He was killed in action at the Battle of Mount Dingjun while defending Hanzhong Commandery from attacks by a rival warlord Liu Bei.
[2] Xiahou Yuan's death was highly dramatised in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which he was slain by Liu Bei's general Huang Zhong during a surprise raid.
Xiahou Yuan was from Qiao County (譙縣), Pei State (沛國), which is in present-day Bozhou, Anhui.
They defeated the rebels this time and captured over 10 enemy garrisons while Chang Xi surrendered to Yu Jin.
Xiahou Yuan led military forces from Taishan (泰山; near Mount Tai), Qi and Pingyuan commanderies to attack the rebels.
[9] In 209, after Cao Cao returned from his defeat at the Battle of Red Cliffs against the allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, he ordered Xiahou Yuan to lead an assault on Lei Xu, who had started a revolt in Lujiang Commandery (廬江郡; in present-day Hefei, Anhui).
He defeated a group of bandits led by Liu Xiong (劉雄) in Nanshan (南山) and forced them to surrender.
[12] In 213, Ma Chao besieged Wei Kang, the Inspector (刺史) of Liang Province, in the provincial capital Ji (兾; or Jicheng, in present-day Gangu County, Gansu).
Xiahou Yuan would be unsuccessful against Ma Chao and he decided to withdraw his troops when he heard that the Di tribes in Qian County (汧縣) had started a rebellion.
Jiang Xu started a revolt in Lu (鹵; or Lucheng, in present-day Li County, Gansu) to lure Ma Chao to attack him, while Zhao Qu and the others pretended to urge Ma Chao to lead his troops to Lu to suppress the revolt.
Ma Chao retreated to Hanzhong Commandery, where he borrowed troops from the warlord Zhang Lu and returned to attack Jiang Xu and his allies at Mount Qi (祁山; the mountainous regions around present-day Li County, Gansu).
When Zhang He's 5,000-strong army reached the Wei River, Ma Chao initially sent a few thousand Di and Qiang horsemen to resist the enemy, but later called for a retreat before both sides could engage in battle.
Xiahou Yuan captured Han Sui's food supplies and pursued him to Lueyang County.
Han Sui had set up a base some 20 li away from Xiahou Yuan's position, so Xiahou Yuan's subordinates urged their general to attack either Han Sui or the Di tribes in Xingguo (興國; northeast of present-day Qin'an County, Gansu).
Xiahou Yuan chose neither of the two options as he knew that Han Sui's troops were well-prepared for battle and that Xingguo's fortifications were strong.
If Han Sui's troops decided to hold their current position, they would be isolated; if they came to defend Changli, Xiahou Yuan's forces would be able to engage them in battle.
Xiahou Yuan's men were fearful when they saw Han Sui's larger army, so they proposed setting up camps and defensive structures before fighting the enemy.
Our troops will be worn out by the time they finish erecting these defensive structures, and won't have energy left to fight the enemy.
[16] During the Liang Province Rebellion in the 180s, a rebel chief Song Jian (宋建) declared himself "King of the River Source Who Pacifies Han" (河首平漢王) in Fuhan County (枹罕縣; around present-day Linxia, Gansu).
'"[17] In 216, the Han imperial court awarded Xiahou Yuan with an additional 300 taxable households in his marquisate, bringing the total number to 800.
Subsequently, Xiahou Yuan led an attack on the Di and Qiang tribes of Wudu (武都; in present-day Longnan, Gansu) at Xiabian (下辯), capturing over 100,000 hu (斛; a large unit of measurement) of grain.
When Liu Bei's forces reached Yangping Pass (陽平關; in present-day Ningqiang County, Shaanxi), Xiahou Yuan led his men to resist the enemy and both sides were locked in a stalemate for nearly a year.
[20] One night in February or March 219, Liu Bei set fire to the barbed fences around Xiahou Yuan's camp, so Xiahou Yuan sent Zhang He to defend the eastern part of the camp while he personally led a lightly armed force to guard the south.
He also appears in all instalments of the strategy game series Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the real-time wargame Kessen II, all of which were produced by Koei.