Yuan Shao

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Yuan.

was no longer the eldest male child of the Yuan family.

Yuan Shao would go on to enjoy more privileges than
Yuan Shu, despite the latter being a blood-related mem[1][2]
Yuan Shao (died 28 June 202),
courtesy name
Benchu, was a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han ber of the clan.
Dynasty. He occupied the northern territories of China When Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu became involved in disduring the civil war that occurred towards the end of the putes later, Yuan Shu would use Yuan Shaos mother
Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms as an excuse to claim that he was not a true son of the
era. He was also an elder half-brother of Yuan Shu, a Yuan family. When compared to Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao
warlord who controlled the Huai River region, though the had a more serious appearance and respected men of taltwo were not on good terms with each other.
ent regardless of their background; as such, he was welOne of the most powerful warlords of his time, Yuan comed by many since his childhood, including Cao Cao
Shao spearheaded a coalition of warlords against Dong and Zhang Miao.
Zhuo, who held Emperor Xian hostage in the capital
Luoyang, but failed due to internal disunity. In 200, he
launched a campaign against his rival Cao Cao but was
defeated at the Battle of Guandu. He died of illness two
years later in Ye. His eventual failure despite his powerful family background and geographical advantages was
commonly blamed on his indecisiveness and inability to
heed the advice of his advisors.

2 Service under the Han Dynasty

When Yuan Shao was young, he participated in saving
some of the partisans from death or other terrible fates
during the second of the Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions. After he entered into government service, Yuan
Shao initially served as an aide to General-in-Chief He
Jin and was heavily trusted by him. After the death of
Emperor Ling in 189, He Jin and Yuan Shao plotted to
eliminate the eunuch faction, headed by the Ten Attendants, but Empress Dowager He was against their idea.
He Jin then summoned Dong Zhuo to lead troops into the
capital Luoyang to pressure the empress dowager. The
eunuchs became fearful and they forged an edict in the
empress dowagers name, summoning He Jin into the inner palace. Yuan cautioned He Jin, reminding him that
he should order an attack on the eunuchs instead of entering the palace. After He Jin refused to accept his advice thrice, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu led 200 elite troops
to wait outside. Inside the palace, He Jin was ambushed
and assassinated by the eunuchs, who tossed his severed
head over the wall. He Jins angered followers set re
to the palace and charged in, slaughtering every person
(except females) without a moustache or beard; to the
extreme that many young men without facial hair had to
show their genitals to avoid being mistaken for eunuchs
and killed.[3] Over 2,000 people were killed in the massacre, while the young Emperor Shao and Prince of Chenliu (future Emperor Xian) escaped during the chaos. The
resulting power vacuum provided Dong Zhuo, who found
and rescued the emperor and prince, with an opportunity
to seize control of the capital city when he arrived.

Family background

A local of Ruyang County, Yuan Shao was born in a family with many members who had served in prominent positions within the civil bureaucracy of the Han Dynasty
since the rst century AD. Descended from Yuan An,
who served during the reign of Emperor Zhang, Yuan
Shaos exact parentage was the source of some controversy, serving as the major cause of dispute between himself and his half-brother Yuan Shu. Yuan Shao was a son
of Yuan Feng ( ) and the eldest sibling, supposedly to
the ire of his agnate half-brother Yuan Shu. Both Yuan
Shao and Yuan Shu are recognized as great-grandsons of
Yuan An, as recorded in Wang Shen ( )'s Book of Wei
( ).

Yuan Shaos mother was originally a servant maid of

Yuan Feng, and since Yuan Feng lacked male heirs, his
birth elevated his mother to the status of concubine. Chen
Shou's Records of Three Kingdoms contend that Shao was
in fact an older cousin of Yuan Shu. This is attributed
to Yuan Fengs older brother also lacking male children,
reasoning that Shao was adopted by Fengs older brother.
The act of adopting Shao would have infuriated Yuan
Shu, because his own mother, a concubine of Yuan Feng, Dong then discussed with Yuan about his plan to depose
held a higher status than that of Yuan Shaos mother; how- Emperor Shao and replace him with the Prince of Chenever, by Yuan Fengs adopting of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu liu, but Yuan disagreed. Relations between the two de1

4 UNIFYING NORTHERN CHINA

teriorated and Yuan ed from Luoyang to Ji Province

(present day southern Hebei). At the time Yuan just got
out of the city gate, Dong thought about sending men
after him, but Zhou Bi, Wu Qiong and He Yong secretly helped Yuan by convincing Dong to let him go.
As suggested by the three men, Dong appointed Yuan as
Administrator of Bohai Commandery (near present-day
Cangzhou, Hebei) in a bid to appease the latter.[3]

their respective home bases.

However, Yuans army had been joined by volunteer

troops around the country, and Bohai Commandery
would be far from sucient to supply his army. Thus, his
strategist, Pang Ji suggested him to form a secret alliance
with the warlord Gongsun Zan and incite the latter to attack Han Fus Ji Province.[6] Facing an imminent attack
from Gongsun, Han was terried, and listened to Yuans
lobbyists, Gao Gan and Xun Chen, to give up the governorship to Yuan in order to drive the invader back. Yuan
3 Coalition against Dong Zhuo
then began to build a warlord state from the capital city
of Ji Province, Ye. In order to curtail Yuan Shus sphere
of inuence, Yuan Shao formed an alliance with Cao Cao
Main article: Campaign against Dong Zhuo
and Zhang Miao, and named his follower, Zhou Yu ( ;
not to be confused with the more famous Zhou Yu who
served Sun Jians sons) as Inspector of Yu Province, a title to which Sun Jian had already been entitled, and sent
3.1 Sun Jians advancement
him to attack Sun Jians territories in Yu province while
By early 190, however, Yuan became openly hostile. A the latter was on his way back from Luoyang. In response,
coalition of regional ocials and commanders from the Yuan Shu allied with Gongsun and Tao Qian, and ordered
eastern provinces, including Cao Cao, Yuan Shu, Han Sun Jian to ght his half-brother.
Fu, Zhang Miao and Bao Xin, formed up behind him Although Zhou was able to defeat the forces of Sun Jian in
in a campaign to oust Dong Zhuo. Yuan Shao declared the Battle of Yangcheng, he was defeated by Sun Jian in
himself General of Chariots and Cavalry (
) and the following battles. The rst battles between the brothcamped at Henei ( ), near a ford on the Yellow River ers ended in Yuan Shus favour: he had engaged and dejust north of Luoyang. Dong Zhuo ordered the execution feated Yuan Shaos forces in both Yangcheng and Jiuof all members of the Yuan clan in Luoyang, and sent jiang, restored the position in Yingchuan Commandery
out emissaries with imperial edicts ordering the regional under Sun, and eliminated Zhou as a threat once and for
ocials to disband. However, members of the coalition all although Jiujiang was not yet conquered. For Yuan
listened to Yuan Shao, and had all the emissaries exe- Shao, on the other hand, the situation was extremely difcuted instead (except Han Rong). Dong Zhuo then sent cult: besides the failure in the south, he was also under
Hu Zhen, L Bu, and Hua Xiong to deter the coalition threat from Gongsun Zan, who held Yuan Shao responvanguard led by Sun Jian. Despite initial success, Sun sible for the death of his younger brother Gongsun Yue
was able to capitalize on the internal conict between Hu in battle and formally declared war against him, rejecting
and L, and had them defeated at Yangren. After that all of Yuan Shaos protestations of goodwill.[7] This led to
loss, Dong Zhuo decided to move the capital to Chang'an, the clash between Yuan Shao and Gongsun in the Battle
where his home base of Liang Province was nearby. A of Jieqiao.
year later, Dong Zhuo burned Luoyang to the ground and
withdrew to the west with the mass of refugees. Although The Battle of Yangcheng, being the rst move in the
lacking a logistical base, Sun Jian and Cao Cao requested struggle between the two Yuans, marked the beginning of
to pursue Dongs retreating force, but Yuan and other a new stage in the confusion of wars which brought about
members largely disagreed with their opinion.[4][5] Sun the end of the Han Dynasty. This internecine struggle
was ordered to rendezvous with Yuan Shu, so Cao led conrmed the undoing of the alliance against Dong Zhuo
his own men to go on the pursuit alone, and was soundly as the warlords of the North China Plain started to battle
each other for the ultimate dominion of China.
defeated by Dongs subordinate, Xu Rong.

3.2

Dissolution

During this time, Yuan and Han Fu had intended to establish the legitimacy of the coalition by making Liu Yu,
governor of You Province (present day northern Hebei),
the emperor. However, believing that it would be faithless
to Emperor Xian for him to accept, Liu Yu declined the
oer. When the scene of the ruined capital coming into
their eyes, the disunited leaders of the coalition realized
the Han Dynasty was coming to an end, and started planning on strengthening their position, and soon returned to

4 Unifying northern China

In order to focus on the conicts with Gongsun Zan, Yuan
Shao entered into a general alliance with Liu Biao against
Yuan Shu. In the winter of that year, Yuan Shao defeated
the cavalry forces of Gongsun at the Battle of Jieqiao with
the use of massed crossbowmen. An imperial edict requiring Yuan and Gongsun to cease re was sent, and to
eradicate the Heishan bandits, Yuan returned to Ye with
his army. With the short-term help from L Bu, Yuan

3
Shao managed to defeat numerous units of the bandits,
yet heavy casualties were incurred on both sides.[6] In
any case, the threat the Heishan bandits had posted to
his western ank was drastically reduced. Despite warnings from his advisor Ju Shou that the move could sow
seeds for future trouble, Yuan Shao insisted on sending his rst-born Yuan Tan away to govern all of Qing
Province (present day eastern Shandong), even though the
Yuan forces controlled only the city of Pingyuan in the
province.
In subsequent years, Yuan Shao achieved considerable
success in consolidating his domain and his oldest son,
Yuan Tan, was exceptionally successful on his expansion
in Qing Province;[3] in 195, Ju Shou suggested that he
welcome Emperor Xian to his demesne so that he could
eectively be in control of the imperial government, but
the other strategists, Guo Tu and Chunyu Qiong, opposed
this move under the faulty logic that if Yuan Shao were to
do so, he would have to yield to Emperor Xian on key decisions. Yuan listened to Guo and Chunyu and passed
over the opportunity to welcome the Emperor, leaving
Cao Cao to seize control of the Emperor and the Imperial
court.
In 196, Yuan Shaos prominent position in northern
China was recognized by the Imperial court, which was
controlled by Cao Cao at the time, as the position of
General-in-Chief and the title of Marquis of Ye were
granted to him. However, Yuan refused these appointments. In 198, Yuan Shao advanced against Gongsun Zan
and encircled his remaining force at Yijing (present day
Xiongxian County, Hebei). By early 199 Gongsun Zan
had been defeated for good at the Battle of Yijing and
Yuan Shao held absolute power over the four provinces
north of the Yellow River. Then, after establishing alliance with the Wuhuan tribes on the northern frontier,
Yuan Shao turned his attention to Cao Cao, who had consolidated his own power south of the Yellow River.

Battle of Guandu

Main article: Battle of Guandu

Both sides made preparations for a decisive battle, which
would come to be known as the Battle of Guandu. Towards the end of 199 skirmishes were already being
fought at Liyang (northwest of present-day Xun County,
Henan), a major crossing point of the Yellow River. Cao
Cao prepared his defenses around Guandu (northeast of
present-day Zhongmu County, Henan), slightly south of
the river. When Liu Bei defected from Cao Cao in the
rst month of 200 and planted a foothold in Xu Province,
Cao left his northern front exposed to Yuan and turned
east to deal with Lius rebellion. Tian Feng urged Yuan
to attack Cao while he was away, but Yuan refused to
launch an all-out oensive, instead he sent small detach-

ments to harass his enemy, but was daunted by Yu Jin,

the defender of Yan Ford (see Battle of Dushi Ford).
Shortly after Cao Cao returned to Guandu, Yuan had
Chen Lin draft a document condemning Cao in what was
essentially a declaration of war, and marched his main
army toward the forward base of Liyang north of the
river. At the time, Yuans main army boasted of numbers over 100,000, along with hundreds of thousands of
unskilled militia units. Heavily outnumbering Cao and
holding large cavalry force, Yuans initial attacks almost
overwhelmed his enemys positions. It is recorded in
the Records of Three Kingdoms that Cao Cao on several occasions considered relinquishing his position, and
consulted his chief strategist, Xun Yu on that decision,
which Xun strongly opposed and further encouraged Cao
to hold on. Following an unexpected defection of one
of Yuan Shaos strategists and personal friends, Xu You,
Cao Cao received condential information on the whereabouts of Yuan Shaos food storage. A strike led by Cao
Cao and Yue Jin at Yuans supply depot in Wuchao in
late 200 burned down most of the grains available to Yuan
Shaos army, thus brought the northern army to a collapse.
Zhang He and Gao Lan immediately defected once they
got wind of what happened in Wuchao, and many generals followed suit. Yuan Shao was unable to stop the trend
and ed north across the Yellow River with only hundreds
of loyaltists.
Yuans rst major defeat was also a decisive one. Thereafter, he lost the advantage over Cao Cao and never regained it. In 201, his force was again defeated by Cao,
this time at the Battle of Cangting (in present-day Yanggu
County, Shandong), and many cities formerly controlled
by the Yuan family switched allegiance to Cao Cao.

6 Futile eort to turn the tide and

death
After the battle of Cangting, Cao Caos troops were exhausted and returned south for a rest. Meanwhile, Yuan
was able to reorganize his defeated armies to settle the
rebellions in his own domain, soon reestablishing order
and restored the status quo ante.[8] Yuan Shao had three
sons, and he favored his third son, Yuan Shang, due to his
good looks, and both Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were his
choice for succession.[3] However, Yuan was never able
to nalize his decision regarding who should inherit his
legacy before he died in the fth lunar month of 202, leaving his domain to be contested by his sons and Cao Cao.
Immediately after Yuan Shaos death, Shen Pei and Pang
Ji, two inuential advisors, supported Yuan Shang and
pushed for him to succeed Yuan Shao, despite opposition from Yuan Tan.[3] Yuan Shaos wife, Lady Liu, supported Yuan Shang, and Yuan Tan could not do anything
to change the outcome when he rushed back from Qing
Province. Then, Lady Liu, having the power now, killed

10

REFERENCES

Yuan Shaos other ve consorts out of jealousy and disgured them. True to Ju Shous previous warning, chaos
ensued within Yuans forces, and Cao Cao was able to
manipulate this internal turmoil, and by 207 had defeated
the remnants of Yuans forces.

Yuan Cheng (

Cao Cao paid his respects at Yuan Shaos tomb after

annexing the Yuans headquarters in Ye in 204. Cao wept
bitterly for his former friend in front of his followers and
gave Yuan Shaos family consolatory gifts and a government pension.[9]

Yuan Yin, younger cousin, served as Administrator of Danyang

), uncle

Yuan Yi, elder cousin, served as Prefect of

Chang'an, and Inspector of Yang Province
Yuan Xu (

), younger cousin

Yuan Manlai (
Yuan Yida (

), cousin
), cousin

Yuan Renda (

), cousin

Gao Gan, nephew

Family
Ancestors:

8 Modern references

Yuan An, great-great-grandfather, served as

Excellency over the Masses, and Excellency of Yuan Shao is featured as a playable character in Koei's
Works
Dynasty Warriors and Warriors Orochi video game series.
Yuan Jing ( ), great-grandfather, served as He also appears in all instalments of Koeis Romance of
the Three Kingdoms strategy game series. He also has a
Excellency of Works
minor role in Koeis Kessen II.
Yuan Tang ( ), grandfather, served as Excellency over the Masses, Excellency of Works,
and Grand Commandant
Father: Yuan Feng (
Works

), served as Excellency of

9 See also

List of people of the Three Kingdoms

Siblings:
Yuan Ji ( ), elder half-brother, served as
Minister Coachman
Yuan Shu, younger half-brother, warlord, declared himself Emperor of Zhong later
Spouses:
Principal wife, bore Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi
Lady Liu (

), bore Yuan Shang

Five other concubines, all killed by Lady Liu

Children:
Yuan Tan, eldest son, waged war on Yuan
Shang after his fathers death, killed by Cao
Cao
Yuan Xi, second son, moved to You Province
after Yuan Shaos death, later ed to Liaodong
with Yuan Shang, killed by Gongsun Kang
Yuan Shang, third son, Yuan Shaos successor, waged war on Yuan Tan after his fathers
death, ed to Liaodong with Yuan Xi, killed
by Gongsun Kang
Yuan Mai (

10 References
[1] de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). A biographical dictionary of
Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23220 AD). Brill. p.
1009. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.
[2] de Crespigny, Rafe. To Establish Peace: being the
Chronicle of the Later Han dynasty for the years 189 to
220 AD as recorded in Chapters 59 to 69 of the Zizhi
tongjian of Sima Guang. Volume 2. Faculty of Asian
Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra.
1996. ISBN 978-0-7315-2526-3. Note 4 of section
Jian'an 7.
[3] Chen Shou. Records of Three Kingdoms, Volume 6, Biographies of Dong, the two Yuans, and Liu.
[4] (
... ...
...
...
,
See Book of the Later Han, Volume 72.

[5] (
,
,
,...
)
See
Records of Three Kingdoms, Volume 1, Biography of Cao
Cao.
[6] Fan Ye. Book of the Later Han, Volume 74.

Relatives:
Yuan Wei ( ), uncle, served as Excellency
over the Masses, and Grand Tutor

[7] de Crespigny (1996), p. 123

[8] Leban, p. 375
[9] de Crespigny (1996), p. 328

5
Chen Shou (2002). Records of the Three Kingdoms,
Volume 6, Biography of Yuan Shao. Yue Lu Shu
She. ISBN 978-7-80665-198-8.
Fan, Ye. Book of the Later Han, Volume 74.
de Crespigny, Rafe (1990), Generals of the South:
The foundation and early history of the Three Kingdoms state of Wu, Canberra: Australian National
University. Internet Edition.

11

11
11.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

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