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Post by Yuan Shao on Apr 7, 2012 12:44:14 GMT -5
ABOUT THE PLAYER
Player Name/Alias: pShivam Player Age: 16 Player Gender: Male How did you find us?: Reference (from Sam) What is the 5th bold rule point in section one of the rules?: OOC: separate accounts for all characters and also one for out of character discussion
ABOUT THE CHARACTER
Name: Yuan Shao Age: 73 Gender: Male Style: Canon Residence: He Bei
THE PERSONALITY
Yuan Shao regards himself as the supreme authority of China; despite his defeat at the hands of Cao Cao, he could not come to terms that a noble such as he would ever have to submit to the peasantry regardless of their previous friendship. He believes that his family comes before all else, and he would rather put off a battle than deny his children the glory of sweet victory if they should be feeling ill before the battle itself. More of a leader than a warrior, he sees no need to sully his hand with the blood of common barbarians, and for good reason too. For he controls a large portion northern China and puts his faith in his massive army and skilled tacticians. The recent loss of his famed generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou has hurt his pride, however (the defeat of these generals was inconceivable), and he seeks revenge against both Cao Cao and Guan Yu for the fiasco.
THE APPEARANCE
Yuan Shao dresses glamorously: his golden armour covers his otherwise weak body, and helps to project his misplaced pride in the name of his family. Behind his armour flows a purple cloak; a royal colour, clearly deserved by a lord such as he. His face is curved and noble; everything appears clean and in order, unlike the beasts of Cao Cao and Guan Yu. His greying hair is covered by a golden helmet encrusted with several jewels to display his fortune. By his side is always a sword as a way to show that he is always “prepared” for battle. He is fairly tall and slightly overweight from the various feasts that he hosts.
THE HISTORY A local of Ruyang County, Yuan Shao was born in a family with many members who had been in prominent positions in the civil bureaucracy of the Han Dynasty since the first century AD. Descended from Yuan An, who served during the reign of 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 a son of Yuan Feng (袁逢) and an older half-brother of Yuan Shu. Both Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were great-grandsons of Yuan An, as recorded in Wang Chen (王沈)'s Book of Wei (魏書). Yuan Shao's mother was originally a servant maid of Yuan Feng, and since Yuan Feng lacked male children, the birth of Yuan Shao elevated his mother's status from a maid to a concubine. Chen Shou's Records of Three Kingdoms claimed that Yuan Shao was an older cousin of Yuan Shu. The reason for this was that Yuan Feng's older brother also lacked male children, so Yuan Shao was adopted by Yuan Feng's older brother. The adoption infuriated Yuan Shu, because his mother had a higher status than Yuan Shao's mother, even though she was also a concubine of Yuan Feng. Yuan Shao's adoption by their uncle meant that Yuan Shao would become the eldest male child in their clan, and would enjoy more privileges than Yuan Shu. When Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu became involved in disputes later, Yuan Shu would use Yuan Shao's mother as an excuse to claim that Yuan Shao was not a true son of the Yuan family. As compared to Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao had a more serious appearance and he respected men of talent regardless of their background. As such, he was welcomed by many since his childhood, including Cao Cao and Zhang Miao.
By early 190, however, Yuan became openly hostile against Dong Zhuo (who was at the time, controlling the emperor). 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 ordered the execution of all members of the Yuan clan in Luoyang, and sent out emissaries with imperial edict to order the regional officials to disband. However, members of the coalition listened to Yuan Shao, and had all the emissaries executed instead (except Han Rong). Dong then sent Hu Zhen, Lü Bu, and 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 and Lü, and had them defeated at Yangren. After that loss, Dong decided to move the capital 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 to pursue Dong's retreating force, but Yuan and other members largely disagreed with their opinion.[4][5] 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.
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 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 Heishan 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, yet heavy casualties were incurred on both sides.[6] Anyway, the threat the Heishan 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 (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 oldest son, Yuan Tan, was exceptionally successful on his expansion in Qing Province;[3] in 195, 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 gave up the opportunity to welcome the emperor to Cao Cao. In 196 his prominent position in northern China was recognized by the imperial 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 (present day Xiongxian County, Hebei). By early 199 Gongsun Zan had been defeated for good at the 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.
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 (northwest of present-day Xun County, Henan), a major crossing point of the Yellow River. Cao Cao prepared his defenses around Guandu (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, Cao left his northern front exposed to Yuan and turned east to deal with Liu's rebellion. Tian Feng urged Yuan to attack Cao while he was away, but Yuan refused to launch an all-out offensive, 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 had Chen Lin draft a document condemning Cao in what was essentially a declaration of war, and marched his main army toward the forward base of Liyang north of the river. At the time, Yuan's army boasted of numbers over 100,000. Heavily outnumbering Cao and holding large cavalry force, Yuan's initial attacks almost overwhelmed his enemy's positions. It is recorded in the Records of Three Kingdoms that Cao Cao on several occasions considered relinquishing his position, and consulted his chief strategist, Xun Yu on that decision, which Xun strongly opposed and further encouraged Cao to hold on. Following an unexpected defection of one of Yuan Shao's strategists and personal friends, Xu You, Cao Cao received confidential information on the whereabout of Yuan Shao's food storage. A strike led by Cao Cao and Yue Jin at Yuan's supply depot in Wuchao in late 200 burned down most of the grains available to Yuan Shao's army, thus brought the northern army to a collapse. Zhang He and Gao Lan immediately defected once they got wind of what happened in Wuchao, and many generals followed suit, Yuan Shao was unable to stop the trend and fled north across the Yellow River with only hundreds of loyaltists.
Yuan's first major defeat was also a decisive one. Thereafter, he lost the advantage over Cao Cao and never regained it. In 201, his force was again defeated by Cao, this time at the Battle of Cangting (in present day Yanggu County, Shandong), and many cities formerly controlled by the Yuan family switched allegiance to Cao Cao.
Adding insult to injury, Yuan Shao allowed Cao Cao to take his youngest son, Yuan Shang, to the Red Cliff, but he was killed along with most of Cao Cao's other fleet. In addition to the death of his son, Yuan Shao's advisor (Ju Shou) informed him that Yuan Shang was killed by a Wei ambush - adding insult to the already bitter Yuan Shao. He has not forgotten the embarrassment of his defeat at Guan Du and this in addition to Yuan Shang's death fuels his covert operations against the Wei kingdom.
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Sam
Junior Member
Posts: 88
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Post by Sam on Apr 7, 2012 14:51:57 GMT -5
Chapter Approved Soldier I don't want to see you throwing your back out!
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