Alternative Sovereign Legitimacy Trap / 另立君主合法性陷阱

Alternative sovereign legitimacy trap / 另立君主合法性陷阱 is the dilemma Hanji 954 develops from the 191 CE anti-董卓 coalition. 汉献帝 is young, displaced to Chang’an, and controlled by Dong Zhuo, so some regional leaders want to install 刘虞 as a new emperor to escape Dong Zhuo’s use of the Han court.

The trap is that the proposed cure can destroy the coalition’s own public basis. 曹操 argues that the anti-Dong-Zhuo cause works because it is “师出有名”: the coalition can oppose Dong Zhuo while still claiming loyalty to the recognized Han ruler. If it replaces an emperor who has not visibly forfeited legitimacy, the campaign can be recoded as rebellion or usurpation.

The source then shows three actor positions inside the same trap. 袁绍 and 韩馥 treat a new sovereign as a practical exit from a captured command channel. 袁术 publicly rejects the plan in loyalist language while the host reads him as protecting his own imperial ambition. Liu Yu refuses both the throne and delegated imperial authority, keeping himself from becoming the coalition’s title instrument.

This concept sits beside 名器合法性, 道德化战争借口, and 合法性窗口抢占. Mingqi legitimacy explains why the old emperor’s name still matters. Moralized war pretext explains why “opposing Dong Zhuo” needs a public reason. Legitimacy window seizure later explains how a strong actor can operationalize the recognized emperor instead of replacing him.

Key Claims

• A captured ruler can create real command-channel danger while still retaining enough recognized legitimacy to block replacement.
• Installing an alternative sovereign may solve immediate control by the captor but can make the installers look rebellious.
• “师出有名” is not ornamental; it is the public reason that keeps coalition violence distinct from usurpation.
• A proposed sovereign candidate may refuse because the title would transfer other actors’ risk and ambition onto him.
• Different coalition members can read the same title problem through loyalty, ambition, safety, or operational convenience.
• The concept differs from 讨逆同盟压力: here the danger is creating a rival title before the formal usurpation has occurred, while anti-usurpation pressure describes the backlash after an unsupported imperial claim is made.

Connections

• Hanji 954, 反董卓联盟, 董卓, and 汉献帝 - source case and captured-court setting.
• 曹操 - actor who rejects replacement to preserve the coalition’s public reason.
• 袁绍, 韩馥, and 张岐 - actors who push the alternative-sovereign mission.
• 袁术 - actor whose public loyalist refusal is read beside private imperial ambition.
• 刘虞 and 刘和 - proposed sovereign and family-risk branch.
• 名器合法性, 道德化战争借口, 共同敌人联盟, and 利益结构式联盟脆弱性 - adjacent legitimacy and coalition mechanisms.