The ancients often used thirty years of Hedong and thirty years of Hexi as a metaphor for the impermanent changes of the world.
The protagonist of this article is Yuan Tan, the eldest son of Yuan Shao, and we will first understand the historical allusions of Yuan Tan:
Yuan Tan (?) –205), courtesy name Xiansi (字顯恩, in the Lineage of Dongguang, literally Xianzhong), was a native of Ruyang, Runan. A politician at the end of the Han Dynasty, the eldest son of the great general Yuan Shao, he served as the Assassin of Qingzhou. In the first year of Jian'an (196), he defeated Tian Kai and Kong Rong and completely occupied Qingzhou. After Yuan Shao's death, he tried to appoint other pseudo-testament decrees and supported Yuan Shang as his heir, and Yuan Tan could not succeed to the throne, and he was resentful. Later, the contradictions between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang broke out completely, and Yuan Tan and Cao Cao jointly attacked Yuan Shang. Ten years after Jian'an, Cao Cao's troops attacked Nanpi, and Yuan Tan struggled to resist, and finally was defeated under Cao Cao's rapid attack, and was killed by Cao Chun's tiger and leopard horse.
Before the first month of 200 AD, Yuan Shao was still the overlord of Hebei, and only a few months later, he was defeated by Cao Cao at the Battle of Guandu, and finally fled back to Jizhou like a lost dog. Long before he fled back to Jizhou, rebellions had already broken out throughout Jizhou. Yuan Shao, who had just experienced a fiasco in his life, had to put on the battlefield again in armor, and he quelled the civil unrest in less than a month, but successive wars consumed all his energy.
After the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao could no longer recall the idea of going south to seek hegemony, so he entrusted his internal affairs to his ministers, drank and enjoyed himself all day, and escaped from the style of a subjugated monarch. Since ancient times, the son inheriting his father's business is the most common thing, and it is reasonable to say that Yuan Shao has lost his fighting spirit, and his eldest son Yuan Tan should take this burden from his father's hands.
However, the fact is that Yuan Shao has always disliked this son and deliberately alienated Yuan Tan, even if everyone advised him that he should follow the system of primogeniture and make the grand duke Yuan Tan the son of the world, but Yuan Shao was always unmoved. As early as Yuan Tan's youth, Yuan Shao gave him to his clan relatives as an adopted son, and it was also at that time that Yuan Tan realized that his father did not spoil him. When Yuan Jun's army was defeated in the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao did not take Yuan Tan with him when he fled, and if it were not for Yuan Tan's premonition, he would have become a lone ghost after the great war.
After returning to Jizhou, Yuan Shao was addicted to wine, and Yuan Tan should have taken over the power of his father and rectified Hebei. However, his father Yuan Shao's preference for Yuan Shang's behavior made Yuan Tan realize that his position as the son of the world was far from being as beautiful as he thought. In order not to lose everything, the young and old Yuan Tan began to make plans early, and he asked his father to go to Qingzhou to command the soldiers and horses. After Yuan Tan arrived in Qingzhou, he used thunderous means to eliminate the bandits in Qingzhou, making the territory of Qingzhou extremely stable. However, Yuan Tan was afraid that one day he would repeat the mistakes of his father's failure, so he imposed heavy taxes in Qingzhou and forced the children of peasant families to join the army, making the lives of the common people miserable.
In 202 AD, Yuan Shao fell ill and died in Jizhou, and after his death, the position of Shizi was still vacant. Yuan Tan, who was still in Qingzhou, received the news of the funeral and received the will of his younger brother Yuan Shang to succeed to the throne. Although Yuan Tan had been prepared for all this, when things really happened, Yuan Tan still couldn't hold back his anger. He followed his father from birth to death, and as early as when his father was a small prince, he served as the vanguard of the army, fighting for the Yuan family, but in the end he was kicked away.
Yuan Tan could not bear such a result, and he not only refused the order to return to Jizhou to mourn, but also directly made himself a general and sat on an equal footing with Yuan Shangping. Yuan Shang was also afraid that this brother would rebel, so he sent an emissary Feng Ji to Qingzhou to monitor Yuan Tan. However, after Yuan Tan casually found a reason, he ordered Feng Ji to be executed, and since then the two brothers have been estranged.
In 203, Cao Cao twice attacked the two brothers of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, and finally returned with great victories, and the Yuan family's rule in Hebei was weakening. At this time, Yuan Tan listened to the advice of the counselors and launched an attack on Jizhou, where his brother Yuan Shang was located, with the principle that the outside of the bag must be safe before the inside. However, because most of the people in Jizhou were old subordinates of the Yuan family, although Yuan Tan had the title of Grand Duke, the defenders in the city were blindly guarded, and in the end Yuan Tan could only return with a feather.
In 204, Yuan Tan joined forces with Cao Cao to fight against Yuan Shang. Just as the so-called tiger skin was finally wounded by the tiger, during Cao Cao's siege of Yuan Shang, Cao's army suddenly turned to Yuan Tan's garrison and launched a fierce attack on Yuan Tan's army. In the first month of 205 AD, the Cao army attacked the city of Nanpi, and Yuan Tan fled on horseback in a panic. And just as he had escaped from the city, he was targeted by a tiger and leopard rider. As the strongest army under Cao Cao's hands, the Tiger and Leopard Riders did not insult their prestige, and the Tiger and Panther Knights used only one move to behead Yuan Tan under their horses.
Shortly after Yuan Tan's death, Yuan Shang also fled to the north in defeat, and cao Cao unified Hebei.