Yuan Shu was one of the princes during the Three Kingdoms period. Because they were eager to proclaim themselves emperor, they were attacked by groups. In the end, the farce of being betrayed and disgraced, and the emperor ended in a hurry. So, why was Yuan Shu so confident that he dared to be emperor when Emperor Xian of Han was still in power? Let's analyze it.
1. The land is vast and the military is strong.
Yuan Shu was originally the prefect of Nanyang , but his base camp is in Huainan. By conquering all directions, he has been expanding his own strength and obtaining part of the territory of Yuzhou and Xuzhou , reaching Jiangdong and other places .
If you talk about the territory area, Yuan Shu's territory is second only to Liu Biao and Yuan Shao . We all know that in feudal society, the so-called "feudalism" means separating one side, and the economic system in ancient China was mainly agriculture. More land means more arable land, and more people will be used to it. Yuan Shao's land and grain can afford to support enough soldiers.
Yuan Shu became emperor The army was indeed strong enough before. According to records, at that time, Liu Bei fought with Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu's general Ji Ling brought 300,000 troops to attack Liu Bei.
Ji Ling is just a commander, who can command 300,000 troops, so Yuan Shu has at least 700,000 to 800,000 troops. The Battle of Guandu , Cao Cao drew all the elite troops, and finally managed to gather only 20,000 to 30,000 troops. After Yuan Shao conquered Youzhou , he only raised an army of 100,000.
It can be seen from this that Yuan Shu has a large number of troops in his hands, otherwise he would not have been able to make trouble in Huainan for so many years. More importantly, Huainan has a warm climate and is suitable for farming. Every autumn, there will be a large amount of grain and grass reserves. When fighting, he was concerned about money and food. Yuan Shu was rich and did not fear other examples of princes. Therefore, he was still very confident in his claim to be emperor.
2. Many generals under Yuan Shu were
Ji Ling, which are mentioned in Three Kingdoms and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Ji Ling's ability to fight is not low. He is a good commander of the army and is deeply trusted by Yuan Shu.
Qiao Rui . Although this person is not very famous, he is also very brave. For Yuan Shu, he did not hesitate to take risks. After Yuan Shu became emperor, Cao Cao gathered the princes of the world and launched an attack on Yuan Shu. He fought hard, and eventually outnumbered the crowd and eventually died on the battlefield.
Wu Jing is the younger brother of Wu Guotai . He is also the uncle of Sun Ce and Sun Quan . In his early years, Wu Jing fought with Sun Jian and , and later followed Sun Ce to join Yuan Shu. However, after Sun Ce left, Wu Jing followed him away.
Zhang Xun, Li Feng, Le Ju, Liang Gang and others are all powerful generals under Yuan Shu. Zhang Xun is a general under Yuan Shu and has a higher status than Ji Ling. However, Yuan Shu was finally surrounded and most of his generals died in the battle, so they did not have a reputation, but they were not useless.
3. The power of the vassal Yuan Shu
The reason why he dared to call himself an emperor so arrogantly is that in addition to having huge military forces, he also has some power that can exert huge energy efficiency at critical moments.
The first is Sun Ce's refugee. Sun Jian and Liu Biao were killed in battle. Sun Ce inherited the family business. In order to have a place to live, he temporarily surrendered to Yuan Shu and made a lot of contributions to Yuan Shu.
As we all know, there are very few who can match Sun Ce. What's even more terrifying is that Sun Ce is not alone. Under Sun Ce's command, old subordinates of Jiangdong such as Huang Gai , Cheng Pu , Han Dang are all Sun Jian's confidants. These people have served under his command, and their abilities are naturally extraordinary.
The second is the marriage with Lu Bu . In the battle of Xuzhou, Yuan Shu intervened in the battle between Liu Bei and Lu Bu, and was jointly recruited by the two major forces. It can be seen that his strength is far beyond Liu Bei and Lu Bu's comparison. Lu Bu and Yuan Shu's children got married to get external support and thus fight against Cao Cao and Liu Bei. Lu Bu is recognized as the most powerful general of the Three Kingdoms. The alliance between Lu Bu and Yuan Shu also made Yuan Shu no longer care about anything else and even more determined to be the route of being the emperor.
In short, Yuan Shu dared to publicly claim himself to be emperor in front of so many princes, because he relied on his vast land, strong military force, and sufficient food. Behind him, Sun Ce and Lu Bu, two major backers. Yuan Shu was an orthodox Yuan family, born in the four generations of three dukes, with a noble status and extraordinary influence. Before he became emperor, he could be called a powerful figure.
When Yuan Shu was emperor, the situation in the Central Plains was very clear. At that time, Li Jue and Guo Si were both controlled by the old subordinates of Dong Zhuo . They were all dealing with Xiliang Ma Teng and could not be distracted. Cao Cao's career was just beginning, and Yuan Shao was busy dealing with the north. Liu Bei and Lu Bu were both lonely people, Liu Biao and Liu Zhang were both lonely people and had no ambitions. It is precisely because of this that Yuan Shu was full of confidence in becoming an emperor.
