Leader of the Coalition | Yuan Shao Let's Talk Lore Part 2

Hello everyone, this is Serious Trivia and welcome back to another episode of our Yuan Shao Let's Talk Lore series. Last time, we talked about Yuan Shao's upbringing and ended the episode with Dong Zhuo seizing control of the imperial court. And Dong Zhuo's arrival would spell the end of Yuan Shao's time in the capital. First off, as Dong Zhuo's army marched into the capital, Yuan Shao was still covered in blood as in the aftermath of He Jin's assassination, Yuan Shao, with the help of Cao Cao, his brother-cousin Yuan Shu, and their uncle Yuan Wei, took control of the imperial palace as they shut its gates and started to massacre every single eunuch within the palace. In that night, over 2,000 men were killed within the imperial palace, including all of the remaining eunuchs, plus a few unlucky, beardless guards who could not prove they were not a eunuch in time. This was probably the first time Yuan Shao actually witnessed death on such a scale as unlike Cao Cao, he did not actually see any action during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. And perhaps due to this, when Dong Zhuo came marching into the capital, Yuan Shao declined a request from Bao Xin to attack Dong Zhuo on sight and rescue the emperor. Now, Bao Xin at this time was the lieutenant of the cavalry, and he had just returned from a recruitment mission in the Yan province with a fresh few thousand troops. Add in all of He Jin's old troops, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao's eight captain of the west palace troops, and the palace guards that are under the command of Yuan Shu, who is currently the general of the left, I believe they would have easily crushed Dong Zhuo's forces within the city streets, where the Xilang cavalries would have had a very difficult time to maneuver within the crowded pathways of the capital, especially if you consider the fact that there are other forces within the capital who shared similar views, such as Ding Yuan, who had another good 3,000 men under his command as well. But none of this happened, of course, as Yuan Shao declined this attack and instead went to court to have a face-to-face meeting with Dong Zhuo. In this meeting, Dong Zhuo declared his intentions to switch the child emperor, as he felt Liu Xie was a better choice than his older brother Liu Bian, and even went as far as saying that if Liu Xie also proves unworthy, then Dong Zhuo would also remove him as well. Sensing the hostility, Yuan Shao gripped his blade handle as he declared to Dong Zhuo that there are still many strong men left in this world as he marched out of the palace, nailed his official government seal onto the east gate of the city as he rode north for the Ji province, as he was now fearful of Dong Zhuo's retaliation. And that retaliation would come swiftly as a humiliated Dong Zhuo would issue an arrest warrant for Yuan Shao. But many of Dong Zhuo's advisors quickly advised against such a motion. Led by the likes of Zhou Bi and Wu Qiong, they warned Dong Zhuo that Yuan Shao and his Yuan clan had too much sway over the political network of the empire, as well as the general support of the gentry clans across the land. Any actions against them might spark widespread backlash, especially in this early turbulent period of Dong Zhuo's reign. Instead of trying to punish Yuan Shao, Dong Zhuo turned to appeasement as he awarded Yuan Shao with the position of Administrator of Bohai and upgraded his second Marquis title to a Marquis title by now naming him the Marquis of Kangxian. At the same time, to make sure Yuan Shao is not staging a rebellion in Bohai, Dong Zhuo also pressured Han Fu, who was the prefect of the Ji province, to keep an eye out for Yuan Shao. But by September of 189, a few months after Dong Zhuo consolidated his power within the capital, he made the wrong move to actually remove the emperor Liu Bian from the throne, as he had always had a preference for the younger brother Liu Xie. And there are a few reasons to this. First, when they first met, Liu Bian was too scared to talk while the younger Liu Xie was able to articulate the situation clearly to Dong Zhuo, which impressed him. Second, Liu Xie was nicknamed Lord Dong because he had been raised by his grandmother, Empress Dowager Dong, after his birth mother was killed by Empress He. So Dong Zhuo felt a connection there, even though he was not related to either. And finally, Liu Xie was much younger, which meant that he would be easier to control and to impress upon, and the very least, it would allow Dong Zhuo to remain regent for a lot longer. But this move was frowned upon by the gentry class everywhere, as it went against the Confucian principle of inheritance by the eldest born, and it is seen as a cornerstone to society at the time. So even before Yuan Shao would make any moves against this, the administrator of the Dong commandery, Tiao Mao, would actually forge an imperial edict, claiming it as a letter from the three Grand Excellencies, asking all the regional leaderships to rise up against Dong Zhuo in order to save the emperor and the court from his tyranny. Soon this letter became a rallying cry across the eastern half of the empire, as even Han Fu, who had been sent to the Ji province to prevent Yuan Shao from rebellion, is now faced with the question of whether he himself should join this rebellion or not. So he went to his own advisors, asking them if he should support the Dong clan or the Yuan clan, to which his advisor Liu Zhihui answered, The rallying cry is to save the country and not to support any clan. Ashamed, Han Fu realized that he had misspoken and quickly agreed as he wrote a letter to Yuan Shao, showing that he supported him in his endeavor to join the coalition against Dong Zhuo. And thus, the Guandong coalition was formed, as a loose alliance between the regional administrators and prefects of mainly the eastern parts of the empire, as they now stand against the self-appointed regent Dong Zhuo. In the north, where Yuan Shao now resides, this coalition mainly consisted of himself, Wang Kun, and Han Fu, with Wang Kun and Yuan Shao stationing themselves on the front lines in Henei, across the Yellow River from the capital city of while Han Fu stationed himself back in the city of Ye, to provide logistical support and supplies for their armies. In response to this uprising, Dong Zhuo promptly executed all members of the Yuan clan within the capital, which included mainly Yuan Wei's branch of the family, as Yuan Shao's uncle Yuan Wei was the Grand Excellency at this time, and Yuan Ji, Yuan Shao's younger brother, who was still serving as a court official at this time, also got executed. And this left Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu as the main surviving politically active members of this once mighty clan, and they became the natural choices to take up leadership within this newly formed coalition. So soon after, Yuan Shao was named as the leader of the coalition, much to the dismay of Yuan Shu. But this was merely a figurehead position, as we will soon see that everyone within this coalition had their own agendas. And for the next two years, this coalition would stagnate as a series of early defeats and Dong Zhuo's decision to retreat to Chang'an left the coalition without a sense of direction. Soon, infighting broke out between Qiao Mo and Liu Dai over territories, and the pressure from the ever-expanding Black Mountain Bandits broke apart the coalition. Politically in the north, Yuan Shao tried to make a push for appointing a new emperor in Liu Yu, in order to help create a divided rule situation with Dong Zhuo's court out west and their court out east. But he was unable to gain universal support, especially from his brother Yuan Shu. So Yuan Shao ignored him, as Yuan Shao and a few other northern administrators paid a visit to Liu Yu, pleading for him to ascend the throne. Liu Yu flat out refused, but Yuan Shao's group did not give up, as they made a second visit soon after, with a compromise to have Liu Yu officiate the imperial court instead of having him become emperor. Liu Yu also refused this, as he simply did not want to get dragged into this situation, since up until this point, Dong Zhuo is still technically the legitimate regent, while Yuan Shao's shattered coalition is casted as rebels. And as a member of royalty himself, there is no reason for Liu Yu to take side in this matter, as picking the side of the rebels, no matter how righteous their cause might be, might put him down in history as a treasonous of the imperial clan. So with this setback, the northern coalition members fell apart too. Han Fu, in particular, started to worry that Yuan Shao would want to encroach on his territory, since Yuan Shao technically only had Bohai up until this point, while Han Fu himself was sitting on the entirety of the Ji province, which was one of the most populous and wealthy provinces in all of China, while being the breadbasket of the entire north. So in order to protect himself and constrict Yuan Shao's growth, Han Fu, who was still in charge of logistics and food supplies, started to cut back on Yuan Shao's supplies in order to control how big Yuan Shao's armies can be. And this move clearly upset Yuan Shao, so he started to devise a plan with his advisors to take the entirety of the Ji province. At this point, Yuan Shao's advisor corps consisted mainly of two people. They were Pan Ji and Xu You, who had actually both left the capital alongside Yuan Shao when Dong Zhuo first took over. And during their initial discussions regarding how to take the Ji province, Yuan Shao showed doubts as he was worried that once open hostilities occur between him and Han Fu, the relationship can never go back, and if they don't win, they would have to abandon even Bohai and lose their base of operation. At this point, Pan Ji came up with a plan that would solve this problem. He suggested that instead of launching an attack against Han Fu directly, they could write a letter to entice Gongsun Zan from the neighboring You province to launch the attack instead. On one hand, they would tell Gongsun Zan that they would support from within the Ji province, and after defeating Han Fu, they would split the land evenly. On the other hand, they would turn to Han Fu directly and offer him support, telling him that if he's willing to step down, Yuan Shao and his men would help him defend the Ji province from Gongsun Zan in the north. And this plan worked to perfection, as in the early days of 191, Gongsun Zan would launch his attack on the unsuspecting Han Fu. On the front lines in the north, Han Fu's main general was a general named Qu Yi, who also wanted to take over the Ji province for himself, as he was not content serving under such a weak leader as Han Fu. So when Gongsun Zan's unit first started to raid the northern parts of the Ji province, Qu Yi didn't put up any resistance, as he instead claimed independence from Han Fu. This forced Han Fu to personally lead a force north in an attempt to fight off Qu Yi first before facing off against Gongsun Zan. Unfortunately for Han Fu, Qu Yi's clan had long lived out west in Wu Wei, where he was raised in a military family on the tactics of the Qiang forces. And even as he became an officer in the Ji province, Qu Yi would retain a unit of Qiang forces with him as his personal army. So Han Fu proved to be no match to Qu Yi and was soundly defeated, forcing Han Fu to retreat back to the city of Ye. Seizing upon this opportunity, Yuan Shao sent forth his advisors to both Qu Yi and Han Fu's camps. For Qu Yi's side, Yuan Shao played up how he also hated living under such a weak leader, such as Han Fu, and how if they combined their forces, they can take over the whole province, using Qu Yi's men and Yuan Shao's faith. Then back in the city of Ye, Yuan Shao sent Gao Gan and Xun Sheng in his place. Gao Gan was Yuan Shao's nephew, and Xun Sheng was a close friend of Han Fu, and as an added trivia point, he is also the brother of Xun Yu and a member of the respected Xun clan of Yinchuan. At this meeting, Xun Sheng did most of the talking, as he asked his close friend Han Fu if he thought he was more charismatic as a leader compared to Yuan Shao. Han Fu agreed that he was not. Then he asked if Han Fu thought he was a better military commander compared to Yuan Shao. Once again, Han Fu agreed that he was not. And finally he asked Han Fu if he thought he was better connected with the gentry clan compared to Yuan Shao, to which Han Fu once again agreed that he did not. Seeing that he agreed with so many shortcomings, Xun Sheng pushed and stated that wouldn't it be better in this case for both Han Fu himself and the people of the Qi province to allow Yuan Shao to take command of the situation in order to resist Gongsun Zan's assault from the north? Now at this point, there were still many who were loyal to Han Fu, as officials such as Geng Wu, Min Chun, and Li Li stepped in to argue against the abdication of Han Fu. Li Li made the point that Yuan Shao was nothing more than a babe that relied on the teats of the Qi province in terms of food to survive. If they just cut him off, Yuan Shao would not be a threat at all. Meanwhile, the Qi province still had hundreds of thousands of troops ready to face off against Gongsun Zan. But there is no reason for Han Fu to abandon ship right now despite their early setbacks. But at this point, Han Fu's mind was set as he explained to them how his own political career got started when the Yuan clan provided the recommendation letter for him. So he owed it to them to allow their clan's heir, Yuan Shao, to take over especially considering how talented he is compared to himself. So Han Fu provided his own son with the prefect seal to the Qi province and sent him to Yuan Shao as he abdicated control of the province to Yuan Shao. And with that, we're going to end our episode here as we'll continue next time to explore the fate of Han Fu after he surrendered the Qi province to Yuan Shao and continue with Yuan Shao's long war with Gongsun Zan, who is now going to feel cheated and betrayed as he had originally entered this war thinking that he was working alongside Yuan Shao to split the Qi province, only for Yuan Shao to swoop in to take the spoils of war without spilling a single drop of blood. So hopefully you all enjoyed this episode and I'll see you all next time. Bye!