Yuan Shao (simplified: 袁绍, traditional: 袁紹, pinyin: Yuán Shào), courtesy name Benchu (本初 Běnchū), was an Eastern Han warlord from the Runan Yuan clan, which supplied ‘four generations and five as Three Dukes’ (四世三公). He served He Jin, helped purge the eunuchs, opposed Dong Zhuo and fled to Bohai; the Guan Dong coalition elected him leader. He took Jizhou from Han Fu, defeated Gongsun Zan and the Black Mountain bandits, and came to hold Ji, Qing, You, and Bing—the strongest power in the north. He rejected advice to welcome the emperor; Cao Cao did so and later yielded him the title Grand General. At Guandu in 200, Cao Cao defeated him; after another defeat at Cangting he fell ill and died in 202. His sons Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang fought for succession and were destroyed by Cao Cao.
Biography
Early life and family
Yuan Shao was from Ruyang County, Runan Commandery (modern Shangshui, Henan). The Yuan house had held the highest offices for four generations: his great-great-grandfather Yuan An was Minister over the Masses and Minister of Works; his grandfather Yuan Tang was Minister of Works, Minister over the Masses, and Grand Commandant; his biological father Yuan Feng was Minister of Works; his uncle Yuan Wei was Minister over the Masses and Grand Tutor.
Yuan Shao’s mother was a servant. Yuan Feng’s elder brother Yuan Cheng (Colonel of the Gentlemen of the Household) died young, and Yuan Shao was given in adoption to Yuan Cheng’s line, so in ritual terms he was Yuan Cheng’s heir. His full brothers were Yuan Ji (elder) and Yuan Shu (younger).
He was handsome and dignified, and in his youth held the post of Gentleman (郎). He became Magistrate of Puyang (濮阳长) and had a reputation for integrity. When his mother died he left office and observed three years’ mourning; he then observed three years for his adoptive father Yuan Cheng. After six years in mourning he lived in Luoyang in seclusion, associating with men of reputation and refusing recruitment. The eunuch Zhao Zhong complained that Yuan Shao was ‘sitting and making a name, keeping desperadoes’ and not answering summons. Under pressure from his uncle Yuan Wei, Yuan Shao finally accepted appointment under the Grand General He Jin and became Colonel of the Gentlemen of the Household (虎贲中郎将). In 188 he was made Central Colonel (中军校尉) of the new Western Garden Army, effectively second to the eunuch Jian Shuo.
Purge of the eunuchs
He Jin and Yuan Shao planned to eliminate the eunuchs. Yuan Shao urged He Jin to act decisively; when the Empress Dowager He and He Jin’s brother He Miao resisted, Yuan Shao advised summoning outside troops to pressure the court. He Jin called in Dong Zhuo and others. Before they arrived, the eunuchs lured He Jin into the palace and killed him.
Yuan Shao and Yuan Wei had He Jin’s men attack the palace. Yuan Shao’s cousin Yuan Shu led the assault on the gates; Yuan Shao had eunuchs and their associates—including Xu Xiang and Fan Ling—killed, and ordered the northern palace closed and all eunuchs hunted down. Some two thousand were killed; men without beards were sometimes mistaken for eunuchs. Zhang Rang and Duan Gui fled with the young Emperor and the Prince of Chenliu; they were pursued and eventually drowned. Dong Zhuo met the emperor’s party and brought it back to the capital.
Opposition to Dong Zhuo and flight to Bohai
Dong Zhuo proposed deposing the young Emperor in favour of the Prince of Chenliu (the future Emperor Xian). Yuan Shao objected; Dong Zhuo drew his sword and said the world lay in his hands. Yuan Shao replied: ‘The strong of the world are not only you, Lord Dong,’ laid his sabre across his waist, bowed, and left. He hung his official seal at the Eastern Gate and fled to Jizhou.
Dong Zhuo, advised not to drive Yuan Shao to rebellion given the Yuan clan’s network of protégés, had the court appoint Yuan Shao Administrator of Bohai (勃海太守) and Marquis of Kangxiang (邟乡侯). Yuan Shao still styled himself Colonel Director of the Retainers. In 190, when the Guan Dong provinces rose against Dong Zhuo, they elected Yuan Shao as leader. He took the title Chariot and Cavalry General (车骑将军). Dong Zhuo moved the court to Chang’an and had Yuan Wei, Yuan Ji, and the Yuan clan in the capital killed.
Coalition leader and seizure of Jizhou
The coalition armies gathered but often hesitated to fight. Yuan Shao was based in Henei with Wang Kuang; Han Fu in Ye supplied grain but grew jealous and tried to restrict Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao and Han Fu once considered enthroning the Governor of You Province, Liu Yu, as emperor; Liu Yu refused.
With Jizhou in mind, Yuan Shao had Feng Ji suggest inviting Gongsun Zan to attack Han Fu. Gongsun Zan did so, and Han Fu panicked. Yuan Shao sent Gao Gan, Xun Chen, Guo Tu, and others to Ye to persuade Han Fu to yield Jizhou. Han Fu’s officers opposed, but Han Fu, believing himself inferior and indebted to the Yuan house, agreed. He gave up the seal and moved out; Yuan Shao took over as Governor of Jizhou (冀州牧). Han Fu’s officer Zhu Han later raided Han Fu’s residence and broke his son’s legs; Yuan Shao had Zhu Han executed, but Han Fu fled to Zhang Miao and later committed suicide when he thought Yuan Shao’s envoy meant him harm.
Yuan Shao asked Ju Shou for a strategy. Ju Shou outlined securing Hebei (Ji, Qing, You, Bing), gathering heroes and a million troops, and welcoming the emperor to restore the Han. Yuan Shao promoted Ju Shou and put him in charge of coordinating the generals. He employed Tian Feng as Chief Clerk, Shen Pei as Controller, and Xu You, Feng Ji, and Xun Chen as advisers.
Wars with Gongsun Zan
Gongsun Zan had become an enemy when Yuan Shao sent Zhou Ang to seize Sun Jian’s base at Yangcheng; Gongsun Zan’s brother Gongsun Yue was killed helping Sun Jian, and Gongsun Zan blamed Yuan Shao. He invaded Jizhou and many commanderies defected to him.
At Jieqiao (191), Yuan Shao faced Gongsun Zan with Qu Yi in the van. Qu Yi’s eight hundred infantry and a thousand crossbows broke Gongsun Zan’s cavalry charge, then pursued and killed the appointed Inspector of Jizhou Yan Gang and over a thousand men. Yuan Shao was later caught with a small escort by stray enemy cavalry; he refused to hide behind a wall and had his crossbowmen return fire until Qu Yi’s troops reached him.
In 192, Gongsun Zan won at Juma River (Cui Juye defeated); later at Longcou, Yuan Shao defeated him again and Gongsun Zan withdrew to You Province. Yuan Shao also fought Gongsun Zan and Tian Kai for Qing Province for two years. He put down Black Mountain bandits (Yu Du and others) in 193; the bandit Tao Sheng once saved Yuan Shao’s family in Ye during a revolt. Yuan Shao fought Zhang Yan and Xiongnu in Changshan; Lü Bu helped him against Zhang Yan but then left after Yuan Shao refused him more troops and grew wary of his plundering.
Zang Hong’s rebellion and conflict with Gongsun Zan
Yuan Shao sent Zang Hong to be Administrator of Dong commandery. When Cao Cao besieged Zhang Chao (Zhang Miao’s brother) at Yongqiu, Zang Hong asked Yuan Shao to send troops; Yuan Shao refused. Zhang Chao’s line was wiped out and Zang Hong broke with Yuan Shao and held Dong commandery against him. Yuan Shao besieged him for over a year, took the city, and executed Zang Hong when he refused to submit.
With Liu Yu’s partisans and Wuhuan, Yuan Shao’s forces (including Qu Yi) defeated Gongsun Zan at Baoqiu in 195 and forced him to retreat to Yijing. Qu Yi later overreached and was defeated and killed by Gongsun Zan. Yuan Shao distributed provinces to his sons and nephew: Yuan Tan in Qing, Yuan Xi in You, Gao Gan in Bing, and Yuan Shang with him.
The emperor and the title of Grand General
When the emperor left Li Jue and Guo Si and reached Luoyang, Ju Shou (and in some accounts Tian Feng and Xu You) advised Yuan Shao to welcome him to Ye. Guo Tu and Chunyu Qiong argued that welcoming the emperor would tie their hands—obey and lose authority, disobey and be in defiance. Yuan Shao did not act. Cao Cao welcomed the emperor to Xu and from then on acted in the emperor’s name.
Cao Cao had the court appoint Yuan Shao Minister of War (太尉) and Marquis of Ye (邺侯). Yuan Shao, insulted to rank below Cao Cao (who was Grand General), refused and said that he had repeatedly saved Cao Cao and that Cao was now ‘holding the Son of Heaven to order him’. Cao Cao yielded the post of Grand General to Yuan Shao and in 197 sent Kong Rong to Ye to confer the seal and credentials. Yuan Shao was made Grand General (大将军), with authority over Ji, Qing, You, and Bing. His主簿 Geng Bao secretly suggested that the Han’s fire virtue was exhausted and the Yuan house (as descendants of Shun, yellow) should take the mandate; Yuan Shao showed this to his staff, they called it sedition, and he had Geng Bao executed to deflect suspicion.
War with Cao Cao and Guandu
Yuan Shao resolved to attack Cao Cao and take Xu. Tian Feng urged a protracted war and splitting forces to harass the south; Yuan Shao had him imprisoned for ‘damaging morale’. When Cao Cao went east to attack Liu Bei (200), Tian Feng had advised striking at Xu; Yuan Shao had refused on the grounds that his son was ill. Yuan Shao did send troops to Yanjin, where Yu Jin held the line.
In 200, Yuan Shao had Chen Lin draft a denunciatory proclamation against Cao Cao and sent Guo Tu, Chunyu Qiong, and Yan Liang to besiege Baima. Cao Cao moved to relieve Baima; Guan Yu (in Cao’s camp) killed Yan Liang. Yuan Shao crossed the Yellow River; at Yanjin, Cao Cao used supply carts as bait and defeated the pursuit; Wen Chou was killed. Yuan Shao advanced to Yangwu and then to Guandu, facing Cao Cao’s camp.
The two sides built earthworks and tunnels and fought for months. Yuan Shao’s numbers and grain gave him the advantage; many in the south turned toward him. Xu You, whose family in Ye had been arrested by Shen Pei for breaking the law, defected to Cao Cao and revealed that Chunyu Qiong was escorting supply wagons to Wuchao. Cao Cao led a night raid on Wuchao and burned the grain. Zhang He advised rescuing Chunyu Qiong; Guo Tu urged attacking Cao’s main camp. Yuan Shao sent a light force to Wuchao and heavy troops under Zhang He and Gao Lan to attack the camp. Wuchao fell; Zhang He and Gao Lan, unable to take the camp and hearing of the disaster, surrendered to Cao Cao. Yuan Shao’s army collapsed. He fled across the river with Yuan Tan; he regrouped at Jiang Yiqu’s camp.
Death and succession
After Guandu, Yuan Shao put down rebellions in Jizhou. In 201, Cao Cao struck again at Cangting and defeated him. Yuan Shao fell ill with haemorrhage (吐血). According to the Xiandi Chunqiu, when he died on 28 June 202, ‘the men and women of Hebei were grieved as if they had lost a kinsman’. He was said to have governed with leniency and to have been loved by the people.
He had favoured his youngest son Yuan Shang and left him in charge; Shen Pei and Feng Ji supported Yuan Shang. Yuan Tan, as eldest, contested this and allied with Guo Tu and Xin Ping. The brothers fought; Yuan Tan later allied with Cao Cao against Yuan Shang. Yuan Shao’s domain was gradually absorbed by Cao Cao; Yuan Tan was killed in 205, and Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi fled to the Wuhuan and then to Gongsun Kang in Liaodong, where they were killed in 207.
Personality and traits
Virtues and abilities
Yuan Shao was praised for his bearing and ability to win support. Ju Shou said he had ‘roused loyalty at the crisis of deposition’, ‘frightened Dong Zhuo by leaving alone’, and ‘bowed Hebei with one commandery’s troops and the masses of Jizhou’. Wang Can wrote that he had fine appearance and dignity, loved to nurture scholars and his name, and that guests of high and low rank flocked to him and were received as equals. He was capable of composure in crisis: when Ye was overrun by rebels and Black Mountain bandits during a feast, others wept or turned pale, but Yuan Shao ‘looked as usual’. At Jieqiao he refused to hide and insisted on fighting in the open.
Temperament
Contemporaries and later historians stressed his flaws. Cao Cao said he was ‘ambitious but petty in wisdom, fierce in appearance but timid, jealous and lacking authority; many troops but no clear organisation, arrogant generals and inconsistent orders’—his land and grain would only end up as supplies for others. Xun Yu said he was ‘a hero of the common cloth, able to gather men but not to use them’, ‘outwardly tolerant but inwardly suspicious’, ‘slow and indecisive’, and that his army was ‘numerous but undisciplined’. Guo Jia said he ‘wanted to imitate the Duke of Zhou in deferring to scholars but did not know the key to employing men; many threads, few essentials; fond of plans but no resolution’. Yang Fu said he was ‘lenient but irresolute, fond of strategy but slow to decide; irresolution meant no authority, slowness meant losing the moment’. Chen Shou summed him up as ‘outwardly tolerant but inwardly jealous, fond of planning but unable to decide; having talent but not using it, hearing good advice but not accepting it; abolishing the嫡 and establishing the庶, abandoning ritual for favour’—so that his posterity fell and the altars of the state were overturned. Killing Tian Feng after defeat was judged worse than Xiang Yu’s rejection of Fan Zeng.
Physical appearance
Sources describe him as having fine appearance and dignified bearing (姿貌威容). The Yingxiong Ji says he was orphaned young, became a Gentleman, had a handsome face and imposing demeanour, and that people imitated his conduct.
Military achievements
Command and strategy
Yuan Shao expanded from Bohai to four provinces by combining diplomacy (e.g. persuading Han Fu to yield Jizhou), alliances (e.g. using Gongsun Zan to pressure Han Fu), and battle. He won major victories at Jieqiao against Gongsun Zan and repeatedly against the Black Mountain bandits. His strategic failures included not welcoming the emperor (so Cao Cao gained the initiative), rejecting Ju Shou’s and Tian Feng’s advice for protracted war and opportunist strikes, and at Guandu splitting his response (light relief to Wuchao, main force to Cao’s camp) so that both failed. His army was large but poorly coordinated; after Wuchao’s fall and the defection of Zhang He and Gao Lan, it disintegrated.
Notable battles
- Jieqiao (191): Qu Yi broke Gongsun Zan’s cavalry; Yuan Shao narrowly escaped a counterattack; Gongsun Zan retreated.
- Juma River (192): Cui Juye (under Yuan Shao) besieged Gu’an; Gongsun Zan counterattacked and inflicted heavy losses.
- Longcou (192): Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan again.
- Black Mountain (193): Yuan Shao crushed Yu Du and other bandits in the Taihang region.
- Baoqiu (195): With Liu Yu’s partisans and Wuhuan, defeated Gongsun Zan and drove him to Yijing.
- Yijing (198–199): Besieged Gongsun Zan’s fortress; intercepted his message to his son and Zhang Yan; used a false signal to draw him out, then took the fortress; Gongsun Zan killed his family and committed suicide.
- Guandu (200): After months of stalemate, Cao Cao raided Wuchao and burned grain; Yuan Shao’s army collapsed; Zhang He and Gao Lan defected.
- Cangting (201): Cao Cao attacked again; Yuan Shao defeated once more.
Political achievements
Yuan Shao led the Guan Dong coalition and held the title Grand General with authority over four provinces. He did not welcome the emperor and thus lost the political advantage to Cao Cao. He appointed his sons and nephew as provincial governors and tolerated Geng Bao’s suggestion of taking the mandate but had him killed when his staff objected. His governance in Hebei was remembered as lenient; the Xiandi Chunqiu says the people of Hebei wept at his death. His failure to designate an heir clearly and his favouring of Yuan Shang led to civil war between his sons and the destruction of his house.
Relationships
Family
Yuan Shao’s adoptive father was Yuan Cheng; his biological father was Yuan Feng. His brothers were Yuan Ji (killed with Yuan Wei by Dong Zhuo) and Yuan Shu (rival warlord). He had at least one sister who married Yang Biao. His wife Lady Liu bore Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang; she had five favoured concubines killed. Yuan Tan was his eldest son (later adopted to Yuan Ji). He favoured Yuan Shang as successor, which angered Yuan Tan and contributed to the succession struggle. His nephew Gao Gan governed Bing Province.
Advisers and generals
Key advisers included Ju Shou (strategist; captured at Guandu and later killed when trying to return), Tian Feng (imprisoned for opposing the southern campaign; executed after Guandu), Xu You (defected to Cao Cao before Wuchao), Shen Pei and Feng Ji (backed Yuan Shang), Guo Tu and Xin Ping (backed Yuan Tan). Generals included Yan Liang and Wen Chou (killed at Baima and Yanjin), Zhang He and Gao Lan (defected at Guandu), Qu Yi (victor at Jieqiao; later killed by Yuan Shao for arrogance), and Chunyu Qiong (killed at Wuchao). Chen Lin wrote his proclamation against Cao Cao; he later surrendered to Cao Cao.
Rivals and allies
He opposed Dong Zhuo and later Cao Cao. He cooperated with then fought Gongsun Zan, allied briefly with Lü Bu, and supported Cao Cao against Lü Bu and Zhang Miao before becoming Cao Cao’s main northern rival. Liu Biao was an ally; Yuan Shu and he were hostile. He refused to save Zhang Chao, which led to Zang Hong’s rebellion.
Anecdotes and allusions
’Benchu’ and the first year of Chuping
本初与初平 (Běnchū yǔ Chūpíng)
The first year of the reign era Chuping (初平) coincided with Yuan Shao’s courtesy name Benchu (本初). It was said he took this as an omen that he would ‘stabilise’ (平) the realm. The coalition did not, in the end, restore order.
Source: Later tradition
Type: Legendary
Refusing to hide behind the wall
大丈夫当前斗死 (Dàzhàngfū dāng qián dòu sǐ)
At Jieqiao, when stray Gongsun Zan cavalry surrounded Yuan Shao and his small guard, Tian Feng tried to pull him into a low wall for shelter. Yuan Shao threw down his helmet and said: ‘A man should fight to the death in front; how can hiding behind a wall save him?’ He had his crossbowmen return fire until relief arrived.
Source: Records of the Three Kingdoms, Hou Han shu
Type: Historical
Killing Tian Feng after defeat
绍杀田丰 (Shào shā Tián Fēng)
Tian Feng had been imprisoned for opposing the campaign. After Guandu, someone said Yuan Shao would now use him. Tian Feng said that if they had won he would live, but having lost he would die. When Yuan Shao returned, Feng Ji reported that Tian Feng had clapped his hands and laughed at the defeat. Yuan Shao had Tian Feng executed. Chen Shou compared this unfavourably to Xiang Yu’s rejection of Fan Zeng.
Source: Records of the Three Kingdoms
Type: Historical
Hebei wept as for a kinsman
河北士女莫不伤怨 (Héběi shìnǚ mò bù shāng yuàn)
The Xiandi Chunqiu records that Yuan Shao governed with leniency and was remembered fondly; when he died, ‘the men and women of Hebei were grieved as if they had lost a kinsman; in the streets they shed tears’.
Source: Xiandi Chunqiu (cited in Pei Songzhi)
Type: Historical
Achievements
- Military: Led the Guan Dong coalition; took Jizhou from Han Fu; defeated Gongsun Zan at Jieqiao, Longcou, and in the siege of Yijing; suppressed the Black Mountain bandits; fought Cao Cao at Guandu and Cangting and was defeated.
- Political: Served as Grand General and Governor of Ji Province; held nominal authority over Ji, Qing, You, and Bing; refused to welcome the emperor; left succession unclear and favoured Yuan Shang, leading to civil war.
- Legacy: Remembered as the most powerful northern warlord of his day and as a man who ‘had great ambition but little wisdom’, failed to use good counsel, and brought his house to ruin by favouritism and indecision.
Behind the scenes
Historical sources
Yuan Shao is covered in the Records of the Three Kingdoms (Wei 6: Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Liu Biao), the Book of the Later Han (Yuan Shao biography), and the Zizhi Tongjian. Pei Songzhi’s commentary draws on the Yingxiong Ji, Xiandi Chunqiu, Wei shu, and other texts. Chen Lin’s proclamation against Cao Cao (为袁绍檄豫州) gives the Yuan side of the conflict.
Historical vs literary portrayal
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms often portrays Yuan Shao as indecisive, status-obsessed, and unable to use his advisers, in line with Cao-Wei and later historiography. Fictional elements include his boasting of his lineage, looking down on Liu Bei, daily feasting during the anti-Dong Zhuo campaign, and being frightened by Zhao Yun at Jieqiao. The novel also exaggerates or simplifies his refusal to welcome the emperor and the roles of Ju Shou, Tian Feng, and Xu You. Historically, he was a formidable organiser and political figure whose strategic and succession choices led to his downfall.
Scholarly debates
Scholars debate his birth father (Yuan Cheng vs Yuan Feng and adoption), the exact reasons he did not welcome the emperor (contempt for the Dong Zhuo–appointed emperor vs preoccupation with Gongsun Zan and Zang Hong), and whether he had formally designated Yuan Shang as heir. The location of his tomb is disputed (Linzhang, Shangshui, Cangxian, or Xinxiang). Modern historians (e.g. Lü Simian, Fang Shiming) often stress his strengths—family prestige, ability to attract talent, and initial success in Hebei—as well as his fatal indecision and succession policy.
Historical evaluations
Contemporary assessments
- Cao Cao: ‘Yuan Shao has great ambition but petty wisdom; fierce look but timid heart; jealous and lacking authority; many troops but no clear organisation, arrogant generals and inconsistent orders. His land and grain are only provisions for us.’ Also: ‘Yuan Shao has great ambition but sees things slowly.’
- Xun Yu: ‘Yuan Shao is a hero of the common cloth; he can gather men but not use them.’ ‘Outwardly tolerant but inwardly suspicious’; ‘slow and indecisive’; ‘his army is numerous but undisciplined.’
- Ju Shou: (To Yuan Shao): ‘You made a name in your youth; at the crisis of deposition you showed loyalty; by leaving alone you frightened Dong Zhuo; north of the river, Bohai bowed. With one commandery’s troops and the masses of Jizhou, your might shook Hebei and your name weighs in the world.’
- Gongsun Zan: (Of Yuan Shao’s attack at Yijing): ‘Yuan’s assault was like gods and ghosts; drums and horns sounded under the ground, ladders and rams danced on my towers.‘
Chen Shou’s evaluation
Chen Shou wrote that Yuan Shao and Liu Biao ‘had dignified bearing and reputation and were famous in their time. Liu Biao straddled south of the Han, Yuan Shao soared over Hebei. Yet both were outwardly tolerant but inwardly jealous, fond of planning but unable to decide; they had talent but did not use it, heard good advice but did not accept it. They abolished the嫡 and established the庶, abandoned ritual for favour—so that their posterity toppled and the altars of the state fell. This was no accident. Of old, Xiang Yu rejected Fan Zeng’s plans and lost his kingdom; Yuan Shao’s killing of Tian Feng was worse than that by far.‘
Later dynasty evaluations
Fan Ye in the Hou Han shu described him as rising by knight-errant appeal and nurturing a hegemon’s design, so that ‘everyone who raised troops borrowed his name’. He was ‘outwardly refined and measured’ but ‘stubborn and self-important, short on following the good’, hence his defeat. Later writers (e.g. Luo Guanzhong, Hao Jing, He Qufei) continued to treat him as a man of great resources and prestige who failed through indecision and succession strife. Mao Zedong summed him up as ‘many plans, few decisions; he had plans but could not decide, so he lost at Guandu’.
Legacy
Cultural significance
Yuan Shao symbolises the aristocratic warlord who had every advantage—lineage, territory, troops, and advisers—but lost because of indecision, jealousy, and poor succession planning. The phrase ‘many plans but no decision’ (好谋无决) is often applied to him. His refusal to welcome the emperor and Cao Cao’s success in doing so are cited as a turning point in the struggle for the north.
Memorial sites
Several places are traditionally identified as Yuan Shao’s tomb: northwest of Linzhang (Hebei), in Shangshui (Henan), in Cangxian (Hebei), and near Xinxiang (Henan). None is certain; the Linzhang and Shangshui sites are the most commonly cited.
Artistic portrayals
Yuan Shao appears in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms as the coalition leader who fails to act decisively and is outmanoeuvred by Cao Cao. He features in film and television adaptations (e.g. Romance of the Three Kingdoms 1994, Three Kingdoms 2010) and in strategy and action games (e.g. Dynasty Warriors, Romance of the Three Kingdoms series). In the Romance he is often shown as proud of his lineage and unable to use men like Tian Feng and Ju Shou.
Timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| ? | Born in Runan (or Luoyang); adopted to Yuan Cheng |
| 188 | Appointed Central Colonel of Western Garden Army |
| 189 | Served He Jin; purge of eunuchs; opposed Dong Zhuo; fled to Jizhou; appointed Administrator of Bohai, Marquis of Kangxiang |
| 190 | Guan Dong coalition elected him leader; styled Chariot and Cavalry General; Dong Zhuo moved court to Chang’an; Yuan clan in capital killed |
| 191 | Took Jizhou from Han Fu; defeated Gongsun Zan at Jieqiao |
| 192 | Defeated at Juma River; won at Longcou; fought Black Mountain bandits; Qu Yi killed by Gongsun Zan |
| 193 | Crushed Black Mountain bandits; Ye revolt; Tao Sheng saved his family |
| 194–195 | Zang Hong rebelled; besieged Dong commandery; defeated Gongsun Zan at Baoqiu |
| 196 | Cao Cao welcomed emperor; Yuan Shao made Minister of War, Marquis of Ye; refused to rank below Cao Cao |
| 197 | Made Grand General; authority over four provinces |
| 198–199 | Siege of Yijing; Gongsun Zan destroyed |
| 200 | Guandu: Wuchao burned; defeated by Cao Cao |
| 201 | Defeated at Cangting |
| 202 | Died 28 June; Yuan Shang succeeded; sons later fought and were destroyed by Cao Cao |