After reading this article, you will know the importance of reading books for a family, and even a family!Do you still remember the scene in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" where Yuan Shao pointed at Dong Zhuo with a sword?This is not a fiction of the ** family, but a real historical event. According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", Dong Zhuo intended to abolish the emperor at that time, arrogant and domineering, and his rhetoric was fierce. And Yuan Shao, the young man, bravely stood up to challenge his authority.
But you may ask, at that time, Dong Zhuoquan leaned towards the government and the opposition and controlled the army in the entire capital, where did Yuan Shao get the confidence to fight against Dong Zhuo?How dare Yuan Shao confront him so hard?In fact, this is not Yuan Shao's courage alone, but the backbone of the Yuan family's inheritance. 
The Yuan family is not a big family
Speaking of the history of the Yuan family, it is really a legend!Did you know?A hundred years before Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao's great-grandfather had done the same thing as Dong Zhuo. However, he was not facing a local warlord like Dong Zhuo at that time, but a powerful Dou Xian. 
The Yuan family was originally not a big family, but a small family from Runan. Their ancestors were ministers of the state of Chen during the Spring and Autumn period, but as the times changed, the family gradually declined. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the Yuan family did their best to cultivate a scholar, and he later became a prince. But the good times didn't last long, and he didn't have long to be an official before he caught up with Wang Mang usurping the throne.
Despite this, the Yuan family did not give up. The descendant of this scholar, that is, Yuan Liang, although he had a rough life, in the end he only achieved the position of the county commander. However, all this changed after Yuan An appeared.
Yuan An is the grandson of Yuan Liang and the great-grandfather of Yuan Shao. He was carefully nurtured by his grandfather since he was a child, and he learned to be rich in five cars when he became an adult. Initially, he only served as a county gongcao, but with his excellent work performance and continuous learning, he gradually rose to prominence. In the end, he passed the filial piety examination and obtained the official ** establishment.
With his own efforts and talents, Yuan An climbed step by step in the officialdom. He did not rely on his family background and achieved success entirely on his own strength and talent. He has held a number of positions, such as prefectural magistrate and prefectural warden, and has accumulated rich governance experience and connections.
However, Yuan An's life was not all smooth sailing. In the last years of the Han Dynasty, during the turbulent period of governance, he was once forced to resign and go into hiding. But he was not willing to fail and relied on his perseverance and courage to get back on his feet. In the end, when the world was in turmoil at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan An re-entered the ** with his resourcefulness and courage, and became an important figure in the governance struggle at that time.
Yuan An not only has talent and courage, but also has a heart for the welfare of the country and the people. In terms of governance, he advocated the strategy of combining leniency and force, and encouragement and power, and made important contributions to the stability and development of the country. At the same time, he also attaches great importance to people's livelihood issues and cares about the suffering and well-being of the people.
Over time, Yuan An's influence and status continued to increase. His children and grandchildren also inherited his wisdom and courage and continued to play an important role in governance. By Yuan Shao's generation, the Yuan family had become one of the important families in China at that time.
The rise of Yuan An
In 71 AD, Yuan An ushered in a critical moment in his life. At that time, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty was in power, and his younger brother Liu Ying forged a prophecy claiming that he was the true son of heaven. The incident caused a shock in the imperial court because it involved a power struggle within the imperial family. How to deal with this case has become the focus of attention of the government and the public.
Many of the clans' ** are avoidable and unwilling to get involved. They are well aware that this case involves complex royal relations and governance interests, and once it is not handled properly, it will not only cause trouble, but also ruin their own careers. So they all recommended Yuan An, thinking about seeing Yuan An's jokes.
However, Yuan An did not back down. He courageously accepted the imperial court's appointment to hear the case. Undeterred by this task, he was determined to find out.
After Yuan An took office, he carefully reviewed all the details of the case. He investigates deeply, is not afraid of power, and does not show favoritism. He will not tolerate the guilty;For innocent people, he tries to protect them as much as possible. His impartiality and incorruptibility have won the admiration and trust of the people.
After some hard work, Yuan An successfully solved the case. He dealt with many of the people involved and brought those who were truly guilty to justice. At the same time, he also freed many innocent people. This result was praised by Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty and won Yuan An a reputation. 
Because of this case, Yuan An's official position has also been promoted. He was promoted from the county order to the Taishou and became an important ** in the imperial court. His success caused resentment and jealousy among the family, but he didn't care. He knew that he came from an ordinary background, and without the support of the family, he could only rely on his talent and hard work to fight for everything.
Seize the opportunity and rise higher
With his ability, Yuan An once again won the satisfaction of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty. At that time, the biggest challenge facing Emperor Ming of Han was the excessive power of the clans, and he needed someone to fight against them, and Yuan An's appearance provided him with a new option.
However, at this time, Yuan An did not have enough strength to balance the entire family class, and he was only an alternate figure. So, after dealing with Liu Ying's case, Yuan An was promoted to Henan Yin.
Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, was located within Henan County. This allowed Yuan An to take charge of a part of the Eastern Han capital. His duties were similar to those of Dong Xuan, the strength of Liu Xiu's time, and as the emperor's right-hand man, he was specifically responsible for suppressing the powerful and maintaining social order.
For the next decade, Yuan An was in charge of the capital region. His ability to do his job is so good that the family has to be restrained. Since Yuan An is not from a family, he doesn't need to have too many scruples, he just needs to act according to the law. Under his rule, the law and order situation in the capital was very good. After the death of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, and his impression of Yuan An was still very good. Yuan An's political achievements have also been widely recognized.
Ten years later, in 83 AD, Yuan An was promoted to the rank of imperial servant. This year, Ban Chao is achieving a major victory in the Western Regions and is about to face off against the Kushan Empire. In the capital, Emperor Zhang of Han had established his prestige and firmly controlled the imperial power.
With Yuan An's promotion, he gradually became the core governance stage of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty promoted him in the hope that he would share part of the power of the great families and help check and balance them.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the power of the family grew day by day, and it became a difficult problem to solve. During Liu Xiu's reign, he had to make some compromises, but these big families began to be unscrupulous after Liu Xiu's death. In order to deal with this problem, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty took a number of measures, including the selection of talents from small local families through the inspection system to balance the large families. However, since the probationary system relied on recommendations, it allowed the top families to wield enormous power. As a result, the emperors had to compromise and instead promote the talents of the junior scholar class, such as Yuan An. With the rise of these people, they began to compete with high-ranking families and relatives for interests, and eventually formed three major governing forces: relatives, eunuchs, and scholars.
Yuan's promotion is part of this historical process. As a member of the Shi clan, he naturally stood in opposition to the high-level families. As his official position was promoted, he gradually became the spokesperson of the noble clan in the court.
After being promoted to the position of imperial servant, Yuan An began to represent the middle and lower class scholars to fight against the high-level families. Emperor Zhang of Han was very pleased with this result, because it was exactly what he needed.
How Yuan An traveled to all sides of the court
Yuan An, a representative of the scholar clan in the Eastern Han Dynasty, had great disagreements with some high-level families on many court affairs. Regarding whether to fight the Northern Xiongnu, Yuan An advocated using the "royal road" to influence and try not to fight, while some top-level families such as the Geng family and the Dou family tended to send troops as soon as possible to destroy the Xiongnu.
For these families, their status is already very high, and if they want to gain more power further, they can only go through war. For the scholar class, if the Eastern Han Dynasty destroyed the Xiongnu, it would not be of any benefit to them, but would consume the strength of their class. Because if there is to be a war, the conscription, requisition of grain and grass, etc., are all borne by the small family, and the big family can avoid it.
In the later period of the reign of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, Yuan An gradually became the representative of the scholar class, and had conflicts with those big families. Yuan An resolutely advocated speaking slowly, and those big families were naturally dissatisfied with him. But such Yuan An was very appreciated by the emperor and was constantly reused.
In 86 AD, Yuan An was promoted to Sikong;In 87 A.D., he was promoted to Situ!In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Sikong was equivalent to the imperial historian, and Situ was equivalent to the prime minister. At this time, Yuan An was already a very popular minister. And in 88 AD, after the death of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty, Yuan An ushered in the third big test in his life.
The Dou family took off because of the Empress Dowager Dou's assumption of power. Dou Xian invited himself to lead troops to recruit the Xiongnu and successfully eliminated the Northern Xiongnu. But at the same time, after Dou Xian left, the power struggle in the capital also intensified. Yuan An and the rest of the scholars kept Dou Xian and dragged him back. From the perspective of war, Yuan An is a corrupt Confucian who does not know the general situation and drags his feet. But from the perspective of the scholar class, Yuan An's approach was correct.
Because Dou Xian's expedition brought a huge burden to the people on the northern border, his power increased to the point where he could usurp the throne. However, Yuan An has always stood firmly with the ** of the entire scholar class, resolutely upheld the emperor's imperial power, and did not bow to the Dou family. This insistence played a key role in the later gathering of forces by the Han and Emperor to counter the Dou family.
In April 92 AD, Yuan An died of illness, which made the entire scholar class feel sorry. And the newly adult Emperor of Han began to secretly affinity with the Shi clan ** and master the army.
In short, Yuan An was an important representative of the Heshi clan in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and his ideas and actions had a profound impact on the governance pattern at that time. He insisted on his position, was not afraid of power, and fought to safeguard the interests of the imperial power and the noble class. Although his actions may seem too pedantic to some, it is this unwavering spirit that has left an important mark on history.
Yuan An died
Soon after Yuan An's death, Emperor Han He wiped out the Dou family and regained power.
Because of Yuan An's persistence, the Yuan family has become an iconic family among the scholar class. The descendants of the Yuan family, there are always a few people who can become the ** of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In Yuan Shao's generation, there was a grand occasion of the fourth generation and the third duke. In fact, the glory of the Yuan family is the foundation laid by Yuan An.
If there was no Yuan An, the Yuan family would just be a small clan and would have no influence at all. And Yuan An's success made the scholars begin to participate in the Eastern Han DynastyGovernanceStruggle. If Yuan An was in Yuan Shao's position, Dong Zhuo might not even be able to enter the capital, let alone have a later scuffle.