The Gongsun clan went through four generations of monarchs from Gongsun Du, and was one of the earliest princes to secede one side in the late Han Dynasty, and the secession time was second only to the later Wei, Shu and Wu Kingdoms. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info.:.

However, although the Gongsun clan had ambitions, they could only settle for a single place, and their power could not be developed, and finally became the burial place of careerists.

Four generations of monarchs

It should be around the sixth year of Zhongping (189), Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, and his subordinate Zhonglang recommended Xu Rong to his fellow villager Gongsun Du as the Taishou of Liaodong. Although he himself was brutal and unkind, he expanded his territory militarily, attacking Goguryeo in the east, Wuhuan in the west, Liaodong Peninsula in the south, and Donglai counties in the north of the Jiaodong Peninsula across the sea, expanding his territory; In politics, he recruited talents, set up a museum to open a school, recruited displaced people, and prestige overseas, although he did not call the king the emperor, but he was already an emperor......

In the ninth year of Jian'an (204), Gongsun Du died, Gongsun Kang inherited his career, when Gongsun Kang came to power, Cao 'Cao' had become bigger, Liaodong was far from being invincible, and Gongsun Du's painstaking management of Yingzhou was also broken by Zhang Liao, so Gongsun Kang recognized this fact, and after the Yuan brothers came to vote, he determined that Cao 'Cao' had no intention of Liaodong for the time being, and decisively killed these people, and gave their heads to Cao 'Cao' as a meeting gift, and Cao' Cao's etiquette is still exchanged, Gongsun Kang was named the Marquis of Xiangping, appointed him as the general of Zuo, recognized Gongsun Kang's rule in Liaodong, and later Gongsun Kang's crusade against Goguryeo was also quite a military achievement.

As the heir of Gongsun Du, although Gongsun Kang lost the counties of Donglai, he was still very qualified in general, and he attacked Goguryeo and Cao, and kept the foundation of Liaodong.

Due to the early death of Gongsun Kang, his younger brother Gongsun Gong became the third generation of monarchs in Liaodong, and also the most vulnerable generation of monarchs, Gongsun Gong himself did not have much merit after taking power because of physical reasons, it is recorded that he sent Gongsun Kang's eldest son Gongsun Huang to Luoyang as a son, showing loyalty to the Wei Dynasty. Weakness also has the advantage of weakness, a weak monarch has limited threat to Cao Wei, so at that time, Cao Cao', Cao Pi and others thought that Liaodong was remote, very loyal, and there was no threat, and they never sent troops to fight.

In the second year of Taihe (228), the second son of Gongsun Du staged a coup d'état, imprisoned his uncle Gongsun Gong, and became the fourth and last generation of monarchs in Liaodong.

After Gongsun Yuan came to power, he had a lot of dealings with Sun Wu, and as a result, he attracted the attention of Cao Rui, in the sixth year of Taihe (232) Cao Wei sent troops to attack Liao for the first time, although this time it did not actually take place, but it still caused a great blow to Gongsun Yuan, in order to fight against Cao Wei, Gongsun Yuan asked Sun Quan for help, Sun Quan was very happy at that time, and sent more than 10,000 troops to make him the king of Yan, as a result, Gongsun Yuan betrayed the alliance, killed Sun Quan's messengers, and put their heads' handed over to Cao Rui, which eased the relationship with Cao Wei in one fell swoop, although Sun Quan was very angry about this, but there was no way to take Liaodong across the sea.

However, after Gongsun Yuan succeeded in easing the relationship with Cao Wei, he soon relapsed and offended Cao Wei's envoy, which also made Cao Rui very dissatisfied. After Zhuge Liang's death, the threat from the south was reduced, Cao Rui in Youzhou assassinated Shi Biqiu Jian's suggestion to start the Liao war again, in the first year of Jingchu (237), he sent Youzhou Assassin Shi Biqiu Jian and others to carry letters and seals to recruit Gongsun Yuan, Gongsun Yuan not only did not respond to the call, but also sent troops to confront it, repelled Biqiu Jian, and then proclaimed himself the king of Yan to establish the country.

In this way, Cao Rui had enough excuses to cut down Yan, so he sent Sima Yi and Biqiu Jian to attack Liao for the third time and pacify Liaodong in one fell swoop.

The tragedy of the careerists of the petty princes

Historically, Gongsun Du and Gongsun Yuan were typical careerists of small princes, but compared to his grandson Gongsun Yuan, Gongsun Du was more capable, but also more arrogant.

After Gongsun Du arrived in Liaodong, in order to establish prestige, he killed a lot, and went around crusading to expand the territory, at that time he mainly had two states under his command, one was in Pingzhou in Liaodong, and the other was in Yingzhou in Donglai counties across the HN, he also proclaimed himself the Marquis of Liaodong and Pingzhou, and posthumously named his father Gongsun Yan as the Marquis of Jianyi, built temples for the two ancestors of the Han Dynasty, set up an altar in the south of Xiangping City according to the ancient system, and sacrificed heaven and earth in the suburbs, but even so, Gongsun Du did not dare to be crowned king and emperor. At the end of the Han Dynasty, there were many princes like Gongsun Du, like Liu Yu and Liu Biao, they also did similar things, although these people had ideas, but they still had self-knowledge, so they didn't dare to cross the line, and Yuan Shu was carried away by ambition and became the emperor.

Gongsun Du briefly served as the assassin of Jizhou in his early years, but soon stepped down, this matter should be a very profound lesson for him, so later don't say "king", "duke" did not touch, for the small princes, their strength limited their ambitions.

Compared with Gongsun Du, Gongsun Yuan has neither a 'colorful' record of defeating the enemy, nor a good external environment, but he is still ambitious and delusional, Cao Wei did not crusade against Gongsun Kang and Gongsun Gong, and it is not for nothing that Gongsun Yuan alone beat you. Cao Rui later attacked Liao did have an attempt to brush up his performance, but when he first attacked Liao, Sun Quan and Zhuge Liang were still in the south to threaten greatly, at this time Cao Rui did not have the heart to brush up on performance, and still sent troops from Youzhou and Qingzhou to crusade against Gongsun Yuan, why, isn't it because Gongsun Yuan colluded with Sun Wu to be disobedient?

During the Gongsun Yuan period, Cao Wei had unified the north, and the external environment was completely different from that of Gongsun Du, and it was no longer possible to be as unscrupulous as Gongsun Du, so his father Gongsun Kang and uncle Gongsun Gong would be aggrieved and seek peace, but unfortunately Gongsun Yuan did not understand this, as a small prince, Gongsun Yuan was powerless to change the overall situation, he could not go against the current, but he preferred to do it, so Gongsun Yuan was tragic.

The tragedy of Gongsun Yuan is also the tragedy of a typical careerist of small princes.

The fall of the Gongsun clan

After Sima Yi destroyed Liao, he killed Gongsun Yuan and his family, and released Gongsun Gong, but Gongsun Huang in Cao Wei did not escape the catastrophe, although Gongsun Huang once reminded the court that Gongsun Yuan had a different intention and asked the court to send troops, but the whole family was still implicated. According to the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Gao Rou", after Gongsun Yuan's rebellion, Gao Rou thought that he could be pardoned according to Gongsun Huang's previous words and deeds, but Emperor Wei Ming did not listen and ordered him to be given gold powder, and Gongsun Huang and his wife both swallowed gold and died.

According to the record of "Wei Luo": Brother Shi Yuan Huang is Gong Renzi, in Luo, Wen Yuan robbed Gong Zheng, saying that Yuan could not be guaranteed in the end, and he said that he had heard from the news, and he wanted to make the country seek Yuan. Emperor Yiyuan has already upheld power, so he has been appeased. and rebellion, so the national law system is shaking. Although Huang has a preface, he hopes not to sit, but he has bone and 'flesh' inside, and he knows that he is broken. When the head of the abyss arrived, Huang would die when he tried himself, and cried opposite to his son. At the time, he also 'wanted' to live, and there was a division that thought it was impossible, so he killed it.