Editing Romance of the Three Kingdoms (section)

===Conflict among the various warlords and nobles===
In the meantime, the Han Empire was already disintegrating into civil war as warlords fought for territories and power. [[Sun Jian]] found the [[Imperial Seal of China|Imperial Seal]] in the ruins of Luoyang and secretly kept it for himself. When Yuan Shao confronted him, he refused to hand over the Imperial Seal and left, but was attacked by [[Liu Biao]] (acting on Yuan Shao's instruction) on the way back to his base. At the same time, Yuan Shao waged war against [[Gongsun Zan]] to consolidate his power in northern China. Other warlords such as Cao Cao and [[Liu Bei]], who initially had no titles or land, were also gradually forming their own armies and taking control of territories. During those times of upheaval, Cao Cao saved Emperor Xian from Dong Zhuo's followers, established the new imperial capital in [[Xuchang|Xu]], and became the new head of the central government. He also defeated rival warlords such as [[Lü Bu]], [[Yuan Shu]] and [[Zhang Xiu (warlord)|Zhang Xiu]] in a series of wars and gained control over much of central China.

Meanwhile, Sun Jian was killed in an ambush by Liu Biao's forces. His eldest son, [[Sun Ce]], delivered the Imperial Seal as a tribute to the warlord [[Yuan Shu]], a rising [[pretender]] to the throne, in exchange for troops and horses. Sun Ce then secured himself a power base in the rich riverlands of [[Jiangnan|Jiangdong]] ([[Wu (region)|Wu]]), on which the state of [[Eastern Wu]] was founded later. Tragically, Sun Ce also died at the pinnacle of his career from illness under stress of his terrifying encounter with the ghost of [[Gan Ji|Yu Ji]], a venerable magician whom he had falsely accused of heresy and executed in jealousy. [[Sun Quan]], his younger brother and successor, proved to be a capable and charismatic ruler. With assistance from [[Zhou Yu]], [[Zhang Zhao (Eastern Wu)|Zhang Zhao]] and others, Sun Quan found hidden talents such as [[Lu Su]] to serve him, built up his military forces, and maintained stability in Jiangdong.