Yuan Shang 袁尚

The Records have no separate biography of Yuan Shang; his account is attached, together with those of his elder brothers Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi, to the end of the Biography of Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao loved his youngest son Yuan Shang and, because he was handsome, wished to make him his heir, but did not make this known. Shen Pei and Feng Ji sided with Yuan Shang, and Xin Ping and Guo Tu with Yuan Tan, contending for power. When the majority wished to set up Yuan Tan as the eldest, Shen Pei and the others, fearing that if Yuan Tan were set up Xin Ping and his faction would harm them, used Yuan Shao's long-held wishes as a pretext and raised Yuan Shang to succeed to Yuan Shao's position. Yuan Shao died in the 5th month of the 7th year of Jian'an (202), and Yuan Tan, arriving late and unable to succeed, styled himself General of Chariots and Cavalry. Records, Wei 6 §59–60Records, Wei 1 §76

That autumn, when Cao Cao marched north, Yuan Shang gave Yuan Tan, who was stationed at Liyang, only a few troops and sent Feng Ji along with him. Yuan Tan asked for more troops and, when refused, killed Feng Ji. When Cao Cao attacked Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang, fearing that Yuan Tan would take over his forces, left Shen Pei to guard Ye and went in person to help Yuan Tan, confronting Cao Cao at Liyang. Around this time Yuan Shang sent Guo Yuan, Administrator of Hedong, Gao Gan, Inspector of Bing Province, and the Xiongnu chanyu to seize Pingyang and tried to ally with the generals of Guanzhong, but Zhong Yao, leading Ma Teng and others, defeated them. In the 3rd month, in the spring of the 8th year of Jian'an (203), Cao Cao attacked the outer walls and routed them, and Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang fled by night. Records, Wei 6 §61–62Records, Wei 1 §76–77Records, Wei 15 §39Records, Wei 13 §6Records, Wei 10 §34

When Cao Cao went south to attack Jing Province, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang fought over Ji Province, just as Guo Jia had predicted. Yuan Tan was defeated by Yuan Shang and fled to Pingyuan, and when Yuan Shang pressed his attack, Yuan Tan sent Xin Pi to Cao Cao to ask for help. Xin Pi told Cao Cao that Xianfu (Yuan Shang), seeing the plight of Xiansi (Yuan Tan) and yet unable to take him, had exhausted his strength, and that now was the time Heaven was destroying Yuan Shang. In the 10th month, when Cao Cao reached Liyang, Yuan Shang lifted the siege of Pingyuan and returned to Ye, and his commanders Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang rebelled and went over to Cao Cao. Records, Wei 6 §62Records, Wei 14 §36–37Records, Wei 25 §2–4Records, Wei 1 §80

In the 2nd month of the 9th year of Jian'an (204), Yuan Shang left Shen Pei and Su You to guard Ye and again attacked Yuan Tan at Pingyuan. When Cao Cao advanced to the Huan River, Su You fled to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao attacked Ye and dug tunnels. Cao Cao defeated Yin Kai, who was keeping open the supply route from Shangdang, and also attacked and took Handan, held by Yuan Shang's commander Ju Hu. Records, Wei 6 §63Records, Wei 1 §81

In the 5th month Cao Cao deepened a trench forty li around in a single night and breached the Zhang River to flood Ye, so that more than half of those inside the city starved to death. In the 7th month, when Yuan Shang came back to the rescue with more than 10,000 men, the commanders said a returning army should be avoided, but Cao Cao said he would avoid Yuan Shang if he came by the main road, but if he came along the Western Hills he was as good as captured. Yuan Shang did indeed come along the Western Hills, encamped by the Fu River at Yangping Pavilion, 17 li from Ye, and raised fires to exchange signals with those inside the city. Records, Wei 6 §64Records, Wei 1 §82–83

Shen Pei came out north of the city to break the siege from inside and outside together but was defeated, and Yuan Shang too was beaten and encamped at a bend of the Zhang River. Before the encirclement closed, Yuan Shang, afraid, sent Yin Kui and Chen Lin to ask to surrender, but Cao Cao refused and tightened the siege further. When Yuan Shang fled again, his commanders Ma Yan, Zhang Yi and others surrendered on the battlefield and his forces collapsed, and Yuan Shang fled to Zhongshan. Cao Cao took Yuan Shang's seal and ribbon, his tally and battle-axe and his clothing and showed them to the families inside the city, and the city's morale broke. In the 8th month the son of Shen Pei's elder brother opened the east gate and Ye fell. Records, Wei 6 §65–66Records, Wei 1 §83–84

While Cao Cao was besieging Ye, Yuan Tan took Ganling, Anping, Bohai and Hejian and attacked Yuan Shang at Zhongshan. Yuan Shang fled to Gu'an and took refuge with Yuan Xi, and Yuan Tan absorbed his followers. According to the Biography of Qian Zhao, when Ye was besieged Yuan Shang had sent Qian Zhao to Shangdang to oversee provisions; when Yuan Shang was defeated and reached Zhongshan, Qian Zhao urged Gao Gan, Inspector of Bing Province and Yuan Shang's cousin, to receive Yuan Shang and join forces with him, but Gao Gan did not listen. Records, Wei 6 §67Records, Wei 1 §87Records, Wei 26 §45–46

In the first month of the 10th year of Jian'an (205), the same month Yuan Tan died, Yuan Xi's commanders Jiao Chu, Zhang Nan and others rebelled and attacked Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang, and the two fled to the Wuhuan of the Three Commanderies. Because Tadun, chanyu of Liaoxi, had been generously treated by Yuan Shao, Yuan Shang and his brother took refuge with him, and they repeatedly entered within the frontier passes and did harm. Records, Wei 6 §68Records, Wei 1 §88 · 96

In the 12th year of Jian'an (207), when Cao Cao planned to attack Yuan Shang and the Wuhuan of the Three Commanderies, the commanders said Yuan Shang was merely a fugitive captive and worried that Liu Bei and Liu Biao would strike while they were away, but Guo Jia alone urged the expedition. Cao Cao went out through the Lulong Pass and headed for Liucheng, cutting through mountains and filling valleys for more than 500 li. Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi met him with Tadun and the chanyu of Liaoxi and Youbeiping with tens of thousands of horsemen, but in the 8th month at Mount Bailang they were routed by Cao Cao's attack, with Zhang Liao in the vanguard, and Tadun was killed. Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, together with Supuwan, chanyu of Liaodong, and others, still leading several thousand horsemen, fled to Liaodong. Records, Wei 1 §98–100Records, Wei 14 §38

When someone proposed attacking Liaodong while they were at it, Cao Cao said he would make Gongsun Kang behead Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi and send their heads, and did not move his troops. In the 9th month, when Cao Cao returned from Liucheng, Gongsun Kang beheaded Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, Supuwan and others and sent their heads. The Biography of Yuan Shao states that Gongsun Kang lured them in and beheaded them. Cao Cao explained that Gongsun Kang had always feared Yuan Shang and the others, so that if pressed they would join forces, but if left alone they would plot against one another. Records, Wei 1 §101–102Records, Wei 6 §70

When Yuan Shang's head arrived from Liaodong, Cao Cao ordered that anyone who mourned him would be beheaded, yet Tian Chou, who had once been summoned by Yuan Shang, went to offer condolences and sacrifice, and Cao Cao did not hold it against him. Qian Zhao too laid out a sacrifice beneath the head hung in the horse market, and Cao Cao regarded this as righteous. Chen Shou gives no separate assessment of Yuan Shang; the assessment in the Biography of Yuan Shao states that Yuan Shao set aside his eldest son and established a younger one, abandoning propriety and exalting favoritism, so that the overturning of his succession and the fall of his state were not a matter of misfortune. Records, Wei 11 §42 · 48Records, Wei 26 §51Records, Wei 6 §96