After the collapse of Eastern Han central government, regional powers fragmented before gradually reorganized, ushering in an era of rival warlords in which the dynasty survived in name only. This book focuses on the three decades from the late Eastern Han to the tripartite division of China during the Three Kingdoms. It examines the emergence, evolution, and reorganization of various warlord powers, aiming to reassess fundamental historical events and analyze the internal conflicts within major warlord coalitions as well as the entangled interests among them. Furthermore, from the perspective of institutional legacy, the book also explores how the centralized system inherited from the Qin and Han dynasties curbed the persistence of fragmented disunity and redirected the course of history toward partial unification.