At the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms, there were two prominent families, Yuan Yuan's family and Hong Nong's Yang's family. Yuan Shao developed into a northern warlord, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, while the Yang family seemed deserted. Yang Xiu was only Cao Cao's master book, but he didn't become a vassal for two main reasons.

Who are the "four generations and three fairs" of Yang Xiu's ancestors?

Yang Xiu was born in "Hongnong Shi Yang", and his distant ancestor was Yang Zhen, a famous minister in the middle Eastern Han Dynasty. His famous saying is "Heaven knows the earth, you know me". He has been an honest and upright official all his life. He is known as "Confucius in Kansai" and the official is Qiu. Both the son of Yang Zhen and the son of Yang Ci have held high positions in Qiu He. Yang Jizi is an important official. He has "traveled all over the three fairs", and Si Tuleideng and Qiu have "traveled all over the three fairs".

The Yang family was also a leading family in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, but Yang Xiu, a descendant of the Yang family, was only the master book of Cao Cao. Why?

The reason why the Yang family failed to develop into a vassal warlord

First of all, the descendants of the Yang family strictly abide by the ancestral teachings and the minister's day. All generations have regarded loyalty to the country as their only life creed. In the troubled times at the end of the Han Dynasty, many descendants of noble families had ambitions to covet the throne when they saw the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the chaos in the world. However, the descendants of the Yang family always adhered to the principle of loyalty to the monarch and remained loyal to the Han family as always. Therefore, the descendants of the Yang family did not stand on their own feet like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

Secondly, although the four generations of the Yang family are in high positions, since Yang Zhen, generations have been clean and self-controlled, and they have not been greedy for unjust talents, failing to accumulate rich financial resources of other families. "The Art of War" says, "It takes a thousand days to draft". If you want to develop into a vassal, you must have enough money to recruit soldiers, gather grass and grain, and purchase and manufacture ordnance equipment. Yang's family lacked such financial resources, and naturally could not develop into a vassal.

Therefore, in view of the above reasons, Yang Jiacai failed to develop into a vassal like Yuan Shao's family.