Shen Pei 審配

After defeating Gongsun Zan at Yijing and 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. His host numbered several hundred thousand; he put Shen Pei and Feng Ji in overall command of the army, made Tian Feng, Xun Chen and Xu You his chief strategists and Yan Liang and Wen Chou his generals, and prepared to attack Xu with 100,000 picked troops and 10,000 cavalry. Records, Wei 6 §49

According to the Biography of Xun Yu, Kong Rong told Xun Yu at this time that Yuan Shao would be hard to defeat, since Tian Feng and Xu You, men of wisdom and stratagem, planned for him, while Shen Pei and Feng Ji, loyal ministers, carried out his affairs. Xun Yu replied that Shen Pei was autocratic but lacked stratagem, and that Feng Ji was bold but self-willed. He added that if these two were left behind in charge of affairs, they would not overlook it when Xu You's household broke the law, and Xu You would then surely turn against Yuan Shao. Records, Wei 10 §29–30

In the 5th year of Jian'an (200) Yuan Shao fought Cao Cao at Guandu, lost Chunyu Qiong and others, and withdrew. The Biography of Xun Yu goes on to record that when Shen Pei arrested Xu You's wife and children on the grounds that his household had broken the law, Xu You in anger betrayed Yuan Shao. Chen Shou noted that this, together with the beheading of Yan Liang and Wen Chou in battle and the death of Tian Feng for his remonstrance, all came about just as Xun Yu had reckoned. Records, Wei 10 §31–32

Yuan Shao loved his youngest son Yuan Shang and wished to make him his heir, but had not yet made this known. Shen Pei and Feng Ji contended for power with Xin Ping and Guo Tu; Shen Pei and Feng Ji sided with Yuan Shang, and Xin Ping and Guo Tu with Yuan Tan. When Yuan Shao died in the 7th year of Jian'an (202), people wished to set up Yuan Tan as the eldest. Fearing that if Yuan Tan were set up Xin Ping and the others would harm them, Shen Pei and his allies invoked Yuan Shao's long-held wishes and supported Yuan Shang as Yuan Shao's successor. Yuan Tan styled himself General of Chariots and Cavalry, and from this a rift opened between the two brothers. Records, Wei 6 §58 · 60

When Cao Cao marched north against Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, Yuan Tan, stationed at Liyang, asked for more troops, but Shen Pei and the others conferred and refused them. In anger Yuan Tan killed Feng Ji, whom Yuan Shang had sent along with him. When Cao Cao crossed the Yellow River to attack Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang left Shen Pei to hold Ye and went himself with troops to aid Yuan Tan. Records, Wei 6 §61

In the 2nd month of the 9th year of Jian'an (204), when Yuan Shang again attacked Yuan Tan at Pingyuan, he left Su You and Shen Pei to hold Ye. When Cao Cao reached the Huan River, 50 li from Ye, Su You tried to act as an inside collaborator, but the plot leaked; he fought Shen Pei within the city, was defeated, and fled to Cao Cao. When Cao Cao dug tunnels, Shen Pei countered by digging trenches inside the city. Shen Pei's general Feng Li opened a sally gate and let in more than 300 of Cao Cao's soldiers, but Shen Pei detected it and from atop the wall struck the palisade gate inside the sally gate with great stones to shut it, and all who had entered perished. Records, Wei 1 §81Records, Wei 6 §63

Cao Cao encircled Ye with a trench forty li around, at first digging it shallow so that it looked easy to cross. Shen Pei watched and laughed at it, and did not come out to contend. In a single night Cao Cao had it dug two zhang wide and deep and breached the Zhang River to flood the city; from the 5th month to the 8th month more than half of those in the city starved to death. Yuan Shang came to the rescue with over 10,000 troops and raised fires as a signal, and Shen Pei sent troops out of the north of the city to break the siege from within and without, but he was defeated by Cao Cao and returned. Yuan Shang was also defeated and fled to Zhongshan, and when Cao Cao showed the families in the city the seal, ribbon, tally and axe of Yuan Shang that he had seized, morale within the city collapsed. Records, Wei 6 §64–65Records, Wei 1 §82–83

In the 8th month, Shen Rong, the son of Shen Pei's elder brother, opened the east gate he was guarding at night and let in Cao Cao's troops. Shen Pei fought them within the city and was captured. Chen Shou recorded that Shen Pei was firm and stirring in voice and spirit and never uttered a word of submission, so that there was no one among those who saw him who did not sigh. Cao Cao at last beheaded him, and Ye was pacified. Records, Wei 1 §84Records, Wei 6 §66

His name appears in later records as well. Dissuading Cao Cao from restoring the ancient Nine Provinces, Xun Yu said that when Yuan Shang had recently been routed and Shen Pei captured, the whole realm had trembled. According to the Biography of Wang Xiu, under the Yuan family's lenient government those with office and power had amassed great wealth, and the household property of Shen Pei and others that Cao Cao confiscated after taking Ye was counted in the tens of thousands. Records, Wei 10 §36Records, Wei 11 §63

Chen Shou gave no separate assessment of Shen Pei. The assessment in the Biography of Yuan Shao records that Yuan Shao had talented men but could not use them and heard good counsel but could not accept it, and that he set aside his rightful heir for a younger son and abandoned propriety to exalt favor, so that the overthrow of his heirs and the toppling of his state were not a matter of misfortune. Records, Wei 6 §96