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Yuan Shao

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Yuan Shao (Chinese: 袁紹; Pinyin: Yuán Shào; 154 - June 28, 202)[1][2] was a powerful warlord during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms era of China. He occupied the northern territories of ancient China during the massive civil war towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms era. He was also the elder brother of Yuan Shu, a warlord who controlled the Huai River region, though the two were not in good terms with each other.

One of the most powerful warlords of his time, Yuan Shao spearheaded a coalition of warlords against the tyrannical Dong Zhuo, who held Emperor Xian hostage in the capital Luoyang, but failed due to internal disunity. In 200, he launched a campaign against rival warlord Cao Cao but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Guandu. He died of sickness two years later in Ye. His eventual failure despite his powerful family background and geographical advantages was commonly blamed on his indecisiveness and inability to heed the advice of his advisors.

Life

Background

A local of the county of Ruyang (汝陽), Yuan Shao was born in the noble Yuan family, whose members had since the 1st century been prominent in the civil bureaucracy of the Han Dynasty. Descended from the Interior Minister Yuan An, who served under Emperor Zhang, Yuan Shao's exact parentage was the source of controversy and the major cause of dispute between him and Yuan Shu. Yuan Shao was an offspring of the Minister of Agriculture Yuan Feng (袁逢), and an elder half-brother of Yuan Feng's son, Yuan Shu, both were great-grandson of Yuan An, as recorded by the Book of Wei (魏書) by Wang Chen (王沈). Yuan Shao's mother was originally a maid in Yuan Feng's house, and since Yuan Feng lacked male offspring, the birth of Yuan Shao elevated his mother's status from a maid to a concubine. The Records of Three Kingdoms claimed that Yuan Shao was elder cousin to Yuan Shu. The reason for this was that Yuan Feng's older brother also lacked any male offsprings so Yuan Shao was adopted by Yuan Feng's older brother as his son. This adoption infuriated Yuan Shu, because despite also being a concubine's son, the younger Yuan Shu had a mother originally with higher status. The adoption of Yuan Shao by their elder uncle meant that Yuan Shao had become the eldest son of the clan, and would enjoy all the privileges associated with being the eldest. In their disputes in the later years, Yuan Shu would use the Yuan Shao's mother as an excuse to claim that Yuan Shao was really not a true son of the Yuan family, which inevitably would infuriate Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao had a serious appearance, and was able to respect talents of inferior origin; thus, he was welcomed by many, including Cao Cao and Zhang Miao, since his childhood.

Attempts to save the Han

When Yuan Shao was young, he participated in saving some of the "partisans" from death or other terrible fates during the second Disaster of Partisan Prohibitions. After he entered into government service, Yuan Shao initially served as an aide to General-in-Chief He Jin and was heavily trusted by the latter. After the death of Emperor Ling in 189, He Jin and Yuan Shao jointly plotted to execute the powerful eunuch faction but the empress dowager was against the move. He Jin then summoned Dong Zhuo to lead troops into the capital Luoyang to lay pressure on the empress dowager. When the eunches heard about the news, they forged the empress dowager's edict to lure He Jin into the inner palace. Yuan Shao warned He Jin, reminding him that he should kill the eunches right away, instead of going in. After being refused by He Jin three times on this advice, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu led 200 elite troops outside the inner palace. Indeed, He Jin was assassinated by the eunuch faction once he got in, then the furious Yuan Shu set fire on the gates of the inner palace, and the whole palace soon became a living inferno. The followers of He Jin slaughtered anyone (except female) who didn't have beard and moustache; to the extreme that many normal male without bread or moustache had to show their reproductive organ to avoid collateral damage[3]. Over 2,000 people were killed in this incident, and the resulting power vacuum provided an excellent opportunity for Dong Zhuo to seize control of the capital when he arrived.

Dong Zhuo then discussed with Yuan Shao about his plan to depose the young successor to Emperor Ling in favor of Emperor Xian, but Yuan Shao disagreed. Relationship between the two deteriorated sharply and Yuan Shao fled the capital to Ji province (冀州, present day southern Hebei). At the time Yuan Shao just got out of the city gate, Dong Zhuo thought about pusuing him, but 3 trusted servants of Dong Zhou, Zhou Bi, Wu Qiong and He Yong, secrectly worked for Shao, and convinced Dong to let him go. Persuaded by the 3, Dong Zhou then assigned Yuan Shao to governor of Bohai Commandery (勃海, in the vicinity of present day Cangzhou, Hebei) in a bid to appease the latter.[4]

Coalition against Dong Zhuo

Main article: Campaign against Dong Zhuo

Sun Jian's advancement

By early 190, however, Yuan Shao became openly hostile. A coalition of regional officials and commanders from the eastern provinces, including Cao Cao, Yuan Shu, Han Fu, Zhang Miao and Bao Xin, formed up behind him in a campaign to oust Dong Zhuo. Yuan Shao declared himself "General of Chariots and Cavalry" (車騎將軍) and camped at Henei (河內), near a ford on the Yellow River just north of Luoyang. Dong Zhuo then had the Yuan clan inside the city of Luoyang executed, and sent out emisarries with imperial edict to order the regional officials to disband. But the members of the coalition listened to Shao, and had all the emisarries executed instead (except Han Rong). Dong then sent Administrator of Chen Commandery Hu Zhen, General of the Imperial Househould Lü Bu, and Commandant of Cavalry Hua Xiong to deter the coalition vanguard led by Sun Jian. Despite initial success, Sun was able to capitalize on the internal conflict between Hu Zhen and Lü Bu, and had them defeated at Yangren. After that loss, Dong decided to move the emperor to Chang'an, where his home base of Liang Province was nearby. A year later, Dong burned Luoyang to the ground and withdrew to the west with the mass of refugees. Although lacking a logistic base, Sun Jian and Cao Cao requested pursuit, but Yuan Shao and other members largely disagreed with their opinion.[5][6] Sun was ordered to rendezvous with Yuan Shu, so Cao led his own men to go on the pursuit alone, and was soundly defeated by Dong's subordinate, Xu Rong.

Dissolution

During this time, Yuan Shao and Han Fu had intended to establish the legitimacy of the coalition by making Liu Yu, governor of You province (幽州, present day northern Hebei), the emperor. However, believing that it would be faithless to Emperor Xian for him to accept, Liu Yu declined the offer. When the scene of the ruined capital coming into their eyes, the disunited leaders of the coalition realized the Han Dynasty was coming to an end, and started planning on strengthening their position, and soon returned to their respective home base.

However, Yuan's army had had been joined by volunteer troops around the country, and the tiny Bohai Commandery would be far from sufficient to supply his army. Thus, his strategist, Pang Ji suggested him to form a secret alliance with the fierce warlord Gongsun Zan and incite the latter to attack Han Fu's Ji province.[7] Facing an imminent attack from Gongsun, Han was terrified, and listened to Yuan's lobbyist, Gao Gan and Xun Chen, to give up the governorship to Yuan in order to drive the invader back. Yuan Shao then began to build a warlord state from the capital city of Ji Province, Ye. In order to curtail Yuan Shu's sphere of influence, Shao formed an alliance with Cao Cao and Zhang Miao, and named his follower, Zhou Yu (周喁)[8] as Inspector of Yu Province, a title to which Sun Jian had already been entitled, and sent him to attack Sun Jian's territories in Yu province while the latter was on his way back from Luoyang. In response, Yuan Shu allied with Gongsun and Tao Qian, and ordered Sun Jian to fight his half-brother. Although Zhou was able to defeat the forces of Gongsun in the Battle of Yangcheng, he was defeated by Sun Jian in the following battles. The first battles between the brothers (or cousins) ended in Yuan Shu's favour: he had engaged and defeated Yuan Shao's forces in both Yangcheng and Jiujiang, restored the position in Yingchuan Commandery under Sun, and eliminated Zhou as a threat once and for all although Jiujiang was not yet conquered. For Yuan Shao, on the other hand, the situation was extremely difficult: besides the failure in the south, he was also under threat from Gongsun Zan, who held Yuan Shao responsible for the death of his younger brother, Gongsun Yue, in battle and formally declared war against him, rejecting all of Yuan Shao's protestations of goodwill.[9] This led to the clash between Yuan Shao and Gongsun in the Battle of Jieqiao. The Battle of Yangcheng, being the first moves in the struggle between the two Yuan, marked the beginning of a new stage in the confusion of wars which brought the end of Later Han, and confirmed the death of the alliance against Dong Zhuo as the warlords of the North China Plain started to battle each other for the ultimate dominion of China.

Unifying the North China Plain

In order to focus on the conflicts with Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao entered into a general alliance with Liu Biao against Yuan Shu. In the winter of that year, Shao successfully defeated the cavalry forces of Gongsun at the battle of Jieqiao with the use of massed crossbowmen. An imperial edict requiring Yuan and Gongsun to cease fire was sent, and to eradicate the Black Mountain Bandits, Yuan returned to Ye with his army. With the short-term help from Lü Bu, Yuan Shao managed to defeat numerous units of the bandits, and incurred heavy casualties on both sides.[10] Anyway, the threat Black Mountain Bandits posted to his western flank was drastically reduced. Despite warnings from his advisor Ju Shou that the move could sow seeds for future trouble, Yuan Shao insisted on sending his first-born Yuan Tan away to "govern" Qing province (青州, present day eastern Shandong), while the Yuan forces only controlled the city of Pingyuan in the province.

In subsequent years, Yuan Shao achieved considerable success in consolidating his domain and his eldest son, Yuan Tan, was exceptionally successful on his expansion in Qing Province[11]; in 195, Yuan Shao's strategist Ju Shou suggested that he welcome Emperor Xian to his province so that he could effectively be in control of the imperial government, but the other strategists Guo Tu and Chunyu Qiong opposed — under the faulty logic that if he did, he would have to yield to Emperor Xian on key decisions. Yuan listened to Guo and Chunyu and slipped the chance to Cao Cao.

In 196 his prominent position in northern China was recognized by the Han court, which was controlled by Cao Cao at the time, as the position of General-in-Chief and the title of Marquis of Ye were granted to him, but Yuan Shao turned them down. In 198 Yuan Shao advanced against Gongsun Zan and encircled his remaining force at Yijing (易京, present day Xiongxian County, Hebei). By early 199 Gongsun Zan had been defeated for good at the decisive Battle of Yijing and Yuan Shao held absolute power over the four provinces north of the Yellow River. Then, after establishing alliance with the Wuhuan tribes on the northern frontier, Yuan Shao eventually turned his attention to Cao Cao, who had been consolidating his power south of the Yellow River.

Battle of Guandu

Main article: Battle of Guandu
File:Yuan Shao TV Serial.jpg
Yuan Shao (played by Li Qingxiang) at the Battle of Guandu in the TV series Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Both sides made preparations for a decisive battle, which would come to be known as the Battle of Guandu. Towards the end of 199 skirmishes were already being fought at Liyang, a major crossing point of the Yellow River. Cao Cao prepared his defenses around Guandu (官渡, northeast of present day Zhongmu County, Henan), slightly south of the river. When Liu Bei defected from Cao Cao in the first month of 200 and planted a foothold in Xu province (徐州), Cao Cao left his northern front exposed to Yuan Shao and turned east to deal with Liu Bei's rebellion. The aide-de-camp (參軍) Tian Feng, urged Yuan Shao to attack Cao Cao while he was away, but Yuan Shao refused to lauch an all-out affensive, instead he sent small detachments to harass his enemy, but was daunted by Yu Jin, the defender of Yan Ford (see Battle of Dushi Ford).

Shortly after Cao Cao returned to Guandu, Yuan Shao had Chen Lin draft a document condemning Cao Cao in what is essentially a declaration of war, and marched his main army toward the forward base of Liyang (黎陽; northwest of today's Xunxian, Henan) north of the river. At the time, Yuan Shao's army boasted of numbers over 100,000. Heavily outnumbering Cao Cao and holding large cavalry force, Yuan Shao's initial attacks almost overwhelmed his enemy's positions. A strike at Yuan Shao's supply lines in late 200, however, brought the northern army to a collapse. As many of his generals defected, Yuan Shao fled north across the Yellow River with his sons.

His first major defeat was also a decisive one. Thereafter, Yuan Shao lost the initiative and never regained it. In 201, his force was again defeated by Cao Cao, this time at the Battle of Cangting (倉亭, in the vicinity of present day Yanggu County, Shandong), and many cities formerly controlled by the Yuan family switched allegeance.

Futile effort to turn the tide and death

After the battle of Cangting, Cao Cao's troops were exhausted and returned south for a rest. Meanwhile, Yuan Shao was able to regather his defeated armies to settle the rebellions in his own domain, soon reestablishing order and restored the status quo ante.[12] Yuan Shao had 3 sons, and he favored his third son, Yuan Shang, due to his good look, and both Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were his choice for succession.[13] However, Yuan Shao was never able to finalize on his decision regarding who should inherent his legacy before he died on his deathbed in the fifth lunar month of 202, leaving his domain to be contested by his sons and a looming Cao Cao. Immediately after Yuan Shao's death, Shen Pei (審配) and Pang Ji (逢紀), two influential advisors, supported Yuan Shang and pushed for him to inherit Yuan Shao, despite opposition from Yuan Tan.[14] Yuan Shao's wife, Lady Liu, supported Yuan Shang, and Yuan Tan couldn't do anything to change the outcome when he rushed back from Qing Province. Then, Lady Liu, having the power now, killed Yuan Shao's other five consorts out of jealousy, and disfigured their faces to prevent them from meeting her former husband in the underworld. True to Ju Shou's previous warning, chaos was born within the Yuan forces, and Cao Cao was able to manipulate this internal turmoil, and by 207 had defeated the remnants of the Yuan forces.

It is said that Cao Cao paid respect to Yuan Shao's tomb after his total annexation of his former countries, Cao Cao was showing remorse in front of his generals and made a comment that it was unavoidable for turning his former friend into an enemy.

Cause of his defeat

Yuan Shao's defeat to Cao Cao at Guandu is cited as an excellent example of how superior tactics and strategy can be used to defeat much larger forces. By using feints, counterattacks and strategic withdrawals, Cao Cao managed to render Yuan Shao's vastly superior manpower useless. It can be said Yuan Shao was simply outsmarted by his former friend Cao Cao. According to some sources, however, his defeat can be attributed to his failure to listen to his advisor Tian Feng. It is said that he lost his chance to defeat Cao Cao early on when he refused to mobilise his army, claiming his son was ill with a toothache.

Some believe Yuan Shao's defeat was caused by senility. They argue that it would explain how a man who managed to become for a good period of time the dominant force in China could suddenly fail so completely. It is highly likely that it was a combination of senility, inability to listen to advice and his unfortunate luck in finding such a cunning foe that was Yuan Shao's downfall.

Cao Cao had once analysed Yuan Shao before the Battle of Guandu. Cao Cao said: Yuan Shao will be defeated during the war.

  1. He is arrogant, self-centred, and senile;
  2. His advisers fight against each other;
  3. His generals have brawn but no brain, (to put it literally) Yan Liang and Wen Chou, valiant but stupid in terms of using tactics;
  4. His sons' rivalry: All 3 brothers can't seem to unite
  5. He did not respect his officers or troops

These reasons Cao Cao noted were indeed true, Yuan Shao was defeated not long after this analysis.

Modern citations

File:DWYuanShao.jpg
Yuan Shao as he appears in Koei's Dynasty Warriors 6.
  • Yuan Shao has appeared in Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Dynasty Tactics video game series. In Dynasty Warriors 3-5, he has brown hair and wears a helmet. In DW6, he has white hair and doesn't wear a helmet. Yuan Shao also desperately wanted to restore the Han to its former glory in DW 3-5. In DW4 Xtreme Legends, he repels Gongsun Zan's forces and Liu Bei's forces. In DW3-5, he unites the land under the Yuan family name. In DW5 Xtreme Legends, he and Dong Zhuo compete to kill the ten eunuchs and the power for the throne.
  • In Warriors Orochi a crossover game between Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors, Yuan Shao leads a resistance army with the aid of Yukimura Sanada. After his defeat at Cheng Du he and his forces are captured by Orochi, but are rescued by the resistance army led by Zhao Yun. He then joins Zhao Yun in the fight against Orochi. In Warriors Orochi 2, he and Jiang Wei are defeated by Zhang He and Taishi Ci. Yuan Shao is influenced to help Cao Cao defeat Orochi. In Dream Mode, he works with Nene and Zhu Rong to protect Mai Castle.
  • Yuan Shao has a minor role in Koei's Kessen II title. In the game, the Battle of Guandu distracts Cao Cao, allowing Liu Bei, an ally of Yuan Shao and the player's character, to advance to Runan, setting the stage for the game's second level.
  • He also is in each of the 11 versions of Koei's strategical simulation, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He is portrayed very closely to that of his novel persona, and has stats that follow the same pattern as Cao Cao's in the game, but lower.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Brill. p. 1009. ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.
  2. ^ de Crespigny, Rafe. "To Establish Peace: being the Chronicle of the Later Han dynasty for the years 189 to 220 AD as recorded in Chapters 59 to 69 of the Zizhi tongjian of Sima Guang". Volume 2. Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra. 1996. ISBN 0-7315-2526-4. Note 4 of section Jian'an 7.
  3. ^ Records of Three Kingdoms Scroll 6 Wei Book 6.15
  4. ^ Records of Three Kingdoms Scroll 6 Wei Book 6.16
  5. ^ "卓自出與堅戰...敗走...堅進洛陽...更擊呂布...乃埽除宗廟，平塞諸陵，分兵出函谷關，至新安、黽池閒，以□卓後。" See Book of Later Han, vol. 72.
  6. ^ "諸軍兵十餘萬，日置酒高會，不圖進取。太祖責讓之，...邈等不能用。" See SGZ vol. 1.
  7. ^ Book of Later Han. Chapter 74.
  8. ^ This Zhou Yu (周喁) should not be confused with the Zhou Yu (周瑜) of Sun's force.
  9. ^ de Crespigny (1990), p. 123
  10. ^ Book of Later Han. Chapter 74.
  11. ^ Records of Three Kingdoms Scroll 6 Wei Book 6 Note Spring and Autumn Annual of the Nine Provinces
  12. ^ Leban, p. 375
  13. ^ Records of Three Kingdoms Scroll 6 Wei Book 6 Note Dianlun
  14. ^ Records of Three Kingdoms Scroll 6 Wei Book 6

References


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