Yuan Shu's Dream of Being an Emperor
Three Kingdoms 20
After losing the first campaign against Zhang Xiu张绣, Cao Cao returned to Xuchang许昌.
Originally, Yuan Shu袁术 was very dissatisfied with Cao Cao's move to greet Emperor Xian of Han汉献帝,now Cao Cao had suffered another defeat,Yuan Shu, who has long cherished the ambition of the emperor, is even more impatient.
So in early 197 AD,Yuan Shu held the Jade Seal of the Empire, he officially crowned himself as the emperor in Shouchun寿春. He named his country a nondescript name ,Zhongjia仲家.
His move can be described as a big disdain from whole country,although the Emperor Xian of Han , Liu Xie刘协 ,had no real power for long,but no one dared to question the orthodox status of the Eastern Han emperor. Yuan Shu became the first bird,He instantly became the target of everyone.
Facing with this situation,Cao Cao used the emperor in his hand to play the game of defeating the enemy with the enemy. He first named Lu Bu吕布 as the general of left ,in the name of the imperial court. And Brought Lu Bu an emotional personal letter,It was intended to intensify the conflict between Lu Bu and Yuan Shu. Lu Bu himself is a capricious personality,sure enough, he and Yuan Su quickly fell out. The army which was sent by Yuan Shu to conquer Lu Bu,was defeated because of the defection of Han Xian韩暹 and Yang Feng杨奉,Yuan Shu's strength was hit hard.
Cao Cao then began to netting Sun Ce孙策in Yangzhou扬州. In the name of the emperor, he made Sun Ce the Marquis of Wucheng乌程侯,and the governor of Kuaiji会稽 commandery. Soon after, he officially made Sun Ce the Marquis of Wu吴侯,and as the general of conquering rebellion.(According to the analysis of the Nobility title, both the Marquis of Wucheng and the Marquis of Wu are the highest level county lords that can be granted to non Liu vassals. However, Wu County is the capital of Wu Commandery and has a better fiefdom, so the status of the Marquis of Wu will be higher.) He also established a marriage relationship with Sun Ce.
Sun Ce was originally a subordinate of Yuan Shu in name. Under the edict of the emperor,Sun Ce played a good hand justifiably,he announced that he had severed affiliation with Yuan Shu.
As a result, Yuan Shu lost large areas of land in Yangzhou. Not only was his strength frustrated, but he was also isolated from the north and south.
Yuan Shu was extremely extravagant and lustful in life.He had hundreds concubines in the harem,Indulge in pleasure all day long, and profligate,but his soldiers were often in a state of hunger and cold,the people in his territory were even more unclothed and hungry.
At that time, there was years of war and famine,the people were displaced and died in the wilderness,only Chen陈 commandery under Yuzhou豫州,it was still very rich under the administration of the commanderial governor Lo Jun骆俊. People everywhere went to take refuge,he took out all his wealth to relief them to make the people lived in peace.
After Yuan Shu crowned himself emperor, life soon became unbearable. So he borrowed grain from Chen commandery,but being rejected.Yuan Shu was embarrassed,he sinisterly sent Zhang Kai张闿 to assassinate Luo Jun.This Zhang Kai,was the guy who killed Cao Cao’s father Cao Song曹嵩. After killed Cao Song and took his property, He put the blame on Tao Qian陶谦,then defected to Yuan Shu.
Yuan Shu asked Zhang Kai to pose as a representative of the victims,to toast to Luo Jun,but the wine was poisonous,Luo Jun was subsequently killed. All people of the city heard the news of the death of Luo Jun mourned. The shameless Yuan Shu took the opportunity to sneak up on Chen commandery overnight and captured the city,he even Killed the prince of Chen,Liu Chong刘宠,and frantically scavenging for grain and robbed of property,the people of Chen have since become disaster victims.
Luo Jun was kind and quite prestigious,who was deeply loved by the local people,and the prince of Chen,Liu Chong was a great-grandson of the Emperor Ming of Han,Liu Zhuang（汉明帝刘庄reign 57-75AD）. A member of the royal family were killed,this gave Cao Cao a reason to send troops. So in September 197 AD,Cao Cao ued the edict of the emperor,announcing Yuan Shu's guilt and launching a major crusade. When Yuan Shu heard that Cao Cao personally led an army, he knew that he couldn’t macth for Cao Cao, and he abandoned the army and fled to south.
He left his general Qiao Rui勪蕤 and others to defend in Qiyang祁阳. Cao Cao soon captured Qiyang,then returned after killing Qiao Rui and other four generals under Yuan Shu,Yuan Shu's power had been in a slump. Since then,the day of being defeated is not far away.