Mythical Three Kingdoms

In the spring of 194, Yuan Shu held a funeral for Yuan Yao. Although Yuan Yao had said not to make a big fuss over his funeral rites, Yuan Shu still solemnly buried him with the ceremony due to the Nine Ministers. Had Yuan Yao not requested otherwise, Yuan Shu would have certainly buried him with the rites due to a Feudal Lord.

Speaking of which, although the ceremony of the Nine Ministers still exceeded what was customary, the world was in great chaos at the time and no one was there to enforce the rules. Moreover, because Yuan Shu had opened his granaries to feed his people and promised to do so annually, after learning of this, the people of Yuzhou, Yangzhou, and Jingzhou all spontaneously offered incense to Yuan Yao—their gesture akin to feeling compelled to reciprocate kindness.

Organizing a funeral for Yuan Yao was not supposed to be a significant event, but the problem now was that Yuan Shu was left without a son after Yuan Yao’s death. No matter how it was put, Yuan Shu was still one of the top three Feudal Lords, and behind him stood the Yuan Clan Family. With the extinction of Yuan Shu’s line, the Yuan Family had to figure out a way to deal with this matter.

To the ancients, the extinction of a family line was absolutely intolerable. Usually, in such situations, a brother of the same generation as Yuan Shu, one with many sons, would immediately adopt one of his own sons into Yuan Shu’s family to ensure the continuity of the family line.

After all, to the ancients, as long as you worshipped my ancestors and acknowledged yourself as my descendants, no matter what you were before, you are now my offspring. Adopted sons enjoyed the same privileges as legitimate sons, with the only difference being that adopted sons had no right to inheritance.

Of course, this refers to situations where the legitimate son is alive. In cases where one needed to adopt a son from another to continue the family line, it goes without saying that there would be no legitimate son. Thus, the adopted son would inherit everything from his adoptive father, including power, responsibilities, and status.

This is also why Yuan Shao, as the son of Yuan Feng, despite being born of a concubine, had the same status as Yuan Shu. It was because Yuan Feng had adopted him out to Yuan Cheng, allowing him to inherit the position of legitimate son of Yuan Cheng’s line. Of course, from that point on, he had to address Yuan Feng as his uncle, Yuan Cheng as his father, and Yuan Shu as his cousin.

Similarly, when Yuan Shu spoke of adopting Sunx Ce as his adopted son, his original intention was for Sunx Ce to inherit his own family line so that after his death, someone would continue to offer sacrifices on his behalf on the proper occasions, preventing his line from becoming forgotten spirits.

”Seeking my cousin?” Yuan Shu swept a cold glance at the Elder of the Yuan Family, ”Since it’s all about adopting a son, why should I adopt someone whom I find to be detestable? My matters, do not require your meddling!”

”Our Yuan Clan is not without descendants. Initially, the line of Wen Kai prospered precisely because of adopting Benchu. Now, faced with such a situation, it stands to reason that Wen Kai’s line should adopt a son to support the line of Zhou Yang,” replied the Elder of the Yuan Family with a helpless expression.

In truth, the Elder of the Yuan Family, aside from resenting Yuan Shu’s explicit wish to treat Sunx Ce with the full honors due to a legitimate son, also harbored his own ulterior motives.

Putting other matters aside, the Yuan Family was on the rise, living much more freely compared to the Yang Family which dared not make any rash moves while coiled up in Chang’an.

Both the line of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were considered by the Yuan Family to be powerful Feudal Lords capable of contending for the world.

It was precisely because of this formidable strength that the forces supporting Yuan Shao and those supporting Yuan Shu were able to sit down and have a proper talk. Both parties were powerful enough, and the trivial matters that someone like Cao Cao might still be vying for were considered insignificant by these two forces.

Their sights had moved beyond individual cities or territories and had begun to encompass the entire realm. They had considered unifying, but alas, how should I put it? Both Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were too powerful. Just like during the Tripartition of Jin in the Warring States Period, when Hann, Zhao, and Wei were all severely weakened, wouldn’t they wish to return to the former strength of a unified Jin?

Wanting to unite is one thing, but the problem is that it can’t be done. The first issue is who would take the lead after a merger, considering that the Yuan Family had already split into two branches because of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao. Although there were rational elders in the Yuan Clan, there were still many who were banking on either Yuan Shu or Yuan Shao.

As a result, when the North and South Yuan Family branches first broached the subject, they immediately parted on bad terms. However, the death of Yuan Yao gave the rational elders of the Yuan Family a glimpse of hope once again.

After the death of Yuan Yao, the North and South branches of the Yuan Family quickly exchanged their views. There was basically no room for discussion regarding the merger. Ultimately, a cornered Yuan Shao threw his trump card—his strategy group!

With the addition of Xun Shen and Xu You, the two branches of the Yuan Family went from outright clashes to sitting down and earnestly pondering.

Finally, under the mediation of Xun Shen and Xu You, both parties reached a consensus to first clear the field of the feudal lords and turn the internal strife among the lords within the Han Dynasty into an internal collision within the Yuan Family. As for who would take the lead, that would be discussed later.

Although Yuan Shao was at odds with Yuan Shu, to be honest, he wasn’t as foolish as Yuan Shu and wouldn’t let Yuan Shu’s lineage die out. After learning of Yuan Yao’s death, he hesitated for a moment and then planned to adopt his favorite son, Yuan Shang, to Yuan Shu.

In fact, it was Ju Shou who suggested adopting Yuan Shang to Yuan Shu, because he had already seen a hint of Yuan Shao’s excessive fondness for Yuan Shang. With Yuan Tan not making any mistakes at the moment, Ju Shou was genuinely worried about the chaos that would ensue if the elder was discarded in favor of the younger.

In response to Ju Shou’s suggestion, Yuan Shao agreed almost without much thought. He indeed favored his youngest son, Yuan Shang, but the wise Yuan Shao was not yet ready to depose the legitimate son in favor of the younger. However, after Ju Shou’s proposal, he couldn’t help but have other ideas. The Yuan Family needed the strongest individual as its head!

To be honest, Yuan Shao was purely well-intentioned and had not thought of using this method to take advantage of Yuan Shu’s territory. For him, such a scheme was even more disgraceful than hosting a Hongmen Banquet.

Precisely because of this, Yuan Shao’s instructions to Yuan Shang were simple: after you are adopted, all you need to consider is how to benefit Yuan Shu’s lineage, even if it greatly harms Yuan Shao himself—it doesn’t matter.

The current situation made it clear that Yuan Shu couldn’t care less about Yuan Shao. As for the elder of the Yuan Clan’s proposal, Yuan Shu, now in a paranoid state, just brushed it off and continued on his way.

Sometimes people are just like that. Once they fall into paranoia, the more you tell them to do something, the less they want to do it. Yuan Shu was in such a state now. He no longer harbored hopes of adopting Sun Ce as his son, but he was absolutely confident Sun Ce would inherit his lineage.

Just as the elder of the Yuan Family was preparing to continue his futile attempt to educate Yuan Shu, a messenger burst into the grand hall.

”Report, General, Liu Biao’s troops have taken Jingbei and captured South Commandery; their forces are pressuring Dangyang!” the messenger shouted loudly.

”Liu Biao, you’re courting death! As one of the Eight Steeds, you should know better than to attack during mourning!” Yuan Shu roared furiously. Find more to read at NovelFire.Côm

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets or monthly tickets at Qidian ). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)