The physician Ji Ben, while tending to…

Yuan Shao amasses more than one hundred thousand troops in autumn 200 and marches southwards on Xuchang in the name of rescuing the emperor.

Cao gathers twenty thousand men in Guandu, a strategic point on the Yellow River.

The two armies come to a standstill as neither side is able to make much progress.

Cao's lack of men does not allow him to make significant attacks, and Yuan's pride forces him to meet Cao's force head-on.

Despite his overwhelming advantage in terms of manpower, Yuan is unable to make full use of his resources because of his indecisive leadership and Cao's position.

Besides the middle battleground of Guandu, two lines of battle are present.

The eastern line with Yuan Tan of Yuan Shao's army against Zang Ba of Cao's army is a one-sided battle in favor of Cao, as Yuan Tan's poor leadership is no match for Zang's local knowledge of the landscape and his hit-and-run tactics.

On the western front, Yuan Shao's nephew, Gao Gan, performs better against Cao's army and forces several reinforcements from Cao's main camp to maintain the western battle.

Liu Bei, a guest in Yuan Shao's army, suggests that he instigate rebellion in Cao's territories as many followers of Yuan are in Cao's lands.

The tactic is initially successful but Man Chong's diplomatic skills help to resolve the conflict almost immediately.

Man had been placed as an official there for this specific reason, as Cao had foreseen the possibility of insurrection prior to the battle.

Finally, a defector from Yuan Shao's army, Xu You, informs Cao of the location of Yuan's supply depot.

Cao breaks the stalemate by sending a special group of soldiers to burn all the supplies of Yuan's army, thus winning a decisive and seemingly impossible victory.

Liu Zhang, the youngest son of Liu Yan, had spent his early career at the Han court as an assistant to his two eldest brothers, Liu Fan and Liu Dan, serving at the court when it was controlled by the warlords Li Jue and Guo Si.

Liu Zhang had been sent by the court to admonish his father for brutal actions, but upon arriving his father had refused to let him go back to the court.

In 194, following the deaths of his elder brothers and then his father, he had succeeded to the governorship of Yi Province.

During his rule over the province, he shows ambition to expand his territory, but it is said that he was a good ruler and maintained peace in his realm.

In 200, Zhang Lu, who had previously recognized Liu Yan as his master, rebels against Liu Zhang.

Liu Zhang has Zhang Lu's mother, brothers, and other family members executed.

Cao Cao engages in the decisive Battle of Guandu with Yuan Shao along the shores of the Yellow River in the year 200, leaving the capital and his base city Xuchang poorly guarded.

Sun Ce is said to have then plotted to attack Xuchang under the banner of rescuing Emperor Xian, a figurehead held under Cao Cao's control.

Preparations are underway for the military excursion when Sun Ce runs into three former servants of Xu Gong during a solo hunting trip.

One of them manages to plant an arrow into Sun Ce's cheek before Sun Ce's men arrive and slay the assassins.

Many differing accounts of Sun Ce's death exist; one generally accepted scenario is that he died that same night.

Although he is survived by a posthumous son, Sun Shao (as well as at least two, possibly three, daughters, married to Gu Shao and later Zhu Ji, and Lu Xun respectively, Sun Ce passes his legacy to his younger brother Sun Quan.

When Sun Quan declares himself the first emperor of the state of Eastern Wu in 222, he bestows upon Sun Ce the posthumous title of Prince Huan of Changsha.

Sun Shao will bear one son, Sun Feng, who will be executed by Sun Hao for alleged treason due to his popularity.

Lydda, an ancient city on the Plain of Sharon southeast of Jaffa, is mentioned several times in the Bible as a well-known center of Jewish scholars and merchants from the fifth century BCE until the Roman conquest in CE 70.

In a New Testament account (Acts 9:32), the apostle Peter healed the paralytic at Lod.

Emperor Septimius Severus in CE 200, elevates the town to the status of a city, calling it Colonia Lucia Septimia Severa Diospolis.

The name Diospolis ("city of gods") may have been bestowed earlier, possibly by Hadrian.

Most of its inhabitants at this point are Christian.

Increased senatorial control of the magistracies and judicial functions technically gives the Senate's decrees the status of laws by 200.

The emperor, however, controls the admission of new members and has precedence in introducing business.

As the emperor also controls the army and bureaucracy, senators feel increasingly impotent as the Senate’s effective role becomes more and more restricted.

Yuan Shao falls ill and dies in June 202, leaving two sons.

As he had designated the youngest son, Yuan Shang, as his successor, rather than the eldest, Yuan Tan, as tradition dictates, the two brothers fight each other, as they fight Cao.

Cao uses the internal conflict within the Yuan clan to his advantage and defeats the Yuans easily to assume effective rule over all of northern China.

He sends armies further out and expands his control across the Great Wall into present-day Korea, and southward to the Han River.

The wide curriculum of Alexandria’s Christian Catechetical School, which includes Greek, philosophy and science, furthers the synthesis of the Christian Gospels and Greek philosophy.

The school’s head, Clement of Alexandria, whose teachings attempt to reconcile the truth in philosophy with the truth in Hebrew and Christian scriptures, in 202 flees the persecution of Christians in his native city for Cappadocia.

Anatolian-born theologian Irenaeus, in his youth a disciple of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, later serves as bishop of Lugdunum (Lyon) in Gaul.

A man of peace and of tradition, he devotes his major efforts in combating gnosticism, writing his great work, Adversus haereses (Against Heresies), to this end.

In opposition to the teachings of gnostics such as Basilides and Valentinus, Irenaeus develops the doctrine of recapitulation (anakephalaiosis) of all things in Jesus Christ.

A champion of the apostolic tradition, Irenaeus works to systematize the religious and theological traditions of the church.

As a participant in the Quartodeciman controversy over the date for the observance of Easter, Irenaeus argues for diversity of practice in the unity of faith.

Dying around 202, Irenaeus leaves several extant works (later Christians regard him as the father of Catholic theology).

Imperial relations with the young Christian Church have deteriorated under Severus, and in 202 or 203 an edict of persecution appears that forbids conversion to Christianity under the most severe penalties.

Severus launches a campaign in the province of Africa in late 202.

The legate of Legio III Augusta Quintus Anicius Faustus had been fighting against the Garamantes along the Limes Tripolitanus for five years, capturing several settlements from the enemy such as Cydamus, Gholaia, Garbia, and …