(車騎將軍), his father's former title. In autumn of the same year, Cao Cao launched an offensive against the Yuan brothers. Yuan Tan allied his brother and stationed his troops in Liyang (northeast of present-day Xun County, Henan) against the attack but his request for more troops was turned down by Yuan Shang, who feared his elder brother would take over military control. Yuan Shang then left Shen Pei to defend Ye and personally led a force to Liyang to assist in the defense. For half a year the battle went on, but the Yuan brothers eventually gave up the city after a major defeat, and retreated to Ye. Alliance with Cao Cao Cao Cao's advisor Guo Jia then suggested that the Yuan brothers would fight between themselves in the absence of an external enemy. Cao Cao took the counsel and withdrew his troops to attack Liu Biao in Jing Province (present-day Hubei and Hunan). Meanwhile, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang indeed battled each other. After suffering initial defeats, Yuan Tan retreated to Pingyuan and sent out an emissary seeking to ally with Cao Cao. Cao Cao agreed, but his actual intention of allying with Yuan Tan was to make it easier to defeat Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, and with them gone, he would then eliminate Yuan Tan easily. On the other hand, however, Yuan Tan was trying to make use of the alliance to strengthen his position. He contacted two of his father’s former generals, who had surrendered to Cao Cao, and gave them seals of authority, in hope they would defect to him at the right time after Yuan Shang was taken care of. But his plan was sensed by Cao Cao, who even promised to marry a daughter to Yuan Tan in order to let his guard down. Death Yuan Shang soon led a force to attack his brother again but retreated after he had heard the news of Cao Cao's siege on Ye. His returning force tried to converge with that in the city but the attempt was foiled. The defeated Yuan Shang then escaped to Zhongshan, and was attacked by a vengeful Yuan Tan. Merging Yuan Shang's surrendered troops into his own, Yuan Tan violated the alliance with Cao Cao by taking Ganling (present-day Qinghe County, Hebei), Anping County, Bohai Commandery (vicinity of present-day Cangzhou, Hebei) and Hejian into his realm. Cao Cao soon turned