In the battle for Northern Control of the Central Plains, whether Liu Bei or Yuan Shao won, the overall situation was already determined. Later on, regardless of who it was, as long as they proceeded steadily, the Feudal Lords of the realm were basically like mantises trying to stop a cart.
To put it bluntly, if Liu Bei's side had brought all his forty thousand troops during the Yanzhou battle, retaining only basic forces sufficient to suppress Sun Ce, who was tidying up internally in the South, and Cao Cao, constructing in Yongliang in the West, Yuan Shao might not have lost, and he absolutely would not have died.
Exactly because both sides appeared evenly matched, and neither winning would benefit them, the Feudal Lords sat on the sidelines watching the Yanzhou battle with no intention of intervening or biasing the outcome.
