page_title: Yuan Shao
section_title: Acquisition and consolidation of Ji Province (191)
hierarchical_section_title: Yuan Shao / Unifying northern China (191–199) / Acquisition and consolidation of Ji Province (191)
caption_attribution_description: English: Map showing the major warlords in China in the 190s, before the definitive end of the Han dynasty in 220. Dong Zhuo faction: When Emperor Ling died in 189, Dong Zhuo was appointed protector over Emperor Shao, a position he abused to control the government and install Emperor Xian. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao launched the Campaign against Dong Zhuo (190–191), forcing Dong Zhuo's faction and the captive Emperor Xian to flee from Luoyang to Chang'an. Lü Bu staged a coup and killed Dong Zhuo in 192, but was expelled by Li Jue and Guo Si. These entered into war in 195, lost the emperor to Cao Cao in 196 and were eliminated in 198. Cao Cao faction: Cao Cao began his gradual conquest of Yan Province in 191, completing it by 195 and expanding into the neighbouring provinces of Xu, Yu and Sili (completed by 199), capturing the emperor in 196 and defeating numerous minor warlords until he clashed with the powerful and wealthy but indecisive Yuan Shao. Cao Cao's victory over Yuan Shao at Guandu in 200 and successive victories made him the most powerful warlord in China, laying the foundation of the later Kingdom of Wei. By 214, he had also conquered the northwestern provinces. Sun Ce faction: Sun Ce, son of Sun Jian, served under Yuan Shu until the latter declared himself emperor in 197, and was defeated by a coalition of warlords. Sun Ce seceded from Yuan Shu, established his own territory in Jiangdong, defeated Liu Yong in 198, and was succeeded by his brother Sun Quan in 200, laying the foundation of the later Kingdom of Wu. In 215, Sun Quan and Liu Bei divided the Jing Province between them, but in 219 Sun Quan conquered the whole province. In 226, Wu ally Shi Xie died and Wu general Lü Dai conquered and annexed Jiao Province from Shi Xie's sons. Liu Bei faction: Liu Bei succeeded Tao Qian as the governor of Xu Province in 194. He was captured by Lü Bu in 195, but escaped to Cao Cao in 196; in 199 they jointly defeated and executed Lü Bu and captured Xu Province. Liu Bei then defected to Yuan Shao, but when the latter was defeated by Cao Cao in 200, he fled south and eventually allied himself with Sun Quan. In 212–214 he conquered Yi Province, laying the foundation of the later Kingdom of Shu. He tried to remain allies with Wu while attacking Wei, conquering Hanzhong in 217–219. Yuan Shao faction: In 191, Yuan Shao tricked governor Han Fu into surrendering Ji Province to him. Yuan Shao's son Yuan Tan conquered Qing Province from Kong Rong in 196. Around 199, Yuan Shao's nephew Gao Gan became governor of Bing Province. Gongsun Zan was definitively defeated by Yuan Shao in 199, giving him control of most of You Province. Cao Cao heavily defeated Yuan Shao in the 200 Battle of Guandu, and successively eliminated the entire Yuan clan and conquered their four provinces by 207. 中文（中国大陆）‎: 东汉末年的群雄军阀割据示意图，包括曹操、袁绍、刘表、孙策、公孙瓒、士燮、马腾、刘璋、刘备、吕布、袁术、公孙度、张鲁、张绣、李傕等 العربية: خريطة تظهر أمراء الحرب الرئيسيين في الصين في حوالي العام 190م، قبل نهاية سلالة هان في العام 200م.
context_page_description: Yuan Shao, courtesy name Benchu, was a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil wars that occurred towards the end of the Han dynasty. He was also an elder half-brother of Yuan Shu, a warlord who controlled the Huai River region, though the two were not on good terms with each other.
  One of the most powerful warlords of his time, Yuan Shao spearheaded a coalition of warlords against Dong Zhuo, who held Emperor Xian hostage in the imperial capital, Luoyang, but failed due to internal disunity. In 200, he launched a campaign against his rival Cao Cao but was defeated at the Battle of Guandu. He died of illness two years later in Ye. His eventual failure despite his illustrious family background and geographical advantages was commonly blamed on his indecisiveness and inability to heed the advice of his advisers.
context_section_description: As many volunteers from different provinces had flocked to join Yuan Shao, Bohai Commandery would be far from sufficient to supply his army. Thus, Pang Ji suggested to Yuan Shao to form a secret alliance with the warlord Gongsun Zan and incite the latter to attack Han Fu's Ji Province. Facing an imminent attack from Gongsun Zan, Han Fu was terrified so he listened to Yuan Shao's lobbyists, Gao Gan (Yuan Shao's nephew) and Xun Chen, to give up the governorship of Ji Province to Yuan Shao in order to drive back Gongsun Zan. Yuan Shao then began to build a warlord state from Ye, the capital of Ji Province. In order to curtail Yuan Shu's sphere of influence, Yuan Shao formed an alliance with Cao Cao and Zhang Miao, and named his follower, Zhou Yu (周喁) as the 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 Zan and Tao Qian, and ordered Sun Jian to fight his half-brother.
  Although Zhou Yu managed to defeat the forces of Sun Jian in the Battle of Yangcheng, he lost to Sun Jian in the following battles. The first battles between the brothers 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 Jian, and eliminated Zhou Yu 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 cousin Gongsun Yue (公孫越) in battle and formally declared war against him, rejecting all of Yuan Shao's protestations of goodwill. This led to the clash between Yuan Shao and Gongsun in the Battle of Jieqiao.
  The Battle of Yangcheng, being the first move in the struggle between the two Yuans, marked the beginning of a new stage in the confusion of wars which brought about the end of the Han dynasty. This internecine struggle confirmed the undoing 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.
  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, Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan's elite cavalry at the Battle of Jieqiao with the use of massed crossbowmen. The Han imperial court issued an edict ordering Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan to cease fire. Yuan Shao then returned to Ye and started targeting the Heishan bandits, who had been causing trouble in Ji Province. With temporary aid from Lü Bu, Yuan Shao managed to defeat the Heishan bandits despite suffering heavy casualties. In any case, Yuan Shao succeeded in drastically reducing the threat posed by the Heishan bandits to his western flank.
caption: Map showing the major warlords of the Han dynasty in the 190s, including Yuan Shao
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