The Death of Yuan Shao(Three Kingdoms 34)
History of Three Kingdoms
Previous Chapter ：The Battle of GuanDu - The decisive Battle!（Three Kingdoms 33）
After the victory of GuanDu,Cao Cao marched into Cangting仓亭 on the north bank of Yellow River and drove all Yuan Shao's defenders around Cangting area to the north of the Yellow River,in April 201AD. After this, Yuan and Cao respectively ruled the north and south banks in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River.
Although being defeated in Guandu greatly weakened Yuan Shao's strength and hit the morale of Yuan's generals. However, the situation in which Yuan Shao was stronger and Cao Cao was weaker did not undergo a fundamental reversal.
Yuan Shao lost 80000 soldiers, but his strength was still very powerful, and his territory was not greatly lost, he was still the warlord who has the largest area, and he was significantly more than Cao Cao in terms of population.
In a short period of time, Yuan Shao can still integrate another army of 100000-200000 soldiers.
After returning to his headquarters Jizhou冀州, Yuan Shao successively quelled some small rebellions in various places and stabilized the situation.
Then the two sides entered a confrontation stage where no one could swallow anyone, and if there was no major turnaround, such a confrontation could last for a long time.
Although Cao Cao was likely to achieve final victory by virtue of his rapidly recovering economy in the Central Plains and his political advantage in controlling the emperor, it was basically impossible to annex Yuan Shao's territory within a decade and unify northern China, or even within his lifetime.
But at this time, the god gave Cao Cao the most generous gift. On June 28, 202 AD, Yuan Shao, who was about 50 years old, died of illness in Yecheng邺城, and Yuan Shao's sudden death made this potentially protracted war take a sharp turn and completely lost suspense.
Yuan Shao was magnanimous and cherished the people's livelihood,he had a high prestige in the hearts of the people.After he died, the people on the north of Yellow River wept bitterly.
The more deadly crisis came from the complex factional struggle within the Yuans group.After Yuan Shao's death, his three sons were unable to take control and could become chips between various factions. This not only gave Cao Cao the opportunity to break through, but also ultimately dragged the Yuans group into the abyss of disintegration.
Yuan Shao was handsome, respectful and generous, and had the personality charm of gathering talents around him, which also led Yuan Shao to pay more attention to the fame something like Birds adoring the Phoenix, whlie often ignored the practical value of talents themselves.
For example, his counsellors, Tian Feng田丰 and Ju Shou沮授, Yuan Shao valued their influence among the Scholars more than their wisdom," If Your opinion is similar to what I thought, I will adopt it, if it is far from mine, then sorry, it is useless to say any more!” Yuan Shao's self-confidencewas always so blind and innate, stupid and glorious.
Yuan Shao had three sons: the eldest son Yuan Tan袁谭, the second son Yuan Xi袁熙, and the youngest son Yuan Shang袁尚.
The eldest son Yuan Tan and the youngest son Yuan Shang were both born by Yuan Shao's wife Lady Liu刘, and Yuan Tan also had the most war achievements, was originally the most qualified to be the heir, but Lady Liu preferred the youngest son Yuan Shang, and encouraged Yuan Shao to pass Yuan Tan to Yuan Shao's brother Yuan Ji袁基, who died early. In ancient China, adopting someone who is adopted to others, meant he had lost the right to inherit his biological father's status, so Yuan Tan had actually lost the right to inherit Yuan Shao's family business.
This Lady Liu was very jealous,as soon as Yuan Shao died and was not buried yet, she and Yuan Shang killed all five of Yuan Shao's favored concubines, shaved their hair, and smeared ink on their faces to prevent Yuan Shao from meeting them underground.
Yuan Shao had appointed Yuan Tan as the Provincial Governor of Qingzhou青州,appointed Yuan Xi as the Provincial Governor of Youzhou幽州, and his nephew Gao Gan高干 as the Provincial Governor of Bingzhou并州,only kept Yuan Shang by his side, obviously wanting to leave the family business to his youngest son.
If Yuan Shao had made up his mind and made clear his intentions to his generals as soon as possible, issued an edict to legally confirm Yuan Shang's status as his heir, the situation might not have reached the point of irreconcilability.
However, Yuan Shao's personality was resourceful and indecisive, and he did not officially express Yuan Shang’s position until his death.
As early as a few years ago, Ju Shou had advised Yuan Shao not to use the feudalism system, saying that this was the way to take trouble, but Yuan Shao did not listen.
As a result, as soon as Yuan Shao died, the two factions immediately started fighting each other, of which Yuan’s ministers like Xin Ping辛评 and Guo Tu郭图 supported Yuan Tan, while other ministers like Pang Ji逄记 and Shen Pei审配 supported Yuan Shang, and the rest of the generals were either eager to take sides and participate in the fight, or they were discouraged and at a loss.
In July 202 AD,Pang Ji ,Shen Pei and others forged Yuan Shao's edict,under the pretext of Yuan Shao's last words,supporting Yuan Shang in Yecheng to succeed him.
At this time, Yuan Tan was on his way back from Qingzhou, and a big drama of fratricidal between brothers was being staged.
Few years ago,the brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu袁术 denigrated each other and attacked frequently, allowing Cao Cao, who was originally very weak, to become the final winner.
Now the Yuan family has passed on the gene of this brotherly discord to their descendants, which is exactly Cao Cao's favorite plot, at this time he is gathering soldiers,ready to cross the Yellow River to the north, using the butcher knife in his hand to praise the two leading actors Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang.
To be Continued