Yuan Shu 袁術

Yuan Shu was nominated as Filial and Incorrupt and became a Gentleman of the Palace, and after holding posts both at court and in the provinces he became Colonel Who Breaks Assaults and General of the Household Rapid as Tigers (huben zhonglang jiang). When Dong Zhuo was about to depose the emperor, he made Yuan Shu General of the Rear, but Yuan Shu too feared he would come to harm and fled to Nanyang. It so happened that Sun Jian, Administrator of Changsha, had killed Zhang Zi, Administrator of Nanyang, and Yuan Shu took possession of that commandery. Records, Wei 6 §72

In the 1st month of the 1st year of Chuping (190), Yuan Shu, General of the Rear, raised troops at the same time as Yuan Shao, Han Fu, and others, and stationed himself at Nanyang. When Sun Jian reached Luyang and met Yuan Shu, Yuan Shu memorialized the throne to make Sun Jian acting General Who Smashes the Caitiffs (polu jiangjun) and concurrently Inspector of Yu Province. After Sun Jian defeated Dong Zhuo's army at Yangren, someone sowed discord between them, and Yuan Shu, growing suspicious, stopped sending provisions; but when Sun Jian galloped over by night and remonstrated with him, drawing diagrams on the ground, Yuan Shu was so ill at ease that he sent the provisions at once. The biography of Sun Jian records that in the 3rd year of Chuping (192) Yuan Shu sent Sun Jian to attack Liu Biao in Jing Province, and that Sun Jian laid siege to Xiangyang but was shot and killed by Huang Zu's soldiers. Records, Wei 1 §7–8Records, Wu 1 §15 · 17–18 · 21

Nanyang had households numbering in the millions, but Yuan Shu was extravagant and dissolute and levied taxes without limit, tormenting the people. Having fallen out with Yuan Shao and being on bad terms with Liu Biao as well, he joined hands with Gongsun Zan to the north, while Yuan Shao joined hands with Liu Biao to the south. Chen Shou wrote that this was how the brothers, each harboring divided loyalties, abandoned those close at hand and befriended those far away. In the 4th year of Chuping (193), when Liu Biao cut his supply line, Yuan Shu entered Chenliu and stationed himself at Fengqiu, but Cao Cao attacked him together with Yuan Shao and routed him. Pursued to Xiangyi and Ningling, Yuan Shu fled to Jiujiang, killed Chen Wen, Inspector of Yang Province, and governed that province. Records, Wei 6 §73Records, Wei 1 §24–25

Yuan Shu made Zhang Xun, Qiao Rui, and others grand generals. Li Jue in Chang'an, wishing to make him an ally, appointed him General of the Left and Marquis of Yangzhai and sent the Grand Tutor Ma Midi to confer the appointment, but Yuan Shu seized Ma Midi's staff of authority and detained him. In the 1st year of Xingping (194), when Sun Ce joined him, Yuan Shu returned Sun Jian's troops to him and sighed, "If I had a son like Young Master Sun, what regret would I have in death?" Yet after promising Sun Ce the post of Administrator of Jiujiang he gave it to Chen Ji, and when he had Sun Ce attack Lujiang, he gave the administratorship he had promised to his former subordinate Liu Xun as well. When Sun Ce asked to pacify the lands east of the Yangtze, Yuan Shu made him Colonel Who Breaks Assaults and acting General Who Exterminates Bandits (zhenkou jiangjun), and gave him a little over a thousand soldiers and a few dozen horsemen. Records, Wei 6 §74Records, Wu 1 §25–27 · 29

Yuan Shu sent a letter to Chen Gui, Chancellor of Pei, who had been his friend since their youth, saying that, just as when the Qin lost control of its government, now was the time for men of outstanding talent to accomplish something, and asking Chen Gui to help him; he also took Chen Gui's second son, Chen Ying, as a hostage. Chen Gui replied that General Cao had restored the laws and institutions and that Yuan Shu ought to set the house of Han aright, and that he could not, even on pain of death, scheme for private gain and fawningly attach himself to him. Records, Wei 6 §75–77

When Tao Qian died and the people of Xu Province welcomed Liu Bei, Liu Bei said that Yuan Gonglu was close by at Shouchun and came from a family that had produced five Excellencies in four generations, and that the province should be given to him. But Chen Deng said that Gonglu was arrogant and overbearing, and Kong Rong called him "dry bones in a tomb." In the 1st year of Jian'an (196) Yuan Shu attacked Liu Bei, who was in charge of Xu Province, and meanwhile Lü Bu seized Xiapi. Later, when Yuan Shu's general Ji Ling attacked Liu Bei at Xiaopei with 30,000 men, Lü Bu came to the rescue and stopped the fighting by shooting at a halberd. Records, Shu 2 §9–12Records, Wei 7 §16–18

In the winter of the 2nd year of Xingping (195), after the Son of Heaven was defeated at Caoyang, Yuan Shu gathered his subordinates and said that the Liu clan was in decline and that his own family, which had produced the Three Excellencies for four generations, wished to answer Heaven and follow the people. When the Registrar Yan Xiang objected that even the Zhou, holding two thirds of the realm, had still served the Yin, Yuan Shu fell silent and was displeased. Making use of the mandate-bearing portents (fuming) of Zhang Jiong of Henei, Yuan Shu at last usurped the imperial title, made the Administrator of Jiujiang the Intendant of Huainan, appointed ministers, and performed sacrifices at the southern and northern suburbs. His several hundred palace women all wore fine silks and there was grain and meat to spare, while his soldiers froze and starved, and the land between the Yangtze and the Huai was emptied, so that people ate one another. Sun Ce sent him a letter of rebuke and broke off relations. Records, Wei 6 §78–79Records, Wu 1 §32

Yuan Shu sought to ally with Lü Bu through a marriage for his son, but Lü Bu, heeding Chen Gui's words, called back his daughter and sent Yuan Shu's envoy Han Yin to Xu to be beheaded. According to the Annals of Emperor Wu, when Yuan Shu informed Lü Bu that he meant to proclaim himself emperor in Huainan, Lü Bu seized the envoy and sent the letter up to the court. Enraged, Yuan Shu sent Zhang Xun together with Han Xian and Yang Feng to attack Lü Bu, but Lü Bu won Han Xian and Yang Feng over, and Zhang Xun was badly defeated. In the 9th month of the 2nd year of Jian'an (197), when Yuan Shu invaded Chen, Cao Cao marched east against him; hearing that Cao Cao was coming in person, Yuan Shu abandoned his army and fled, leaving behind Qiao Rui, Li Feng, and others. Cao Cao beheaded them all, and Yuan Shu fled across the Huai. Records, Wei 7 §19–20 · 24Records, Wei 1 §43–44

Broken first by Lü Bu and then defeated by Cao Cao, Yuan Shu went to Mount Qian, where his retainers Lei Bo and Chen Lan were, but was turned away, and he was filled with anxiety and fear. When he tried to go to Yuan Tan in Qing Province to hand the imperial title over to Yuan Shao, Cao Cao sent Liu Bei and Zhu Ling to block the road by way of Xiapi. In the 4th year of Jian'an (199) Yuan Shu fell ill and died on the road. His wife and children took refuge with Liu Xun, Administrator of Lujiang, and were taken in after Sun Ce defeated Liu Xun; his daughter entered Sun Quan's harem, and his son Yuan Yao became a Gentleman of the Palace. Records, Wei 6 §80Records, Wei 1 §51 · 56

In his assessment, Chen Shou wrote that Yuan Shu was extravagant, dissolute, and unrestrained, so that his glory did not last out his own life, and that he had brought this on himself. Records, Wei 6 §96