Yuan Shang faction 袁尚

Yuan Shao loved his youngest son Yuan Shang, who was handsome, and meant to make him his heir, but did not make it known. Shen Pei and Feng Ji were close to Yuan Shang and Xin Ping and Guo Tu to Yuan Tan, and they contended for power, while the people wished to set up Yuan Tan, the eldest. Fearing that if Yuan Tan were set up they would be harmed by Xin Ping and the others, Shen Pei and the others put forward Yuan Shao's long-held wish and seated Yuan Shang in Yuan Shao's position, and Yuan Tan, who arrived late, styled himself General of Chariots and Cavalry and stationed himself at Liyang. Records, Wei 6 §60Records, Wei 1 §76

In the ninth month of the 7th year of Jian'an (202), when Cao Cao marched north against them, Yuan Shang gave Yuan Tan at Liyang only a few troops and sent Feng Ji along with him, and Yuan Tan, having asked for more troops and been refused by Shen Pei and the others, killed Feng Ji. Fearing that Yuan Tan would seize his followers, Yuan Shang had Shen Pei hold Ye and went himself to Liyang to resist Cao Cao alongside him. At this time Yuan Shang sent Guo Yuan (郭援), the Administrator of Hedong he had appointed, Gao Gan, Inspector of Bing Province, and the Xiongnu Chanyu to seize Pingyang and tried to ally with the generals of Guanzhong, but persuaded by Zhang Ji (張既), whom Zhong Yao had sent, Ma Teng gave his son Ma Chao more than 10,000 men to attack them together with Zhong Yao; Guo Yuan was beheaded, and Gao Gan and the Chanyu surrendered. In the third month, in spring, of the 8th year of Jian'an (203), Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, crushed in a battle at the outer walls, fled by night. Records, Wei 1 §76–77Records, Wei 6 §61–62Records, Wei 15 §39–40Records, Wei 13 §6

When Cao Cao went to Xiping to attack Liu Biao, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang fought each other over Ji Province. Guo Jia had judged that if the Yuan brothers were pressed hard they would hold together, and if given room they would quarrel, and so it turned out. Yuan Shang attacked Yuan Tan, drove him into Pingyuan and pressed the attack hard, but when Yuan Tan sent Xin Pi to ask Cao Cao for help, Cao Cao reached Liyang in the tenth month, in winter. Yuan Shang lifted the siege of Pingyuan and returned to Ye, and his generals Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang rebelled, stationed themselves at Yangping, and then led their followers to surrender to Cao Cao. Records, Wei 1 §80Records, Wei 14 §36–37Records, Wei 6 §62

In the second month of the 9th year of Jian'an (204), Yuan Shang had Su You and Shen Pei hold Ye and again attacked Yuan Tan at Pingyuan. When Cao Cao reached the Huan River, Su You went over to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao attacked Ye with earthen mounds and tunnels. Yin Kai, Chief of Wu'an, who kept open the supply route from Shangdang, and Ju Hu, Yuan Shang's general holding Handan, were also defeated by Cao Cao. In the fifth month Cao Cao dug a trench forty li around deep in a single night and breached the Zhang River to flood Ye, and by the eighth month more than half of those in the city had starved to death. Records, Wei 1 §81–82Records, Wei 6 §63–64

Yuan Shang came back with more than 10,000 men to relieve Ye, and following the Western Hills he camped on the Fu River at Yangping Pavilion and exchanged fire signals with the city. Shen Pei came out north of the city to break the siege from inside and out but was defeated, and Yuan Shang too was broken and camped at a bend of the Zhang River, but before the encirclement had even closed he grew afraid and sent Yin Kui and Chen Lin to ask to surrender. Cao Cao refused, and when Yuan Shang's generals Ma Yan, Zhang Yi (張顗) and others surrendered on the battlefield and his host collapsed, Yuan Shang fled to Zhongshan. When Cao Cao showed the seal and ribbon, the credentials and axe he had seized from Yuan Shang to their families in the city, the city's morale collapsed, and in the eighth month Shen Rong, the son of Shen Pei's elder brother, opened the east gate and Ye was pacified. Records, Wei 6 §64–66Records, Wei 1 §82–84

While Ye was under siege, Yuan Tan seized a number of commanderies in Ji Province and attacked Yuan Shang at Zhongshan. Yuan Shang fled to Gu'an and took refuge with Yuan Xi, and Yuan Tan took in all of Yuan Shang's followers. Qian Zhao, who had been overseeing provisions in Shangdang, urged Gao Gan, Inspector of Bing Province and Yuan Shang's elder cousin on his father's sister's side, to receive Yuan Shang and join forces with him, but Gao Gan did not comply and instead tried to harm Qian Zhao. Records, Wei 6 §67Records, Wei 1 §87Records, Wei 26 §45–46

In the first month of the 10th year of Jian'an (205), when Yuan Xi's grand generals Jiao Chu, Zhang Nan and others rebelled and attacked Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang, the two fled to the Wuhuan of the Three Commanderies. Jiao Chu styled himself Inspector of You Province and drove the heads of the commanderies and counties to turn against the Yuan, but the Attendant Officer Han Heng alone refused, saying that he had received the kindness of Lord Yuan and his sons. Earlier, Yuan Shao had set up the Wuhuan chieftains as chanyu and married them to daughters of commoners whom he had adopted as his own; among them Tadun, the Chanyu of Liaoxi, had been treated generously by Yuan Shao, so Yuan Shang and his brother took refuge with him and repeatedly entered within the frontier to do harm. The Biography of the Wuhuan recorded that Yuan Shang, relying on Tadun's power, again plotted to take Ji Province. Records, Wei 1 §88 · 96Records, Wei 6 §68–69Records, Wei 30 §10

In the 12th year of Jian'an (207), when Cao Cao was about to attack Yuan Shang and the Wuhuan of the Three Commanderies, his generals tried to stop him, saying that Yuan Shang was nothing but a fugitive captive, but Guo Jia urged the campaign, saying that since the Yuan brothers were still alive, he feared that if Yuan Shang used the strength of the Wuhuan to summon ministers ready to die for their late lord, Qing Province and Ji Province could not be held. When Cao Cao went out through the Lulong Pass and headed for Liucheng, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi met him with tens of thousands of horsemen together with Tadun, Louban and other chanyu, but in the eighth month at Mount Bailang they were routed by Cao Cao's attack, with Zhang Liao as vanguard, and Tadun was beheaded. Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, together with Supuyan, the Chanyu of Liaodong, and others, fled to Liaodong still leading several thousand horsemen. The Biography of the Wuhuan recorded this battle as one fought by Yuan Shang and Tadun against Cao Cao at Fancheng in the 11th year of Jian'an. Records, Wei 1 §98–100Records, Wei 14 §38Records, Wei 30 §11

In the ninth month, when Cao Cao withdrew his army from Liucheng, Gongsun Kang, Administrator of Liaodong, beheaded Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, Supuyan and others and sent their heads, and the Biography of Yuan Shao recorded that Gongsun Kang lured them in and beheaded them. Cao Cao explained the reason: Gongsun Kang had long feared Yuan Shang and the others, so if pressed hard they would join forces, and if given room they would turn on each other. Cao Cao declared that anyone who wept over Yuan Shang's head would be beheaded, but Tian Chou, who had once been summoned by Yuan Shang, went to offer condolences and sacrifices, and Qian Zhao too set out offerings beneath the head. Records, Wei 1 §101–102Records, Wei 6 §70Records, Wei 11 §48Records, Wei 26 §51

Chen Shou did not assess the Yuan Shang faction separately. The assessment of Volume 6 wrote that Yuan Shao set aside the rightful heir and set up a younger son, discarding propriety and exalting favoritism, so that the overturning of his successors and the toppling of his state were no mere misfortune. Records, Wei 6 §96