In 197 AD, Yuan Shu was officially proclaimed emperor in Shouchun, established the name Zhongshi, and at the same time canonized various ministers.
However, what everyone didn't expect was that after Yuan Shu became emperor, the whole world began to quickly crusade against him. Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Liu Bei and others, who bordered Yuan Shu's territory, immediately raised troops to fight against Yuan.
Even Sun Ce, a subordinate before Yuan Shu, also publicly declared that he had broken away from Yuan Shu, and he also directly led troops to crusade against Yuan Shu.
This scene was actually something that Yuan Shu had never thought of before.
Previously, in Yuan Shu's opinion, the Yuan family, which was backed by the fourth and third dukes, was prestige enough to make everyone surrender. Moreover, before becoming emperor, Yuan Shu himself sat on eleven counties, occupied almost the entire Huainan, and was also very strong in war.
Considering that he also has a younger brother, Yuan Shao, he also occupied the territory of nearly four states at this time. The territory of the two brothers of the Yuan family combined, it is close to six states. Such strength, no matter how you look at it, seems to be more than enough to be the emperor.
However, the situation after becoming emperor completely exceeded Yuan Shu's prediction. Soon after Yuan Shu became emperor, all the neighbors around Yuan Shu began to send troops to attack him.
In this way, just two years later, Yuan Shu was beaten by everyone until he was defeated, and he lost almost all his territory. In the end, Yuan Shu had to cancel the emperor title himself, and then gave the emperor title to Yuan Shu.
But as a result, before Yuan Shu went north, Yuan Shu's own body was not good. In the end, Yuan Shu vomited blood and died, and before he died, he couldn't even drink a bowl of honey water.
I have to say that this end is really unlucky.
However, for the defeat of Yuan Shu, many people in later generations have such questions: there are not a few people who have been emperors in troubled times in history, and there are also many people who have succeeded in establishing a dynasty in the end. Why did Yuan Shu become emperor this time, but he directly attracted the siege of the whole world?
And what did Yuan Shu do wrong at that time? How did Yuan Shu lose?
This history, in fact, we can start from when Yuan Shu was just proclaimed emperor.
In 197 AD, Yuan Shu held eleven counties at that time, and his strength was extremely strong. Moreover, before Yuan Shu had a coincidence, he also got the heirloom jade seal. In the north, Yuan Shu's younger brother Yuan Shao occupied the territory of nearly four states......
All of this seems to be very good. As long as Yuan Shao supports it, the Yuan family will be able to sit on more than half of the world in an instant.
It was precisely because of this that Yuan Shu at that time wanted to be the emperor first, and get the title of emperor before Yuan Shao.
Regarding the matter of Yuan Shu becoming the emperor itself, later generations are basically bad reviews. Many people in later generations felt that Yuan Shu should play the set of 'accumulating grain and slowly becoming king', and develop slowly, and it is best to wait until most of the world is unified before talking about becoming the emperor, which is the right choice.
In fact, this line of thinking cannot be said to be wrong, but it cannot be said to be right.
Because the matter of becoming the emperor is really not the later the better. If it's too late, it's easy for the people below to lose confidence and mistakenly think that you don't want to be emperor, which is not conducive to unity.
The best time is actually your own strength, just after being able to block the strongest opposition force.
For example, Wanyan Aguta, who later established the Jin State, when he became emperor, he only had an army of more than 10,000 people. In the era of the Three Kingdoms, he pulled a random place to divide the heroes out, and his strength was far superior to him. But as a result, with only more than 10,000 people, Wanyan Aguta succeeded in establishing the Jin State and succeeded in claiming the emperor.
Why can Wanyan Aguda succeed in being the emperor? Because at that time, he was facing the decaying Liao State. With just more than 10,000 people, it was enough to block the attack of the strongest army of the Liao State. At this time, he can naturally be directly called the emperor. But if you put Wanyan Agu, who had just become emperor, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, it is estimated that he would not be able to survive even a round of scuffle.
Another example is the later Zhu Yuanzhang, who was dragged until the unification of the entire Jiangnan before he was officially proclaimed emperor. And the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor so late was mainly because the strongest opposition he faced was the Yuan Dynasty government in the north at that time. If you become emperor too early, you will be easily targeted by the main army of the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, before he can withstand the attack of the entire Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang cannot be called emperor.
And in the same way, if you put Zhu Yuanzhang, who had just become emperor, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Then, there will be no chaotic times and melees, and it is estimated that within three years at most, Zhu Yuanzhang will be able to completely unify the entire Central Plains.
Therefore, the key to choosing to be the emperor is not to choose which point in time. It's about whether your own strength is enough to block the attacks of other forces around you when you are the emperor.
And Yuan Shu at that time actually thought the same way.
In Yuan Shu's opinion, he holds eleven counties in his hands, and his back is against the sea. Around him, the strongest opposition force is nothing more than Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Lu Bu, Liu Biao and others joining forces. And this gang of people is destined to be impossible to unite and attack themselves at the same time. Even if they form a coalition army, they can break it individually, and the pressure is not too great.
What's more, Yuan Shao also developed well in the north at that time. In Yuan Shu's view, both of them are members of the Yuan family. If he really had the possibility of being beaten and eliminated, Yuan Shao would not really be able to see death without help. As long as Yuan Shao helps him contain some people a little, he will definitely be able to win.
It was in this context that in the spring of 197 AD, Yuan Shu was officially proclaimed emperor.
When Yuan Shu was proclaimed emperor, he actually had only five neighbors around him, namely Lü Bu in Xuzhou, Liu Bei in Yuzhou, Cao Cao in Yanzhou, Liu Biao in Jingzhou, and the Shixie brothers in Jiaozhou in the south. However, on the Jiaozhou side, the geographical location is too far away, and the traffic is not very convenient. Therefore, Jiaozhou's Shixie basically does not need to be considered.
In this way, there are only four families that Yuan Shu needs to consider dealing with: Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Lu Bu and Liu Biao.
And in the face of any of these four families, Yuan Shu at that time was actually sure of winning. Because at that time, the territory and population under the jurisdiction of Yuan Shu were much higher than any of these four families.
Of course, Yuan Shu will also sit back and watch these companies join forces, and in the field of diplomacy, Yuan Shu is not idle. Almost at the same time as the emperor, Yuan Shu sent people to Lü Bu's side, expressing his willingness to marry Lü Bu and ask to marry Lü Bu's daughter.
This temptation is actually still very big! You must know that on paper at that time, the strength of the Yuan family was really an otherworldly level. Many people think that the Yuan family is likely to succeed when he becomes emperor!
And if Yuan Shu really unified the world in the end, and Lu Bu's daughter married Yuan Shu's son and became Yuan Shu's son's wife. Then, Lu Bu can become the next national ruler. Lu Bu's daughter can also become the queen of the next dynasty!
If you compare it to the Eastern Han Dynasty, such Lu Bu is basically equal to the Fubo general Ma Yuan back then. And Ma Yuan's later power, as well as the later situation of the Ma family, there is no need to say more.
Therefore, in the face of Yuan Shu's courtship, Lu Bu was really moved at that time. And soon sent his daughter directly to Shouchun, where Yuan Shu was!
In the melee at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, this was actually a very critical node.
If Lu Bu and Yuan Shu really became in-laws at that time, the two sides would really form an alliance. Then, Yuan Shu's pressure in the north will drop sharply! Cao Cao and Liu Bei will all be restrained by Lu Bu in a short period of time. And in this way, Yuan Shu can spend a little time to solve internal problems, and by the way, clean up Liu Biao in Jingzhou and Shixie in Jiaozhou.
And once this situation is formed, when the time comes, Yuan Shu, who swallows Yangzhou, Jingzhou and Jiaozhou, will directly compare his territory to Zhu Yuanzhang, who has just become emperor. Of course, in terms of overall strength, Yuan Shu must still be slightly weaker. After all, during the Three Kingdoms era, the economic center of gravity had not yet begun to shift southward, and the population of the south was indeed far inferior to that of the north.
But even so, as long as this situation appears, Yuan Shu's chances of winning are still very large.
But as a result, at this critical point in time, there was a key figure under Lu Bu's command, named Chen Qi. This Chen Qi is Chen Deng's father. The Chen family is also a long-standing minister, and he had a good relationship with the Yuan family before. Chen Qi and Yuan Shu had old friends back then.
However, although the two sides had a good relationship before, Chen Qi was a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty and resolutely opposed Yuan Shu's claim to be emperor. Therefore, when Yuan Shu was about to marry Lu Bu, Chen Qi saw the danger for the first time.
Chen Qi knew very well that once the two sides married, the Han Dynasty would be really dangerous. So next, Chen Jue began to lobby Lu Bu constantly, saying the disadvantages of various marriages. And Chen Qi's efforts did convince Lu Bu in the end. Soon after sending his daughter away, Lu Bu quickly sent someone to chase his daughter back.
Moreover, in order to show that he was not going to team up with Yuan Shu, he also deliberately caught the messenger sent by Yuan Shu and sent it to Emperor Han Xian! Of course, at this time, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty had been held hostage by Cao Cao. Therefore, sending people to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty is equivalent to sending them to Cao Cao.
At this time, Cao Cao had already begun to take the route of 'coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes', so he naturally would not let go of this opportunity. Since Lü Bu sent someone over, he quickly eased relations with Lü Bu in the name of Emperor Han Xian, and had the intention of reaching an alliance to deal with Yuan Shu together.
And in this way, Yuan Shu is uncomfortable.
Yuan Shu originally wanted to win over Lu Bu through diplomatic means, but he was rejected by Lu Bu instead. At this time, Yuan Shu had just been proclaimed emperor, and he naturally didn't want to lose face like this. So soon, Yuan Shu sent a seven-way army, ready to defeat Lu Bu first!
If it is said that Yuan Shu is the emperor, it may indeed be understandable. Then he took the initiative to attack Lu Bu, this is Yuan Shu's biggest move!
You must know that at that time, several other forces around Yuan Shu did not dare to take the initiative to attack Yuan Shu for the time being, because they were afraid of Yuan Shu's strength. But at this time, Yuan Shu took the initiative to attack others, and it would be good if he could win quickly. But if you lose, or if you can't win quickly, it will make other forces no longer afraid.
Either way, it's a very bad deal.
What's even worse is that almost at the same time that Yuan Shu had just sent troops, Sun Ce, who was originally a general of Yuan Shu's subordinates, suddenly announced that he would lead the five counties of Yangzhou and become independent directly!
For Yuan Shu, the territory of these five counties has exceeded half of his territory in terms of area. Moreover, after Sun Ce's independence, Yuan Shu's territory suddenly changed from being backed by the sea to being in the land of four wars.
If Yuan Shu hadn't taken the initiative to send troops to fight Lu Bu at this time, maybe he could have mobilized the army in time and come back to clean up Sun Ce. But the problem is that at this time, Yuan Shu is already ready to fly, and it is impossible to withdraw the army immediately.
So, Yuan Shu directly ordered the front-line army to solve Lu Bu as soon as possible.
As a result, in the next battle, Lu Bu adopted Chen Jue's suggestion and persuaded two of Yuan Shu's seven-way army, so that Yuan Shu's two-way army directly defected. Then, Lu Bu personally led the army and took advantage of the chaos to raid. Finally, in the Xiapi area, Yuan Shu's army was completely defeated!
This rout is undoubtedly fatal for Yuan Shu!
After this battle, almost all the forces saw Yuan Shu's external strength and middle strength. And what's even worse is that God doesn't seem to be used to Yuan Shu this year. Across the Yangtze River and Huaihe region, there was a rare drought this year, which caused grain production to plummet.
There was no food, and the main army of the front suffered heavy losses. This led to Yuan Shu at this time, no longer able to take the initiative to attack, and could only start to choose passive defense. As for Sun Ce, who rebelled and became independent, Yuan Shu had no choice but to confirm Sun Ce's independence.
But that's just the beginning!
In the face of the predicament at this time, if Yuan Shu canceled the title of emperor in time at this time and re-developed honestly and low-key, there may be a chance to rise again. After all, it was impossible for the other major forces around Yuan Shu to really join forces to attack him.
However, at this time, Yuan Shu made a wrong choice again. He chose to concentrate his remaining forces again and expand in the direction of Yuzhou, in an attempt to defeat Chen, one of the six counties of Yuzhou!
Of course, at this time, Yuan Shu was no longer so dominant in terms of troops. In addition, the Yuan family's hometown is in Yuzhou, and Yuan Shu's influence in Yuzhou is also very strong. So in the end, when Yuan Shu attacked Chen State, he adopted a very special method.
He chose to send assassins to assassinate the high-ranking leaders of the Chen State.
I have to say that the influence of the Yuan family in Yuzhou is indeed very large, and in the end, Yuan Shu did succeed! But what Yuan Shu didn't expect was that after taking the Chen State, Yuan Shu's own territory would have a larger border area with Cao Cao's territory!
So next, Cao Cao quickly dispatched troops and took the initiative to attack Yuan Shu.
In the face of Cao Cao's attack, Yuan Shu, who had been defeated by Cao Cao before, began to choose to retreat. In order to ensure his own safety, he himself gave priority to retreating to the south of the Huai River, leaving only a few generals to stay north of the Huai River.
This choice undoubtedly made the troops left behind in Huaibei lose their fighting spirit even more. So, after Cao Cao came, Yuan Shu's army left on the north bank of the Huai River was quickly wiped out. Even a lot of Yuan Shu's territory was also pocketed by Cao Cao.
This is a typical example of stealing chickens and rice.
At this point, Yuan Shu had lost the vast majority of his army. In addition, the reduction in grain production has caused a serious shortage of military rations. At this time, within the Yuan Shu Group, people's hearts began to fluctuate. Many of Yuan Shu's generals have begun to have the idea of defecting.
After that, it will be a mountain of defeat.
By 198 AD, Yuan Shu had lost control of his subordinates' territory. Many generals who originally belonged to Yuan Shu began to become independent. During this period, Lü Bu was attacked by Cao Cao, and he also asked Yuan Shu for help. Yuan Shu sent some troops again, and Chen Bing was next to Lu Bu's territory, wanting to share some pressure for Lu Bu.
But this choice undoubtedly weakened Yuan Shu's power again, making the Yuan Shu group collapse faster.
In the end, under the continuous encroachment of the surrounding forces, Yuan Shu took a small amount of remnants and retreated to the Tianzhu Mountain area in Anhui. Lei Bo and Chen Lan, who occupied this place at that time, had been Yuan Shu's generals before.
However, at this time, Lei Bo and Chen Lan, in the face of Yuan Shu's arrival, expressed their refusal. In this way, Yuan Shu even had no last way out.
Yuan Shu, who was desperate, finally thought of Yuan Shao in the north at this time. In the end, Yuan Shu canceled his emperor title, and then wrote a letter to Yuan Shao, expressing his willingness to give up the emperor title to Yuan Shao.
And Yuan Shao's side, he finally still thinks of a bit of brotherhood. After Yuan Shu bowed his head, he also said that he was willing to accept Yuan Shu!
Yuan Shao said that Yuan Shu could go north from the Xiapi area and directly enter Qingzhou, and then he would send someone to meet him in the Qingzhou area.
At the end of Yuan Shu's journey, few of his former followers were still following him. On the contrary, Yuan Shao, who had always been at odds with him before, was willing to accept him again out of blood and family affection.
It was only at this time that Yuan Shu might have figured out what it meant to be a 'brother in battle'.
But the problem is that even if Yuan Shu figured it out at this time, it was already too late. Because Xiapi at this time has been occupied by Cao Cao. And Cao Cao's side, it is impossible to take Yuan Shu north no matter what!
In the end, under Cao Cao's resistance, Yuan Shu failed to break through and could only retreat to Shouchun from Xiapi again. As a result, before he could return to Shouchun, Yuan Shu's body was completely dead. In June 199 AD, in the middle of summer, the heat was unbearable, and this weather made Yuan Shu's physical condition worse and worse.
Before dying, Yuan Shu told his cronies that he wanted to drink another bowl of sugar water. But the attendants told him that there were only some grains of wheat left in the army, and there was no honey for a long time!
Seeing that he was completely cornered, Yuan Shu couldn't help but feel sad. In the end, Yuan Shu let out the last sigh of his life: "Yuan Shu even cares!" ”
Subsequently, Yuan Shu vomited blood and died.
This is the final ending of Yuan Shu.
I have to say that Yuan Shu's defeat is really a matter of course. In the process of becoming emperor, Yuan Shu made too many wrong decisions.
Moreover, Yuan Shu's own combat effectiveness is really too stretched. As long as he can fight a little, concentrate superior forces, and defeat Lu Bu in a very short time, or defeat other coveting forces, the outcome will not be like this.
In the same situation, if Yuan Shu is replaced by Liu Xiu at that time, Liu Xiu will definitely be able to easily repel the enemy, and he will not give the surrounding forces a chance to join forces to carve up their own at all!
Therefore, in the final analysis, Yuan Shu's defeat still lies in his arrogance and incompetence.
But if he had a little self-knowledge, he might not have been crowned emperor so early. But if he can fight a little bit, the ending may be completely different.
However, it is a pity that the real Yuan Shu in history has a poor strategic vision and a very poor ability to command wars.
So in the end, he could only end up vomiting blood and dying.