Yuan Shao faction 袁紹

Yuan Shao's family had held positions among the Three Excellencies for four generations from his great-great-grandfather Yuan An on, so that its power could sway the realm, and since Yuan Shao humbled himself to treat scholars well, many of them followed him. When Emperor Ling died, Yuan Shao plotted with the General-in-Chief He Jin to execute the eunuchs, and when He Jin was killed he slaughtered more than two thousand eunuchs. When Dong Zhuo raised the matter of deposing the emperor, Yuan Shao fled to Ji Province, but Dong Zhuo, heeding Zhou Bi, Wu Qiong and others, who said that the Yuan clan's protégés and former subordinates were spread throughout the realm, made him Administrator of Bohai. Records, Wei 6 §33–38

In the 1st month of the 1st year of Chuping (190), Yuan Shu, Han Fu, Zhang Miao and others raised troops all at once together with Yuan Shao, Administrator of Bohai, and chose Yuan Shao as leader of the alliance; Yuan Shao styled himself General of Chariots and Cavalry and garrisoned Henei. Together with Han Fu he wanted to make Liu Yu, Governor of You Province, emperor, but Liu Yu never accepted. When Dong Zhuo killed all of Yuan Shao's clan, including the Grand Tutor Yuan Wei, many heroes followed Yuan Shao, and of the provinces and commanderies that rose up, there was none that did not invoke his name. Records, Wei 1 §7–8 · 15–16Records, Wei 6 §39 · 47

When Gongsun Zan defeated Han Fu and entered Ji Province, Yuan Shao turned his troops back to Yanjin and sent Gao Gan, Xun Chen and others to persuade Han Fu. Though his Chief Clerk Geng Wu and others tried to stop him, Han Fu, saying that he was a former subordinate of the Yuan clan, yielded the province, and Yuan Shao took the post of Governor of Ji Province. The Annals of Emperor Wu record this event of the 7th month, autumn of the 2nd year of Chuping (191), as "Yuan Shao intimidated Han Fu and took Ji Province." When his Attendant Officer Ju Shou urged him to sweep across the lands north of the Yellow River, unite the territory of four provinces and receive the Son of Heaven to command the realm, Yuan Shao rejoiced, saying, "This is exactly what is in my heart." Records, Wei 6 §39–43 · 45–46Records, Wei 1 §18

When Yuan Shao had Zhou Ang seize Yangcheng, where Sun Jian, sent by Yuan Shu, was stationed, Gongsun Yue, sent by Yuan Shu, attacked Zhou Ang and was killed by an arrow. Gongsun Zan, holding that his younger brother's death stemmed from Yuan Shao, sent out his army, and his cousin Gongsun Fan, to whom Yuan Shao had given the seal and ribbon of Administrator of Bohai to win him over, also helped Gongsun Zan with the troops of Bohai. Yuan Shao encamped at Guangchuan and fought Gongsun Zan, who had advanced to Jie Bridge, and his vanguard Qu Yi captured Yan Gang, and Gongsun Zan fled to Bohai. When Gongsun Zan stationed Liu Bei, Shan Jing and Tao Qian at Gaotang, Pingyuan and Fagan to press Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao defeated them all together with Cao Cao. Records, Wei 8 §12–13Records, Wei 1 §24

Yuan Shao defeated Zhang Yan at Changshan together with Lü Bu, but he grew wary of Lü Bu when Lü Bu demanded more troops and his officers and men plundered, and when Lü Bu said he would leave, Yuan Shao, fearing he would come back to do harm, tried to kill him by night but failed to catch him. When Zang Hong, whom he had entrusted with Qing Province and then transferred to be Administrator of Dong Commandery, broke with him after not being permitted to go to the rescue of Zhang Chao, Yuan Shao besieged him for over a year, took the city and killed him. Guo Tu proposed receiving the Son of Heaven and making Ye the capital, but Yuan Shao did not follow him, and he regretted it when Cao Cao had the Son of Heaven establish the capital at Xu. In the 1st year of Jian'an (196) Yuan Shao, on becoming Grand Commandant, was ashamed to rank below Cao Cao, and Cao Cao yielded the post of General-in-Chief to him. Records, Wei 7 §7–8 · 40–42 · 57–58Records, Wei 6 §48Records, Wei 1 §36 · 40

In the 4th year of Jian'an (199) Yuan Shao besieged Yijing with all his forces. His scouts got hold of a letter that Gongsun Zan, who had asked the Heishan bandits for help, sent to his son proposing to light a fire when the relief army came and attack from inside and outside together, and Yuan Shao lit the fire on the appointed day and crushed Gongsun Zan with an ambush when he came out. As Yuan Shao closed in, toppling the towers with tunnels, Gongsun Zan killed all his wives and children and then himself. After absorbing his followers, Yuan Shao entrusted Qing Province to his eldest son Yuan Tan, You Province to his second son Yuan Xi and Bing Province to his nephew Gao Gan, and Ju Shou remonstrated that this would surely be the beginning of disaster. Records, Wei 8 §18–20Records, Wei 6 §49

His host numbered several hundred thousand. Yuan Shao had Shen Pei and Feng Ji take overall charge of the army, made Tian Feng, Xun Chen and Xu You his strategists and Yan Liang and Wen Chou his generals, and planned to attack Xu with a hundred thousand elite troops and ten thousand cavalry. In the 5th year of Jian'an (200), when Cao Cao went east to attack Liu Bei, Yuan Shao, pleading his son's illness, would not heed Tian Feng's advice to strike Cao Cao from behind. In the 2nd month Yuan Shao sent Guo Tu, Chunyu Qiong and Yan Liang to attack Liu Yan at Baima and himself advanced to Liyang, but in the 4th month Cao Cao, coming to the rescue, beheaded Yan Liang, and the cavalry commander Wen Chou, who pursued as far as south of Yanjin, was also beheaded. The Annals of Emperor Wu record that Yuan Shao's army was thereupon thrown into great alarm. Records, Wei 6 §49–50Records, Wei 1 §60–63

In the 8th month Yuan Shao advanced little by little with his camps linked together and drew near Guandu. He built earthen mounds and towers and shot arrows into Cao Cao's camp, but his towers were smashed by stone-throwing carts, his tunnels were blocked by long trenches, and his grain wagons were raided and burned. In the 10th month of winter, as Chunyu Qiong and others escorted grain wagons with more than ten thousand men, Xu You, a man greedy for wealth whose wants had not been satisfied, fled to Cao Cao and urged him to strike them. When Cao Cao personally led five thousand men and beheaded Chunyu Qiong and all the others at Wuchao, Zhang He and Gao Lan, who had gone to attack Cao Hong, surrendered, and Yuan Shao's host collapsed. Yuan Shao and Yuan Tan abandoned their army and fled across the Yellow River, and the rest of the host, having surrendered falsely, were all buried alive in pits. Records, Wei 1 §64 · 68–70Records, Wei 6 §52–54

After the battle of Guandu, many in the commanderies of Ji Province surrendered with their towns. On his return Yuan Shao killed Tian Feng, who had been imprisoned for advising him to hold out for a long time when he advanced south. In the 4th month, summer of the 6th year of Jian'an (201), Yuan Shao's army at Cangting was broken by Cao Cao, but Yuan Shao went back, gathered his scattered troops again and attacked and pacified the rebellious commanderies and counties. Yet after his army's defeat he fell ill, and in the 5th month, summer of the 7th year of Jian'an (202), he died vomiting blood. Records, Wei 1 §71 · 73 · 76Records, Wei 6 §55–58

Yuan Shao wanted to make his youngest son Yuan Shang his successor but did not make it known. Shen Pei and Feng Ji sided with Yuan Shang and Xin Ping and Guo Tu with Yuan Tan, contending for power; people wanted to set up Yuan Tan as the eldest, but Shen Pei and the others, using Yuan Shao's long-held wish as a pretext, set up Yuan Shang. Yuan Tan styled himself General of Chariots and Cavalry and garrisoned Liyang, and a rift opened between the brothers. Cao Cao pacified Ye in the 8th month of the 9th year of Jian'an (204) and wept as he sacrificed at Yuan Shao's tomb. Yuan Tan was beheaded at Nanpi in the 1st month of the 10th year of Jian'an (205), and Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang fled to the Wuhuan and were beheaded by Gongsun Kang of Liaodong in the 12th year of Jian'an (207). Records, Wei 6 §60 · 67–68 · 70Records, Wei 1 §76 · 81 · 84

In his assessment for Volume 6, Chen Shou said that Yuan Shao and Liu Biao both made names for themselves in their time with their dignified bearing and capacity, and that Yuan Shao soared like a hawk in Hebei, but that both were outwardly generous and inwardly jealous, fond of scheming but unable to decide, unable to use the talent they had or to accept good advice when they heard it. He wrote that their setting aside the rightful heir and raising a younger son, so that their successors were overthrown and their states toppled, was no misfortune, and that Yuan Shao's killing of Tian Feng was far worse than Xiang Yu's rejection of Fan Zeng's counsel. The assessment in the Annals of Emperor Wu also wrote that Yuan Shao glared like a tiger over four provinces and none could match his strength. Records, Wei 6 §96–97Records, Wei 1 §173