The Runan Yuan family was a behemoth in the early period of the Three Kingdoms, not only with Yuan Kui and Yuan Feng, but also with the younger generations Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu brothers, who were also heavyweight princes who dominated one side.

The northern Yuan group, dominated by Yuan Shao, took Yuan Shao's death as the dividing point, and was divided into the Yuan Shao era and the post-Yuan Shao era dominated by his sons.

【Yuan Shao Period】

Yuan Shao is the core figure of the Yuan group in the north, single-handedly pushing the old Yuan family to the pinnacle of glory, but also the biggest promoter of its decline.

Yuan Shao is the son of the Yuan clan in Runan, he has a great background, and he is also very hard-working, and later he became the core cadre under the command of the general He Jin to give advice to him, and a lot of force has been formed around him. After becoming the leader of the anti-Dong coalition army, his prestige reached a new height, and Xu You, Xun Chen, Xin Ping, Guo Tu, Feng Ji and others began to gather around him.

After Yuan Shao entered Jizhou, he was newly awarded a series of talents, such as Fu Zhu, Tian Feng, Trial, Ko Yi, Zhang He, etc., in the gradual development of Yuan Shao Group, his command formed a frustration as the second person in the prison army, Wen Tian Feng, Trial, Xu You, Xun Chen, Feng Ji, Xin Ping, Guo Tu, Zang Hong, Chen Lin and others first, Wu to Liyi, Gao Lan, Han Xun, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhang He, Chun Yuqiong as the main force of a powerful force, outside the north Yuan Shao also left Zhou Xin brothers and Yuan Yi to try to get involved in Yangzhou.

Yuan Shao's main threat in the early stage of development in the north was Gongsun Zhan, after Yuan Shao defeated him in the Battle of Jieqiao, Gongsun Zhan and Yuan Shao turned into a stalemate situation, and later Gongsun Chan risked the world's disapproval to kill Liu Yu, resulting in turmoil in Youzhou, Yuan Shao sent Lu Yi to give Gongsun Chan a fatal blow in Baoqiu, after which he could only trap Yijing, and was finally eliminated by Yuan Shao.

In addition to Gongsun Zhan, the Black Mountain Army and other Yellow Turban remnants also caused a lot of trouble to Yuan Shao, and even once conquered Yuan Shao's base camp Yecheng, but the trouble is just trouble, after Yuan Shao waved the army back, he successfully repelled the thief army, recaptured Yecheng, and killed many leaders of the Montenegrin Army, giving the Montenegrin Army a heavy blow, although it did not completely eliminate Zhang Yan and others, but dealt a heavy blow to the other party's forces.

And Yuan Shao's main enemy in the later period was his former ally Cao Cao. In the Jian'an period, Cao Cao, who had won the Son of Heaven, began not to take Yuan Shao in his eyes, and the contradiction between the two intensified, under the strong pressure of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao had no choice but to give up the position of general to Yuan Shao, and let Yuan Shao dominate the four northern states in order to ease the contradiction with Yuan Shao and buy time.

After Yuan Shao eliminated Gongsun Zhan, he reached the peak of his power and officially began to fight against Cao Cao, but Yuan Shao made several unforgivable mistakes in the Battle of Guandu, which led to the complete collapse of Yuan Shao's army and a heavy defeat to Cao Cao. This battle was a turning point for Yuan Shao from prosperity to decline, after which the Yuan group began to go downhill.

Yuan Shao was also devastated by this battle, he died of illness after quelling the rebellion in the north, and did not leave a will to determine that the son would inherit his great cause.

【Post-Yuan Shao Period】

After Yuan Shao's death, the Yuan clan was led by his sons, but instead of improving, the Yuan clan declined in a straight line until it was completely destroyed. One of the most important reasons for this is infighting. The internal struggle of the Yuan clique greatly depleted and weakened their own strength, giving Cao Cao, a strong external enemy, an opportunity.

As early as when Yuan Shao was alive, the signs of infighting were already obvious, Fu Zhu and Guo Tu, Feng Ji and Tian Feng were full of contradictions with each other, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang also fought with each other because of the issue of inheritance, Yuan Shao failed in Guandu There was an element of infighting, and after Yuan Shao's death, the internal confrontation within the Yuan family not only did not stop, but became more and more intense.

At that time, the Yuan family was mainly divided into two camps, one wave of people led by Yuan Tan, hoping to inherit the great cause of Yuan Tan as the eldest son, which mainly included Guo Tu, Xin Ping and Xin Bi and others, and the other wave was led by Yuan Shang, most of them gathered in Yecheng, the reason why they supported Yuan Shang, on the one hand, although they had a good relationship with Yuan Shang, but there were also reasons for conflicts with Yuan Tan and the people around him, which mainly included trial and Feng Ji and others.

As a result, Yuan Shang and his faction took advantage of Yuan Tan's absence to make a fake document to let Yuan Shang inherit the great cause, and the two brothers also had a deep conflict. When they faced Cao Cao's army, their faces and hearts were not in harmony, and they couldn't work together, and the result was not Cao Cao's opponent at all.

After Cao Cao retreated, the contradiction between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang broke out in an all-round way, the two sides directly met each other, Yuan Shang was able to suppress Yuan Tan with the help of strong strength, and Yuan Tan in order to defeat Yuan Shang, finally accepted Guo Tu's suggestion, pretending to submit to Cao Cao, in order to obtain the help of the imperial court, the result was to lure the wolf into the house, so that Cao Cao easily conquered Yecheng when Yuan Shang was out, and after Yuan Shang failed, Yuan Tan was not Cao Cao's opponent and was eliminated.

After Yuan Shang fled to Youzhou, he and Yuan Xi were driven to the territory of the Wuheng people by their subordinates, they originally tried to restore the great cause with the help of the Wuheng people, and then Cao Cao waved his army to crusade against Wuheng, Yuan Shang and others were forced to go into exile again, take refuge in Gongsun Kang, and were killed by him, the Yuan family was completely destroyed, and basically withdrew from the historical stage of the Three Kingdoms era.

【Overview】

The initial period of the Yuan group in the north was from the first year of Chuping (190) to the second year of Chuping (191), when Yuan Shao became the leader of the anti-Dong coalition to seize Jizhou from Han Fu. Although Yuan Shao had been appointed by Dong Zhuo as the Taishou of Bohai earlier, he had his own territory, but because he was restricted by Jizhou Mu Hanfu, he actually didn't even have freedom, let alone his own power.

Han Fu decided to participate in the anti-Dong before giving Yuan Shao freedom, and later Yuan Shao became the leader of the coalition before he integrated a small force. And after he seized Han Fu Jizhou, he had his own reliable base, and then Yuan Shao began the road of hegemony with Jizhou.

The development period of the Yuan Group was from the second year of Chuping (191) to the fourth year of Jian'an (199), until Yuan Shao eliminated Gongsun Zhan. During this period, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Chan began the battle for hegemony in the north, and many major battles broke out between the two sides, and after the Battle of Baoqiu, Gongsun Chan was no longer able to fight against Yuan Shao, and could only trap Yi Jing. In the second year of Jian'an (197), the imperial court appointed Yuan Shao as a general to supervise the four northern states, and two years later Yuan Shao completely eliminated Gongsun Zan and became the lord of the north in the true sense.

The heyday of the Yuan Group was from the fourth year of Jian'an (199 to) to the fifth year of Jian'an (200), until Yuan Shao's defeat in Guandu. After the elimination of Gongsun Zhan, Yuan Shao was a general at that time, and his nominal status was only under Emperor Han Xian, the son of heaven, under one person, above ten thousand people, and he had the strongest strength at that time. After the defeat of Guandu to Cao Cao, Yuan Shao's power plummeted, and there were many rebellions in the territory, which never happened again.

The decline period of the Yuan Group was from the fifth year of Jian'an (200) to the twelfth year of Jian'an (207), until the death of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, and the complete destruction of the Yuan family. After the failure of Guandu, Yuan Shao was hit hard and died of illness, and the third son Yuan Shang succeeded to the throne through abnormal means, which led to the intensification of the contradiction with the eldest son Yuan Tan, and finally the two brothers broke up, giving Cao Cao the opportunity to invade, Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan were defeated successively, Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang were killed in Liaodong, and the Yuan family basically withdrew from the historical stage.