Yuan Shao's Weaknesses

After carefully considering all the various warlords, Wang Xuan's gaze finally settled on three people: Yuan Shu, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei.

There was no Yuan Shao!

The reason was simple. Yuan Shao's foundation was unstable. Most of his strength came from the prominent clans that had chosen to support him. Under such circumstances, he was like a castle built on the beach, easily smashed to pieces by a single huge wave.

In other words, he could become a god with the wind at his back, but once the wind turned against him, he would be utterly doomed.

There was nothing to be done about it. That was simply how things were when one's foundation was unstable. When everything was going smoothly, everyone would support you to the death. But once the situation turned unfavorable, those prominent clans would start having thoughts of self-preservation. That was only natural. They had supported you in the first place to gain greater benefits, and choosing to protect themselves was likewise meant to avoid greater losses. Who could blame them when your own strength was insufficient?

That was also why Yuan Shao had been unable to recover after the Battle of Guandu. After all, whether Yuan Shao conquered the realm or Old Cao did, it made little difference to those prominent clans. They certainly would not fight Old Cao to the bitter end.

This was extremely important to Wang Xuan, who had experience governing an entire country. Yuan Shao relied too heavily on borrowed momentum. He failed to understand that what was borrowed would always remain borrowed.

In Wang Xuan's view, borrowing too much momentum was even worse than having no power at all. Only a foundation built up bit by bit through one's own efforts was solid enough. Once one had gained power,