Chapter 45 Chapter Seven Towards the South of the Great River

Yuan Shao is busy setting up a new emperor. In Yuan Shao's heart, the former young emperor Liu Bian, who was killed by Dong Zhuo, was the legal heir of Lingdi. Not only was the current emperor Liu Xie's enthronement procedure illegal, but there were doubts about his lineage as Lingdi.In Yuan Shao's letter to Yuan Shu, he declared that Liu Xie was not the son of Emperor Ling (the emperor was not Xiaolingzi). In this point, Yuan Shao is different.Others opposed Dong Zhuo but not the emperor, and Yuan Shao opposed both Dong Zhuo and the emperor.His original intention was to destroy Dong Zhuo and support Liu Bian to restore him, but Dong Zhuo struck faster and poisoned Liu Bian to death.

Yuan Shao was not reconciled, Liu Bian died, so he searched among other Liu clans, anyway, he refused to recognize the false emperor held by Dong Zhuo.Yuan Shao has been obsessed with this matter recently, and his ideas have been supported by Han Fu. Yuan Shao's insistence on this move can be interpreted as an exposure of his ambition.For now, eliminating Dong Zhuo is the top priority. Even if a new emperor is installed on his side, Dong Zhuo cannot be expected to abdicate Liu Xie. The result is that two emperors stand side by side, and the country will be divided. This is a serious problem, but Yuan Shao didn't think about it that much, he just wanted to set up another court to compete with Dong Zhuo.As the founder of this imperial court, he should have an indisputable status.The question is, who will be the emperor?Yuan Shao finally stopped his gaze on Liu Yu, the shepherd of Youzhou.

Liu Yu is the fifth grandson of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu's son Liu Qiang, King Gong of the East China Sea.Last year, in order to win over Liu Yu, Dong Zhuo borrowed the name of a great Sima, sent someone to Youzhou to give it to Liu Yu, and at the same time he was granted the title of Marquis of Xiangben.Prior to this, the high positions of the three princes and above in this dynasty were all appointed and held positions in the court, and the three princes were concurrently held by foreign officials. Liu Yu set a precedent. When the plan was determined, Yuan Shao and Han Fu created public opinion. They secretly arranged for people to say that they found a seal with the words "Yu is the Son of Heaven" on it.Yuan Shao also claimed that before Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu came to the throne, he served as the Grand Sima leader of the Hebei military administration, and Liu Yu served as the Grand Sima leader of Youzhou Mu. It was God's will.

Yuan Shao also wrote to the leaders of the various coalition forces to state his ideas and seek support.For Yuan Shao's suggestion, most people thought it was unnecessary, but it was inconvenient to publicly oppose it, so they did not reply for a long time. The fastest and clearest reply was Yuan Shu, who objected.Yuan Shu is more addicted to being an emperor than Brother Nai, but now the conditions are immature and he will not let it out, how can he allow others to jump in line?Yuan Shao wrote to Yuan Shu again, saying that our whole family was killed by Dong Zhuo, how could we submit to him?Yuan Shu wrote back and said: "The killing of the whole family was Dong Zhuo's idea. What has it to do with the emperor? I am devoted to destroying Dong Zhuo. I don't know anything else."

Yuan Shao still did not give up, and sent Zhang Qi, the former prefect of Lelang County (now the northern part of the Korean Peninsula), to Youzhou with a letter of support, and presented Liu Yu with the title of emperor.Unexpectedly, Liu Yu didn't appreciate it at all, he reprimanded: "The world is falling apart, the emperor is in trouble, we are deeply gracious, and we don't want to take shame, but do rebellious things instead. How can we be emotional?" Yuan Shao was immediately disheartened when he got the reward.Han Fu was unwilling, so he sent someone to beg Liu Yu to "record the affairs of the minister", that is, to preside over the daily work of the court, so that he could appoint officials on behalf of the emperor, but Liu Yu still refused.

Liu Yu also uttered harsh words, if he was forced again, he would defect to the Southern Huns.Han Fu had no choice but to stop mentioning it. The latter act was done by Han Fu alone, and Yuan Shao did not participate.Han Fu's move seems to be for the sake of the country, to end the chaos where anyone can pretend to be an official, but in fact the target is alluding to Yuan Shao.It was Yuan Shao who exercised the most power of performances. He named himself General Chariot and Cavalry, and then named anyone he wanted, as if he had become the second emperor. If Liu Yu really accepted the title of emperor, Dong Zhuo would still be quite nervous.Dong Zhuo's strategy is not to fight to the death with the Kwantung Allied Forces, but to let them fight among themselves.If the group of dragons has a leader, the plan of internal fighting will not be easy to implement.So Dong Zhuo was very grateful to Liu Yu. After Yuan Wei was killed, Dong Zhuo gave Liu Yu the title of Taifu, but the road was blocked and he could not send someone to announce the appointment.

This time, the farce of supporting the new emperor came to nothing.Cao Cao came back from recruiting soldiers from the south after all the hardships, just in time for this drama.Last time Cao Cao did not agree with Wang Fen and others to establish Hefei Marquis separately, and he will not support it this time.But he understood his current identity and situation, when Yuan Shao asked for his opinion, he just smiled. There are two records in the "Book of Wei" written by Wang Shen, a pro-Cao faction historian.One is Cao Cao's reply to Yuan Shao's words. He said: "Dong Zhuo's crime was rampant all over the world. We unite the masses and raise righteous soldiers. The world will not respond. This is because of righteousness. Now the young master is weak and controlled by traitors. But The country has not yet reached the point of subjugation. Once the changes are made, who will stabilize the world (which one should be safe)? You should face north, and I will face west alone (the kings face north, and I face west)!"

The other is that Yuan Shao obtained a jade seal, which may be the one of Wang Dingxian, and he waved it in front of Cao Cao, looking very proud.Cao Cao laughed and said, "I don't believe you." Yuan Shao sent someone to persuade Cao Cao again, and said to Cao Cao, "Now Mr. Yuan is powerful and his army is strong, and his second son has grown up. Who can surpass all the heroes in the world?" Cao Cao still shouldn't From then on, he became more disgusted with Yuan Shao and secretly planned to kill him. These two records are all flattery and should not be fully believed.Although "the kings face the north, I face the west" is loud and has become another one of Cao Cao's famous sayings, but it was really impossible for him to say these words at that time.In fact, Cao Cao does not have much right to speak now, and it may be more true to say that he "laughs".Fortunately, this farce ended without a problem, and there was no need to really quarrel with Yuan Shao on this big issue of right and wrong.The current situation is that his strength is too weak, and he still has to rely on Yuan Shao's support.

Supporting the establishment is a major event. Cao Cao has faced this issue many times in his life, and his attitude has attracted the attention of the present and future generations. Historians who are pro-Cao faction must give an unambiguous explanation. At this time, Zhou Ang, who came to Huai County together, left Cao Cao and directly obeyed Yuan Shao's dispatch, which meant that the few remaining Danyang soldiers no longer obeyed Cao Cao's command.Yuan Shao gave Zhou Ang a new appointment: governor of Yuzhou.If you still remember, this is already the third governor of Yuzhou: Kong appointed by the imperial court, Sun Jian appointed by Yuan Shu, and Zhou Ang appointed by Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao's move was really a bit malicious.Although the Zhou brothers were not his direct descendants, they were also powerful factions in the south, and they sent him to Yuzhou just to cause trouble.This is the prelude to the battle between the two Yuans. In the next seven or eight years, the Central Plains region will fall into a chaotic war, and the two main groups are the two groups that are fighting. From then until July of the following year, Cao Cao stayed with Yuan Shao in Hanoi County on the north bank of the Yellow River.This period of time was a period of depression for him, and he suffered repeated setbacks when he raised his first volunteer soldiers. All he can do now is to wait for the situation to change and look for new opportunities.