Yuan Shao (袁紹) | 24 Histories

Overview

Yuan Shao was an official and Strategist.

IdentityHistorical · Male

Roles

Found in

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Alternate name	the two Yuans	二袁

Life and dates

Death

AD 202 建安七年夏
died 死
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 113, passage 146

Attested activity

AD 198 建安三年
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 114, passage 295
AD 189 中平六年
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 113, passage 117
AD 189 中平六年
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 114, passage 42
AD 189 八月
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 76, passage 210
AD 189 六年
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 76, passage 131
AD 196 to AD 200 大將軍袁紹總兵冀州
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 40, passage 231

Show 12 more source-backed claims

AD 202 建安七年夏
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 113, passage 146
AD 200 建安五年十月
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 113, passages 143-144
AD 200 昔魏武以弊卒一萬破袁紹
Strongly inferred · Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance 138, passage 112
AD 188 是時置西園八校尉
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 76, passages 110, 118
AD 200 曹操、袁紹戰於官渡
Directly stated · History of Song 359, passage 175
AD 199 漢張繡歸曹公
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 43, passage 60
AD 197 to AD 199 漢末
Dated from the passage context · Old History of the Five Dynasties 18, passage 214
AD 190 to AD 202 袁
Directly stated · Book of Liang 14, passage 67
AD 200 袁紹與曹操相拒於官度
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 40, passage 243
AD 191 to AD 199 追二袁之蹤
Strongly inferred · Book of Jin 117, passage 13
AD 200 遠子捨袁就曹
Dated from the passage context · Records of the Three Kingdoms 62, passage 91
AD 200 齊永明元年追述
Dated from the passage context · Book of Song 89, passage 121

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Kin of Yuan Wei (袁隗)
uncle 叔父 · paternal line
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 210
Kin of Yuan Shu (袁術)
cousin 從弟
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 133
Child of Father of Yuan Shao (袁紹父)
father 父 · paternal line
Strongly inferred · Book of Later Han 76, passage 210
Parent of Yuan Tan (譚)
son 子
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 40, passage 243

Kinship Role sons · Quantity unspecified
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 18, passage 214

Key source chapters

Career and standing

metropolitan commandant 司隸校尉
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 175
middle colonel of the Western Garden 中軍校尉
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 118
assistant army commandant 佐軍校尉
AD 189 中平六年 · Held
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 114, passage 42
Colonel Director of Retainers 司隶校尉
Held
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 113, passages 117, 122
General-in-Chief 大將軍
Held
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 40, passage 231
leader of the palace tiger guard 虎賁中郎將
Held
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 118

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credentials 假節
Credentials granted · Received
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 175

Places and affiliations

Later Han 後漢
Relation Active in
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 113, passage 117
Polity Eastern Han 東漢 · Relation Active under
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 40, passage 231
Polity Eastern Han 東漢 · Relation Lived under
Strongly inferred · Book of Later Han 76, passage 118
Polity Eastern Han 東漢 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passages 131, 190
Polity Eastern Han 漢 · Relation Served
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 114, passage 295
Polity Han 漢 · Relation Active in
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 18, passage 214

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At Ji province 冀州 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 40, passage 231
At Jizhou 冀州 · Relation Held
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 113, passage 144

Works and attributed material

Speech · Speaker · With He Jin (何進)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passages 142-146

Events and relationships

Attacked and beheaded
AD 198 建安三年 · Military · Attacker · With Gongsun Zan (公孫瓚)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 114, passage 295
Defeated by
AD 200 建安五年十一月 · Military · Commander · With Cao Cao (魏武)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 113, passage 145
Defeated by
Military · Commander · With Cao Cao (魏武)
Directly stated · Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance 138, passage 112
Faced
Military · Commander · With Cao Cao (魏武) · At Guandu 官度
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 40, passage 243
Forged edict and beheaded Fan Ling and Xu Xiang
Political · Executor · With Yuan Wei (袁隗)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 210
Forged orders in name of
AD 189 六年 · Political · Forger · With He Jin (何進)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 184

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Plotted to kill eunuchs
AD 189 中平六年 · Political · Conspirator · With He Jin (何進)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 114, passage 42
Sealed Northern Palace and slaughtered eunuchs
Massacre · Commander
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passages 215-217
Sent east
Military · Commander · At Xu and Yan 徐兗
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 122
Relation Recruiter of · Person Zhang Xiu (張繡)
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 18, passage 214
Relation Host of · Person Zheng Xuan (鄭玄)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 40, passage 231
Relation Advisor of · Person He Jin (何進)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passages 131, 142
Relation Military opponent of · Person Cao Cao (魏武)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 40, passage 243

Assessments and attributes

Assessment good-at-nurturing-knights · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 76, passage 133

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 40, passage 187; Book of Later Han 76, passages 118, 186; Book of Later Han 114, passage 295; Old History of the Five Dynasties 18, passage 214; New History of the Five Dynasties 43, passage 60

References in the histories

Search passages

History

39 passages

Book of Later Han, Chapter 40Volume 35: Biographies of Zhang, Cao, Zheng · 5 passages

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時，大將軍袁紹總兵冀州，遣使要玄，大會賓客，玄最後至，乃延升上坐。 Yuan Shao of Ji invited him to a great banquet; Zheng Xuan came last and was shown to the highest seat.

紹客多豪俊，並有才說，見玄儒者，未以通人許之，競設異端，百家互起。 Yuan's guests were swaggering debaters who, seeing a mere Ru, denied him mastery and tried every paradox from every school.

時汝南應劭亦歸於紹，因自贊曰：『故太山太守應中遠，北面稱弟子何如？』 Ying Shao of Runan, also Yuan's client, boasted: "I am Ying Zhongyuan, late prefect of Taishan—may I face north as your disciple?"

紹乃舉玄茂才，表為左中郎將，皆不就。 Yuan Shao then nominated him flourishing talent and recommended him as general of the household for the left; Zheng Xuan refused both.

時袁紹與曹操相拒於官度，令其子譚遣使逼玄隨軍，不得已，載病到元城縣，疾篤不進，其年六月卒，年七十四。 While Yuan Shao and Cao Cao faced off at Guandu, Yuan Tan sent men to drag him to camp; he yielded, rode sick to Yuancheng, could go no farther, and died there that sixth month at seventy-four.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 76Volume 69: Biographies of Dou, He · 17 passages

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是時置西園八校尉，以小黃門蹇碩為上軍校尉，虎賁中郎將袁紹為中軍校尉，屯騎都尉鮑鴻為下軍校尉，議郎曹操為典軍校尉，趙融為助軍校尉，淳于瓊為佐軍校尉，又有左右校尉。 The court created eight Western Garden colonelcies: the eunuch Jian Shuo as senior colonel, Yuan Shao of the tiger guard as middle colonel, Bao Hong as junior colonel, Cao Cao as marshal colonel, with Zhao Rong and Chunyu Qiong as assistant and deputy colonels, plus left and right colonels.

進陰知其謀，乃上遣袁紹東擊徐兗二州兵，須紹還，即戎事，以稽行期。 He Jin saw through the ruse and memorialized that Yuan Shao be sent east against forces in Xu and Yan, vowing to march west only after Yuan returned—stalling his departure.

袁紹亦素有謀，因進親客張津勸之曰：「黃門常侍權重日久，又與長樂太后專通姦利，將軍宜更清選賢良，整齊天下，為國家除患。」 Yuan Shao, who had long nursed the same ambition, sent He Jin's confidant Zhang Jin with this counsel: "the chief eunuchs had held power for years and, with the Dowager of Changle Palace, skimmed illicit gains; He Jin should purge the ranks, promote worthy men, set the realm to rights, and rid the state of this scourge."

又以袁氏累世寵貴，海內所歸，而紹素善養士，能得豪傑用，其從弟虎賁中郎將術亦尚氣俠，故並厚待之。 The Yuan house had been honored for generations and commanded loyalty across the empire; Yuan Shao knew how to gather fighting men, and his cousin Yuan Shu, another tiger guard leader, was a man of bravado—so He Jin treated both with lavish favor.

袁紹復說進曰：「前竇武欲誅內寵而反為所害者，以其言語漏泄，而五營百官服畏中人故也。 Yuan Shao urged He Jin again: "Dou Wu had fallen because word of his plot leaked and the northern legions and the bureaucracy still feared the eunuchs.

遂與紹定籌策，而以其計白太后。 He and Yuan Shao fixed their strategy and laid it before the empress dowager.

紹以為中官親近至尊，出入號令，今不悉廢，後必為患。 Yuan Shao argued that eunuchs stood closest to the throne and issued orders in his name; unless the institution was rooted out, it would bring disaster later.

紹等又為畫策，多召四方猛將及諸豪傑，使並引兵向京城，以脅太后。 Yuan Shao and his party proposed summoning regional strongmen to march on the capital and intimidate the empress dowager.

紹懼進變計，乃脅之曰：「交搆已成，形埶已露，事留變生，將軍復欲何待，而不早決之乎？」 Fearing He Jin would waver, Yuan Shao pressed him: "the snare was set and their purpose known; delay bred treachery—what was he waiting for?"

進於是以紹為司隸校尉，假節，專命擊斷； He Jin then named Yuan Shao metropolitan commandant, gave him the baton, and authorized summary executions;

紹使洛陽方略武吏司察宦者，而促董卓等使馳驛上，欲進兵平樂觀。 Yuan Shao set Luoyang's investigators on the eunuchs and prodded Dong Zhuo and the rest to race toward the capital, intent on marching to the Pingle Lodge.

袁紹勸進便於此決之，至于再三。 Yuan Shao begged him to settle accounts then and there—again and again.

紹又為書告諸州郡，詐宣進意，使捕案中官親屬。 Yuan Shao forged orders in He Jin's name to the provinces, commanding the arrest of eunuchs' relatives.

袁紹與叔父隗矯詔召樊陵、許相，斬之。 Yuan Shao and his uncle Yuan Wei forged orders to lure Fan Ling and Xu Xiang in and had them executed.

苗、紹乃引兵屯朱雀闕下，捕得趙忠等，斬之。 He Miao and Yuan Shao marched to the Vermilion Bird gate, seized Zhao Zhong and his clique, and put them to the sword.

紹遂閉北宮門，勒兵捕宦者，無少長皆殺之。 Yuan Shao sealed the Northern Palace, sent soldiers hunting eunuchs, and slaughtered every one they found, young or old.

紹因進兵排宮，或上端門屋，以攻省內。 Yuan Shao drove his men into the palace compounds; some climbed onto the roof of the Duan Gate to shoot down into the inner court.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 113Volume 102: Astronomy Part Three · 5 passages

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中平六年，官车晏驾，大将军何进令司隶校尉袁绍私募兵千余人，阴跱雒阳城外，窃呼并州牧董卓使将兵至京都，共诛中官，对战南、北宫阙下，死者数千人，燔烧宫室，迁都西京。 In Zhongping 6 the emperor died; He Jin ordered Yuan Shao as colonel director of retainers to raise a thousand picked troops outside Luoyang and secretly call Dong Zhuo from Bingzhou; the plot to slaughter the eunuchs ignited fighting at the palace gates, thousands fell, the halls went up in flames, and the court fled west.

至六年，司隶校尉袁绍诛灭中官，大将军部曲将吴匡攻杀车骑将军何苗，死者数千人。 By Zhongping 6 Yuan Shao had extirpated the eunuchs, while Wu Kuang, an officer of He Jin’s guard, cut down He Miao the chariot-and-cavalry general—several thousand died in the melee.

时袁绍在冀州。 Yuan Shao then held Jizhou.

其年十一月，绍军为曹公所破。 In the eleventh month Cao Cao shattered Yuan Shao’s host.

七年夏，绍死，后曹公遂取冀州。 Shao died the next summer, and Cao Cao soon seized Jizhou.

Book of Later Han, Chapter 114Volume 103: Five Elements Part One · 2 passages

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是時，靈帝新棄羣臣，大行尚在梓宫，大將軍何進與佐軍校尉袁紹等共謀欲誅廢中官。 Emperor Ling had just died; his bier still stood in the palace when He Jin the general-in-chief and Yuan Shao, an assistant commandant of the army, conspired to slaughter the eunuchs and strip them of office.

建安三年，袁紹攻瓚，瓚大敗，縊其姊妹妻子，引火自焚，紹兵趣登臺斬之。 In Jian'an 3 Yuan Shao attacked Zan; Zan was greatly defeated, strangled his sisters, wife, and children, set fire and burned himself; Shao's troops rushed up the tower and beheaded him.

Book of Jin, Chapter 117Volume 117 Records 17: Yao Xing Part One · 1 passage

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今苻登未滅而自尋干戈，所謂追二袁之蹤，授首與人。 Fu Deng still lives; civil war would repeat the folly of the two Yuans and hand victory away.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 18Volume 18 Book of Later Liang 18: Biographies 8: Zhang Wenyu, Xue Yiju, Zhang Ce, Du Xiao, Jing Xiang, Li Zhen · 1 passage

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漢末，繡屢與曹公立敵，豈德之耶，及袁紹遣使招繡，賈詡曰：『袁家父子自不相容，何能主天下英士，曹公挾天子令諸侯，其志大，不以私仇為意，不宜疑之。』 At the end of Han, Xiu had often fought Lord Cao—would Cao have treated that as a kindness? When Yuan Shao sent envoys to recruit Xiu, Jia Xu said: 'The Yuan father and son cannot abide each other—how could they lead the realm's heroes? Lord Cao holds the Son of Heaven and commands the feudal lords; his aim is great and he does not settle private scores—you should not doubt him.'

Book of Liang, Chapter 14Volume 14: Jiang Yan; Ren Fang · 1 passage

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淹對曰：「昔項強而劉弱，袁衆而曹寡，羽號令諸侯，卒受一劍之辱，紹跨躡四州，終爲奔北之虜。 Yan answered, "Once Xiang Yu was strong and Liu Bang weak, Yuan Shao had numbers and Cao Cao few; Yu ruled the lords yet died by one sword, Yuan held four provinces yet fled north in defeat.

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chapter 62Volume 62: Book of Wu 17: Biographies of Shi Yi and Hu Zong · 2 passages

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其三曰：“昔遠子捨袁就曹，規畫計較，應見納受，遂破袁軍，以定曹業。 The third reads: "When Xu You left Yuan Shao for Cao Cao, his counsel was heeded, Yuan's host was broken, and Cao's power was secured.

向使曹氏不信子遠，懷疑猶豫，不決於心，則今天下袁氏有也。 Had Cao Cao doubted Xu You and hesitated, the realm would belong to the Yuans today.

History of Song, Chapter 359Volume 359 Biographies 118: Li Gang 2 · 2 passages

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曹操、袁紹戰於官渡，操雖兵弱糧乏，荀彧止其退避； When Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought at Guandu, though Cao's army was weak and supplies short, Xun Yu dissuaded him from retreat.

既焚紹輜重，紹引而歸，遂喪河北。 Once Yuan Shao's supply train was burned and he withdrew homeward, he lost all of Hebei.

Book of Song, Chapter 89Volume 89 Biographies 49: Yuan Can · 1 passage

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齊永明元年，詔曰：「昔魏矜袁紹，恩給丘墳； In the first year of Yongming under Qi, an edict said: "Formerly Wei showed pity for Yuan Shao and bestowed favor on his mound and tomb;

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 43Volume 43 Miscellaneous Biographies 23: Shi Shucong, Li Yanwei, Li Zhen, Pei Di, Wei Zhen, Kong Xun, Sun Dezhao, Wang Jingrao, Jiang Yin · 1 passage

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繡與曹公為敵，然不歸袁紹而歸曹公者，知其志大，不以私讎殺人也。 Xiu fought Cao Cao yet chose Cao over Yuan Shao—because he knew Cao’s mind was large and would not murder over old scores.

Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, Chapter 138Volume 138 Qi Records 4 · 1 passage

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昔魏武以弊卒一萬破袁紹，謝玄以步兵三千摧苻秦，勝負之變，決於須臾，不在眾寡也。」 In the past Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao with ten thousand exhausted troops, and Xie Xuan crushed the army of Former Qin with three thousand infantry—the outcome turns in a moment, not on numbers alone."