Chapter 41 Chapter Seven Going North to the Taihang Mountains

In May of the seventh year of Jian'an (202), Yuan Shao, a man of the generation, died of illness. He left unfinished business, deep regret, and a mess. It's not that the family business he left behind is not big enough and not strong enough.On the contrary, despite the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Guandu, the Yuan Group he created still maintained a strong strength, but he failed to resolve the disputes within the group, especially the issue of successors, until his death. The death of the group, the group began a serious internal strife. The surname of Yuan Shao's first wife is unknown, and the surname of his second wife is Liu. She is a powerful woman who can be Yuan Shao's home in many ways.Among Yuan Shao's three sons, Liu liked the youngest son Yuan Shang and often spoke well of him in front of Yuan Shao (known as Yu Shao), but held prejudice against the elder Yuan Tan.Under the influence of the Liu family, Yuan Shao also gradually leaned towards Yuan Shang.

If the family is in harmony, everything will prosper, but if the family is not in harmony, outsiders will be bullied.Yuan Shao did not clarify the issue of heirs for a long time, and on the eve of the Guandu battle, he appointed three sons and nephew Gao Gan as the governors of the four states, which was tantamount to announcing to the world that there were differences within their families. Responsible people like Jushou and Tian Feng would remonstrate with Yuan Shao bitterly after seeing this, while speculators like Fengji, Shenpei, Xin Ping, and Guo Tu saw an opportunity.Therefore, Fengji and Shenpei were attached to Yuan Shang, and Xin Ping and Guo Tu were attached to Yuan Tan, forming two major factions.

According to "The Story of Heroes", Fengji and Shenpi were originally at odds, but their relationship changed dramatically after the Battle of Guandu.Yuan Shao's defeat at Guandu should bear a heavy responsibility. Later, someone said bad things about the judge to Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao asked Yu Fengji. A great opportunity to hit the ground running. Yuan Shao then asked Fengji the reason, and Fengji said grandly: "In the past, our conflicts were personal grievances, but now they are national affairs." In fact, in their eyes, personal grievances have always been more important than national affairs. This was the case in the past, and it is still the case now.The reason why Feng Ji protects the evaluation is because Guo Tu and Xin Ping have united together, and he has no other candidates to contact, so he can only unite in the evaluation.For a common goal, this pair of opponents who were once thorns in the eyes of each other came together.

Yuan Shao probably didn't expect him to die so early, and he didn't give everyone a clear political explanation until the moment he closed his eyes.After Yuan Shao's death, most people believed that Yuan Tan was the boss and should be elected as his successor.But at this time Yuan Tan was out of town, and with the help of Liu, Feng Ji, Shen Pei and others seized the opportunity to forge Yuan Shao's will and preemptively let Yuan Shang take over. According to "Dian Lun", Yuan Shao's second wife Liu was jealous by nature and was cruel. She killed all five of Yuan Shao's favorite concubines before Yuan Shao's death.Liu was very superstitious. She was afraid that these people would see what Yuan Shao had told her in the underworld, so she shaved off their hair, blackened their faces with ink (kuntoumomian), and disfigured them all.Her beloved youngest son, Yuan Shang, was quite filial, helping his mother kill all their family members.

History books have a better evaluation of Yuan Tan than Yuan Shang, thinking that Yuan Tan is quite kind and intelligent, while Yuan Shang is just handsome.Yuan Tan served as the governor of Qingzhou before. Although he can't say that he has made any special achievements, he is basically competent and has honed his talents in practice. When Yuan Shao vomited blood and died, Yuan Tan was estimated to be in Qingzhou. When he heard the news and rushed to Ye County, Yuan Shang had already announced his succession, and the general situation was over, so Yuan Tan followed Xin Ping, Guo Tu and others to move down to the strategy of moving to the edge of the Yellow River. Liyang, an important place, claims to be the general of chariots and cavalry.

At the beginning, the Yuan brothers haven't completely turned their backs.According to the "Three Kingdoms Yuan Shao Biography", Fengji and Shenpei supported Yuan Shang as the "replacing Shao", that is, succeeding Yuan Shao's position.Yuan Shao was a general before his death. Yuan Shang should inherit this position. Although this position should be appointed by the imperial court, it is impossible in the current situation. The more convenient way for Yuan Shang is to take the seal and ribbon awarded by the imperial court to his father. Just use it, since there is no name engraved on it anyway.Yuan Tan called himself General Cheqi, this is the deputy of the general, which shows that he still obeys Yuan Shang's leadership in name.

Li Yang is the front line of the confrontation with Cao Jun. Yuan Tan guards the gate for his brother Yuan Shang, but Yuan Shang refuses to support him (short of soldiers), and sends Feng Ji to monitor his actions.Yuan Tan asked for more troops, but Yuan Shang refused to agree with the instigator, and Yuan Tan couldn't bear it anymore, so he killed Feng Ji, and the two brothers officially turned their faces. After receiving the report, Cao Cao thought it was an opportunity, so he crossed the Yellow River in September of this year and attacked Yuan Tan in Liyang.Yuan Tan was in a hurry and asked Yuan Shang for help again.

There is a saying that goes, "Brothers fight against the wall and defend against their insults from outside." It says that although brothers quarrel at home, they can unite to deal with the enemy as soon as someone from outside comes to bully them.This sentence comes from, and it is most appropriate to use now.No matter how stupid Yuan Shang was, he knew what was the conflict between the enemy and ourselves and which was the internal conflict. In the face of Cao Jun's attack, he decided to personally lead his troops to support his elder brother. The reason why Yuan Shang came in person was not because he attached importance to the enemy's situation, but because he was afraid that sending others would not be able to suppress the eldest brother, so that Yuan Tan took the opportunity to snatch his people away (for fear that Tan would seize all of them).Yuan Shang asked the judge to guard Ye County, and led his troops to Liyang.

Facts have proved that even though Yuan Shao died, the army he left behind still had a strong combat effectiveness. From September of this year to February of the following year, Cao Cao personally commanded the siege of Liyang, but he failed to defeat it. Later, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang thought they couldn't hold on any longer, so they suddenly led their troops to escape from Liyang at night and returned to Ye County.Cao Cao led his troops in pursuit, and Yuan Shang finally found a chance to show his face. He ambushed Cao Jun on the road, and Cao Jun was defeated.After that, Cao Jun gave up the pursuit and retreated directly to the south bank of the Yellow River.

Cao Cao's move is puzzling, but it is wise. Perhaps Cao Cao also thought of the sentence in Li. For the Yuan brothers who may turn against each other at any time, strengthening the offensive can only make them more united. They'll get into infighting. And indeed it is. After Cao Jun retreated, Yuan Tan said to Yuan Shang: "Our armor is not good, so Cao Cao defeated us in front. Now that Cao Cao is retreating, the soldiers are all looking forward to going home. When they have not crossed the Yellow River, they will attack suddenly and let them go. Big defeat, don't miss this great opportunity!"

Yuan Tan volunteered for the front, requesting to replace the armor of the soldiers and send troops to support. Yuan Shang was hesitant about Yuan Tan's suggestion, neither increasing troops nor changing equipment for Yuan Tan.Yuan Tan was furious, Guo Tu and Xin Ping took the opportunity to say to Yuan Tan: "It was the judge who provoked the relationship between your father and son and brother, and it was all the slander of this kid (it was all caused by the judge)." Yuan Tan believed , So he led his troops to attack Yuan Shang, and the two sides fought outside Ye County.Yuan Tan lost this battle and retreated to Nanpi in Bohai County (now Nanpi, Hebei). The Yuan brothers shook hands with each other. Cao Cao was naturally happy when he saw it, but there was one person who was worried when he saw it. He was Liu Biao. "Wei's Spring and Autumn Annals" records that Liu Biao was very worried when he saw Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were at odds, so he sent letters to the two brothers to persuade them to make peace.In his letter to Yuan Tan, he wrote that although your younger brother did something wrong, but the matter has come to this point, the struggle is futile, and a man of righteousness should bear the humiliation.Although Mrs. Liu doesn't like you, it's not to the extent that Mr. Zheng Zhuang and Mrs. Jiang were in the Spring and Autumn Period. The relationship between you two brothers is not as sharp as that between Shun and Xiang. If you are entrusted to Youbi, you should reconcile even more. The allusions of Zheng Zhuanggong and Shun are all about how the family discarded the old feud and reconciled. Liu Biao actually checked a lot of information and put a lot of effort into persuading Yuan Tan. The letter Liu Biao wrote to Yuan Shang was the same, citing a lot of allusions, advising him to focus on his career, first cooperate with his elder brother to eliminate Cao Cao, and then talk about who is right and who is wrong.Liu Biao said, if the brothers can reconcile, both the Yuan family and the Han family will have hope, if not, the alliance will be over forever Never hopeless)! Liu Biao was so concerned about the Yuan brothers because he gradually saw the situation clearly. The demise of the Yuan Shao Group was not a good thing for him. Withered, wouldn't it be Cao Cao's next target to hit?Liu Biao's sense of crisis is getting heavier and heavier. But this gentleman has always been a person who only likes to move his mouth but not his hands. He has ideas but has no actions.When Yuan Cao confronted each other in Guandu, he either supported Yuan Shao, stabbed Cao Cao in the back unswervingly and firmly, helped Yuan Shao conquer the world, and became a founding hero like Dou Rong afterwards; or surrendered to Cao Cao like Zhang Xiu, Awarded by the court.These two paths are both a wise choice, but he hesitated to wait and see, just wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, without any action. Seeing the Yuan brothers' split now, Cao Cao was obviously benefited. He was more anxious, but only in his heart, and his actual actions were limited to the two letters citing scriptures, and he repeatedly missed the opportunity. Regarding opportunities, there is a saying that "the opportunity should not be lost, and the time will never come".When the opportunity before Liu Biao was wasted by himself, that is when he completely failed. Now, when Liu Biao wrote these two long letters full of affection and put a lot of effort into the hands of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang respectively, these two people didn't even bother to look at it, because they were so red-eyed that they just wanted to continue writing. . In terms of strength, Yuan Tan is at a disadvantage.After Yuan Shang was established as the heir, most of Yuan Shao's political heritage and army were given to Yuan Shang. Although Yuan Xi and Gao Gan had not clearly stated their support for Yuan Shang during their struggle, they all wanted to wait and see, let alone express their views. Support Yuan Tan. After Yuan Tan retreated to Nanpi, his situation became even more unfavorable.Yuan Shang personally led the army to attack. Yuan Tan was defeated again and retreated to Yingcheng. Yuan Shang besieged Yingcheng again. At this time, someone gave Yuan Tan an idea: just surrender to Cao Cao. Yuan Tan was taken aback, thinking he had heard it wrong, but after thinking about it again, he realized that he had nowhere else to go. Therefore, Yuan Tan made a decision and sent someone to ask Cao Cao for help.