When the Coalition forces east of Han'gu Pass(函谷关) were crushing Dong Zhuo(董卓), Sun Jian(孙坚), the governor of Changsha(长沙), killed Zhang Zi(张咨), the governor of Nanyang(南阳), and led his troops to join Yuan Shu(袁术), Nanyang, with its large population and fertile land, was then occupied by Yuan Shu.
At this time, the warlords to the east of the Han'gu Pass were fighting for years, but the main conflict was between Yuan Shu and his elder brother Yuan Shao(袁绍).
The Yuan clan of Runan(汝南) was a clan of bureaucratic landowners for generations.
In the Eastern Han , the three most important ministers who held the highest military and political power were known as the Three Councillors(三公), namely, the Chancellor of war(太尉),who was in charge of the national military,the Chancellor of Masses(司徒),who was in charge of the national governmentand ,the Chancellor of Constructions(司空), who was in charge of the national supervision and law enforcement.
Yuan An(袁安) served as Chancellor of Masses and Constructions,in the reign of Emperor Zhang of Han(汉章帝76-88AD). Yuan An had three sons, the third of whom, Yuan Chang(袁敞), also served as Chancellor of Constructions in the reign of Emperor An of Han(106-125AD汉安帝), and the second son, Yuan Jing(袁京), served as the governor of Shu Commandery(蜀郡), and was one of the most influential scholars in the Eastern Han .
Yuan Jing's son, Yuan Tang(袁汤), held all the posts of Chancellor of Masses , Constructions and Wars.
Yuan Tang's three sons, Yuan Cheng(袁成), Yuan Feng(袁逢) and Yuan Wei(袁隗), among them, Yuan Cheng became a left General of the Court Gentlemen, Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei also achieved one of the three Councillors, Yuan Feng was named as Chancellor of Constructions, Yuan Wei was named as Chancellor of masses, four generations of members in Yuan clan had been named as the three Councillors, and so it is called "three Councillors in four generations(四世三公)."
Yuan Feng is the father of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, but the difference is that Yuan Shu is a born by Yuan Feng's wife , while Yuan Shao is only a son of Yuan Feng’s concubine, although they are all members of Yuan clan, However, there is still a gap compared to the status of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, which is why Yuan Shu despised Yuan Shao in his heart and scolded him as a family slave.
However, because Yuan Cheng, who was the elder brother, died early and had no son, Yuan Feng, in order for Yuan Cheng to have an heir, passhimYuan Shao to Yuan Cheng when Yuan Shao was very young, so Yuan Shao actually outranked Yuan Shu in the clan status of their generation, which made Yuan Shu hold a grudge even more against Yuan Shao.
In terms of personal charisma, Yuan Shao is much stronger than Yuan Shu. Yuan Shao is handsome, has a good temperament, treats people with generosity, does not show his happiness and anger, and has successfully portrayed himself as the leader of the scholars and the political representative of the bureaucratic group, and has become famous because of his decisive killing of eunuchs and openly resisting Dong Zhuo.
When the Coalition forces chose the leader of the alliance, they unanimously proposed that Yuan Shao should be the leader.
Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu then set up their own allians to attack each other.
In order to deal with Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu made friends with Gongsun Zan(公孙瓒) of Youzhou(幽州) from the north, so that he himself would attack Jizhou(冀州) from the south, while Yuan Shao made friends with Liu Biao(刘表) of Jingzhou(荆州), so that Liu Biao would keep Yuan Shu in check!
In April 192 AD, Yuan Shu sent Sun Jian to conquer Jingzhou and attack Liu Biao, who sent Huang Zu(黄祖) to fight with him near Fancheng(樊城). In the fierce battle, Sun Jian was shot by arrows and died, and his son Sun Ce(孙策) led the rest of his troops, who continued to depend on Yuan Shu.
In the winter of the same year, Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zan attacked Yuan Shao and Cao Cao(曹操)together, who was nominally part of Yuan Shao's clique, from the south and north.
Yuan Shao soon defeated Gongsun Zan at Longcou(龙凑) and Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shu at Fengqiu(封丘), and Yuan Shu was forced to leave Nanyang and retreated to Shouchun(寿春) as the north and south of Cao Cao and Liu Biao pressed him.
However, the death of his father did not make Sun Ce depressed from then on. This ferocious tiger in Jiangdong is about to unleash tremendous energy in adversity and stir up a storm of youth in southeastern China!