and the Sima family is not included in the Jin Dynasty.

【Monarch Ranking】

No.1 Cao Cao

Cao Cao started from scratch, single-handedly conquered Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, Jizhou, Qingzhou, Bingzhou, Sili and other seven states, Youzhou was the initiative to rebel Yuan Xi to submit to Cao Cao, Liangzhou was Cao Cao sent Xiahou Yuan to fight. In terms of status, sphere of influence, and influence, Cao Cao was the de facto first person during the Three Kingdoms period.

No.2 Sun Quan

After Sun Quan inherited Sun Ce's power, he further developed Sun Wu's sphere of influence to Jiaozhou and Jingzhou, and divided the southeast to unite Shu Han and Cao Wei's three-legged tripod, in history, Sun Quan successively fought against Cao four generations of monarchs, from Cao Cao to Cao Fang, he was the lord of Sun Wu, was the longest-lived monarch at that time, and was in power for the longest time, as long as more than 50 years, and its status, ability and influence were basically second only to Cao Cao.

No.3 Liu Bei

Liu Bei was one of the most legendary figures at that time, after the Han dynasty existed in name only, Liu Bei became the last only prince in the Liu clan, after the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei successively in Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and Fa Zheng and other strategists with the help of Jingzhou, Yizhou and Hanzhong, at its peak its power was almost on par with Sun Quan. After Cao Pi usurped the throne of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bei succeeded the Han dynasty in CD and established the Shu Han dynasty.

No.4 Yuan Shao

Yuan Shao was not only one of the core figures of the late Han Dynasty Shi clan group against the eunuch group, but also later the leader of the anti-Dong coalition army, and in the future, he once seized the north, occupying Jizhou, Qingzhou, Bingzhou and Youzhou, and was the most powerful prince at that time, even Cao Cao, who seized the Central Plains and coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, could not be compared.

No.5 Dong Zhuo

Although Dong Zhuo failed to hold power for a few years in history, he abolished the king at that time and moved the capital to Chang'an, which essentially led to the situation of a group of heroes rising together and a large number of princes, resulting in the existence of the Eastern Han Dynasty in name only. As a prince, Dong Zhuo seized the central government, and relied on his own strength to fight against many princes in Kwantung and Liu Yan of Yizhou, and was finally assassinated by Lü Bu.

No.6 Sun Ce

Sun Ce is the de facto founder of the Jiangdong Sun Group, Sun Ce debuted very early, he relied on his father Sun Jian's connections, first relied on Yuan Shu, was able to march into Jiangdong, and defeated Liu Xuan, occupied Wu County, and later broke with Yuan Shu after becoming emperor, swept away Jiangdong's disobedient forces, and occupied all the regions of Yangzhou except for the northernmost Jiujiang County, but unfortunately died young.

No.7 Cao Rui

Cao Rui is the second generation of Cao Wei emperor after Cao Pi, he reigned for more than ten years, Yu Zhuge , retired Sun Quan, assassinated Kirby, destroyed Liaodong, worthy of a generation of Ming lords, after Cao Rui, there is basically no external force that can actually threaten Wei.

No.8 Cao Pi

Cao Pi is the founding emperor of the Cao Wei Empire, at the beginning of his title of emperor, the development was extremely smooth, successively got Meng Da's refuge, occupied Shangyong and other places, and Sun Quan took the initiative to sue for peace, but unfortunately Cao Pi failed to grasp the great opportunity for Sun Quan and Liu Bei to break up, was fooled by Sun Quan, and Cao Pi crusaded Jiangdong three times in the future, all of which ended in vain.

No.9 Liu Chan

Although Liu Chan was extremely dizzy in his later years, and even a little idiot, he was still the king of the dead country, but he was indeed the only one among the emperors of the Three Kingdoms who reigned for more than 40 years, and the other emperors did not even reign for more than 30 years, only Sun Quan reigned for more than 20 years, and the rest were below 20 years.

No.10 Yuan Shu

Yuan Shu had two ups and downs in history, and his influence spread to Yuzhou, Yangzhou, and Jingzhou. He first regained the old capital Luoyang with the help of Sun Jian's march, but after being attacked by Yuan Shao, although Yuan Shu recaptured Yangcheng with troops, the momentum of development was also interrupted, Sun Jian was careless in the crusade against Liu Biao, and then Liu Biao cut off Yuan Shu's supplies, Yuan Shu was forced to go north to Cao Cao, suffered a heavy defeat, this is a fall. Later, Yuan Shu regained a foothold in Yangzhou and sent Sun Ce south to Jiangdong, but because of the emperor, the people rebelled and left, and died of loneliness.

No.11 Liu Biao

As the lord of Jingzhou, Liu Biao has been evaluated in history as "insufficient attack and more than conservative". Historically, Jingzhou was the land of four wars, when Liu Biao was in power, the relationship between Jingzhou and the princes of the Quartet was not very good, and Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, Sun Ce, Sun Quan, Zhang Jin and other princes had a confrontation, and Liu Zhang in the west was almost in a confrontational state, but Liu Biao was in power for almost 20 years, and Jingzhou has been firmly controlled by him.

No.12 Sun Hao

Although Sun Hao is the king of Sun Wu's fallen country, his reign is not short, and during his reign, he also has a record of recovering Jiaozhi and Lu Kang breaking the Wei army, so Sun Hao's ranking is not very low.

No.13 Sun Xiu

Sun Xiu is the only one of the three kings after Sun Quan is more reliable, he set things right after succeeding to the throne, and re-stabilized the situation of Sun Wu, but in the later period of Sun Xiu's reign, he trusted the ministers, Sun Wu's internal and external environment began to deteriorate, Jiaozhi rebelled, Shu Han was destroyed, and he himself died soon.

No.14 Yuan Shang

After Yuan Shao's death, Yuan Shang took advantage of the opportunity of Yuan Tan's failure to arrive in Yecheng to become the pastor of Jizhou by forging a suicide note, but this also led to a complete deterioration in the relationship between Yuan and Tan. Yuan Shang himself was not a straw bag, but later the two Yuan fought and repeated the story between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, and were finally eliminated by Cao Cao one by one.

No.15 Liu Yan

Liu Yan in the late Han Dynasty to advise the Son of Heaven to replace the state assassin with the state pastor, so that the local officials gained actual power, Liu Yan himself was able to serve as the Yizhou pastor, and then Liu Yan sent Zhang Lu to occupy Hanzhong, interrupted the communication between Yizhou and the imperial court, and became the de facto king of Shu, and later Dong Zhuo sent people to crusade against Liu Yan failed, Liu Yan united Han Sui and Ma Teng to march into Chang'an after Dong Zhuo's death, suffered defeat, and his two sons were also killed, Liu Yan died soon after.

No.16 Liu Zhang

Liu Zhang is Liu Yan's successor, although he is weak, but he also divided Yizhou for 20 years, quelled the rebellion of Zhao Wei and others, and confronted Zhang Lu in the north, and finally Liu Zhang united with Liu Bei under the persuasion of Zhang Song, Fa Zheng and others, and invited Liu Bei to Sichuan, but was destroyed by Liu Bei.

No.17 Gongsun Chan

Gongsun Chan was one of the great princes in the north at the end of the Han Dynasty, he originally wanted to get rid of the constraints of Youzhou Mu Liu Yu, so he colluded with Yuan Shao to lead the troops south to attack Han Fu, but Yuan Shao picked peaches, and the two sides fought again and again, and later Gongsun Chan crusaded against Jizhou unfavorably, and instead sent troops to attack Qingzhou. After Gongsun Zan eliminated Liu Yu, it flourished for a while, and it was extremely prosperous and declined, and he was defeated in Youzhou and Qingzhou, and was finally surrounded and eliminated by Yuan Shao.

No.18 Liu Yu

Liu Yu was the first great Sima in the late Han Dynasty, as the pastor of Youzhou, he pacified the northern nomads, quelled the internal rebellion, and steadily developed Youzhou, so that Youzhou could not only be self-sufficient, but also accept a large number of refugees, but because of the conflict of policy guidelines, Liu Yu and Gongsun Chan were extremely discordant, and were finally killed by Gongsun Zhan.

No.19 Tao Qian

Tao Qian was the Xuzhou tycoon in the late Han Dynasty, after he seized Xuzhou, he quelled the rebellion of the Yellow Turban thieves, developed Tuntian, the situation in Xuzhou was stable, the economy was developed, and it became one of the famous refuges at that time. Politically, Tao Qian failed to form an anti-Li coalition army and turned to recognize the orthodox status of the Chang'an court, so he served as the pastor of Xuzhou, and joined forces with Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shu against Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others, and later because Cao Cao's father had an accident in Xuzhou, Cao Cao avenged his father, and twice sent troops to wash Xuzhou, Tao Qian was hit hard and died, and Xuzhou also declined.

No.20 Han Fu

Han Fu was originally sent by Dong Zhuo to serve as the pastor of Jizhou to specifically restrict Yuan Shao, and later Han Fu chose to help Yuan Shao fight against Dong Zhuo, but secretly withheld grain and grass, resulting in unfavorable front-line operations.

No.21 Lu Bu

Lü Bu can be said to be the first fierce general in the Three Kingdoms period, and once fought fiercely with Cao Cao in Yanzhou, and once had the upper hand, because Cao Cao was supported by Yuan Shao before being defeated. However, Lü Bu was very incompetent as a monarch, he did not keep his word, acted capriciously, and was eventually eliminated by Cao Cao.

PS: The rankings are more just for your reference, there are other rankings later, and some of the rankings may not be the same if I rank them again, because the gap is not that big.