Campaigners › Commanders
Xiahou Yuan
Cao Cao's kinsman and general who fought across Guanzhong and Longyou and was killed in Huang Zhong's attack at Mount Dingjun in 219
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Also known as Zi Miaocai
Xiahou Yuan, courtesy name Miaocai, came from Qiao in Pei and was a clansman of Xiahou Dun; when Cao Cao faced a lawsuit at home, Xiahou Yuan took the blame for him. He joined Cao's uprising, ran the grain supply of Yan, Yu and Xu provinces during the Guandu campaign, and from 211 commanded in the west from Chang'an, scattering the remnants of Ma Chao and Han Sui and in 214 beheading Song Jian at Fuhan. Soldiers said of his speed, "three days, five hundred li; six days, a thousand." After Zhang Lu surrendered, he was left in Hanzhong as General Who Conquers the West. In the first month of 219 Liu Bei burned the abatis around his camp; Xiahou sent half his men to help Zhang He and was killed at Mount Dingjun when Huang Zhong charged downhill with drums beating. Cao Cao had warned him that a commander must sometimes know fear. His posthumous name was Min.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–219 CE