Chinese History for White People - Three Kingdoms
Historians consider the Yellow Turban Rebellion (rebels identified themselves with a yellow scarf) the effective end of Han Dynasty. Taoists, led by Zhang Jue, sent his disciples to denounce the corruption of the Han, especially the Eunuchs (infamously known as the 10 Attendants, though there were actually 12), which had worsened considerably when floods had caused mass unemployment and labor exploitation. Zhang Jue declared the time had come to enact the Mandate of Heaven, but the eunuchs succeeded in assassinating Zhang Jue before he could fully coordinate his offensive. This was critical in suppressing the revolt, which had the support of several million people- and would take 21 years of apocalyptic violence to quell. At the start of the rebellion, China had a population of 60 million. By the end of the 3 Kingdoms Era, the population would number only 10 million1, of which 800,000 would be soldiers. Much like the fall of Rome, a lot of this would result from infrastructure and trade collapse induced famine of a divided Empire- but the “no quarter” extermination orders certainly played a part.
Although the revolt failed, historians consider it the deathblow to the Han. Because the revolutionaries vastly outnumbered the military, the Han Emperor was forced to decree that provincial officials could fund and command their own armies. After this point, the Han had no real control at all over the Empire.
You might be aware that “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” is a semi-historical 14th century novel, and one of the “Four Classics” of Chinese literature (the others being “Journey to the West”, “Dream of the Red Chamber”, and “Water Margin”- all different genres). The novel fabricates details for dramatization, but tries to avoid contradicting the historical record. Yet more than the events, this era is known for its larger than life personalities- which is how I'll attempt to summarize the era.
Dong Zhuo: Warlord who, after helping put down the Yellow Turban Rebellion, was made governor of Bing Province to transition to peacetime. But he refused the Imperial order, preferring to remain in command of his army. Later, when the Emperor passed, the conflict between the court and the 10 Attendants reached its apex, and the Grand Marshal requested Dong Zhuo enter the capital with his private army and massacre the eunuchs—who assassinated the Grand Marshal and attempted unsuccessfully to flee before Dong Zhuo arrived (losing the imperial seal in the process). Killing the eunuchs left a power vacuum that Dong Zhuo seized, taking command of the capital forces and established a child puppet Emperor, declaring himself Chancellor Dong Zhuo. This shameless coup prompted a coalition of other warlords (including Cao Cao) to oppose him. In response, Dong Zhuo looted the Imperial Graves (grave-robbing is the ultimate taboo in China), robbed the capital nobles, then retreated from the capital—but only after razing it and killing every man, woman, and child. Several million are estimated to have died in the massacre of Luoyang.
Lu Bu: “[In war] Among men, Lu Bu. Among Horses, Red Hare [Lu Bu's warhorse]” -an unbeatable duelist (the novel fictionally portrays him winning a 3 v 1 against Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei—all badasses in their own right) and warlord known for the sheer audacity of his treachery. He betrayed his first liege to defect to Dong Zhuo, who adopted him as his son. Lu Bu assassinated his new dad, but was driven out by Dong Zhuo loyalists. He changed loyalties among three more warlords before he independently took territory from Cao Cao by convincing his men to defect. Cao Cao took it back after 2 years, and Lu Bu fled to swear allegiance to Liu Bei. He then used Liu Bei's own men to enter an allied city and capture Liu Bei's family, forcing Liu Bei to surrender and become his subordinate. Lu Bu allied with petty warlord Yuan Shu, then betrayed him, then allied with him again, before Cao Cao and Liu Bei both showed up to destroy Yuan Shu's pathetic baseless claim to the Imperial Throne (he found the imperial seal the eunuchs had lost). Cao Cao ordered Lu Bu strangled to death once he was finally captured.
Diaochan: Name given to Lu Bu's wife in the novel, and third of the 4 Great beauties. Historically, all we know is that Lu Bu killed Dong Zhuo because he had an affair with one of Dong Zhuo's maids, and if discovered, Dong Zhuo had a habit of torturing people to death. In the novel, Diaochan was asked by a conspirator to deliberately seduce both men to incite this event. Regardless of how it happened, she got Dong Zhuo killed—which makes her a hero because holy shit fuck that guy.
Sun Ce: Warlord whose family was initially loyal to Yuan Shu. When his father died in battle, Sun Ce cut ties with the unpopular Yuan Shu and moved his forces to Southeast China, where he gathered the support of scholars such as Zhou Yu and built what became the Kingdom of Wu, an independent state on the basis of “shit's fucked, fuck all yall, we're out”. He was quite the prolific conqueror—at one point faking his death to lure an enemy warlord into a devastating ambush. Alas, he'd be assassinated at only the age of 25, passing the throne to his 18 year old brother, Sun Quan, since his own children were not of age.
Cao Cao: Born in the County of Pei (same as Liu Bang), rose through the ranks from a minor warlord to founder of the Kingdom of Wei—though he never sat the throne himself, and was only posthumously awarded the title. In fact, despite unending opportunity and the persistent urging of his allies, he refused to his dying day to usurp the child Emperor Liu Xie. He had found the emperor in the burnt ruins of Luoyang, having escaped from Dong Zhuo's loyalists after he was assassinated by Lu Bu. Cao Cao took protective custody of the child Emperor, and with no eunuchs or generals in sight, made himself defacto Chancellor and Regent—thereafter commanding what was left of the Imperial government. Seeing as this was exactly what Dong Zhuo had just done, and Cao Cao also wiped entire cities that refused to surrender2, a new coalition quickly turned on him as well. Yet despite this, by all accounts, he did an amazing job as regent—restoring public order and reviving the war ravaged infrastructure and economy of Northern China while simultaneously assuming the duties of military command and methodically defeating the coalition of warlords allied against him. He's also remembered for his excellent poetry and calligraphy.
Ma Jun: Cao Cao's mad scientist. Ma Jun is a mechanical engineer who invented differential gears to make a non-magnetic compass, improved a loom that could do 3D embroidery, created a hydraulic wooden clockwork that could wind animatronic puppets, square pallet chain pumps to carry water up a mountain for terrace farms, and a semiautomatic catapult on a rotating turret mount.
Liu Hui: Wei mathematician. Remember the Han masterpiece “Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art”? He added a tenth chapter, which created the idea of decimals, roots of irrational numbers, and a method to calculate arbitrary digits of pi. He demonstrated the use of these in measurement and cartography, and even measured the distance and size of the sun.
Hua Tuo: Possibly the greatest doctor in human history, because he was millennia ahead of his time, and a contemporary of Zhang Zhongjing. Hua Tuo became the first physician to use full body anesthesia, using the daturestramonium flower, which to this day is an active ingredient in date rape drugs. He managed overdoses with physostigmine to induce vomiting, and successfully performed open stomach and open skull surgery. He also claimed to have an unguent that would prevent infection but the exact formula for it is lost today. He still did a lot of acupuncture and moxibustion though.
Known as the greatest doctor in all the land, Cao Cao ordered Hua Tuo to treat his migraines (with aura), which responded immediately and consistently to acupuncture of the foot. Hua Tuo greatly resented his time being forced to provide routine care to elites when he could be teaching his disciples how to do surgery, and kept making excuses to avoid being at Cao Cao's beck and call. Insulted, Cao Cao ordered his execution. Ministers begged for mercy on Hua Tuo's behalf, to which Cao Cao responded, “there're more rats like him in the world”. There wasn't, and Cao Cao would record his regret in history when his son Cao Cong (himself a genius who discovered Archimede's principle of buoyancy) died of disease the other doctors could not treat, and Cao Cao himself would die of a brain tumor3.
While awaiting execution, Hua Tuo wrote all his medical knowledge in a work entitled “The Green Bag Book”, and begged his prison guard to take and preserve this knowledge. The prison guard refused, fearing he would be implicated. Knowledge of Hua Tuo's anesthetics survived through his disciplines, but his recipe for antibiotics and surgical techniques became lost, and Song Dynasty historians would ridicule the biography of Hua Tuo as ludicrous mythology- claiming the very idea of surgery would logically imply you could restore the dead simply by stitching tissue together. It is with the vindication of modern medicine that historians now believe the records of Hua Tuo were not at all exaggerations.
Liu Bei: Technically a descendant of the Imperial family, but several generations removed from an Emperor's sister—he spent his early life selling shoes trying to make ends meet. He was but one of many Liu family nobles who gave their lives to restore the Han Imperial Throne after Dong Zhuo, and as they fell, the troops loyal to their cause gradually coalesced into Liu Bei's hands. The idea of becoming Emperor- or even the King of Shu-Han- was ridiculous to him; he was a noble in name alone. Yet notably, he was one of the only warlords of this era who never razed cities or massacred civilians. He wasn't as remarkably talented as Cao Cao or especially cunning, but by just being a decent guy doing his best, he earned the loyalty of some of the most talented people in the realm. He's also known for having ears so big he could see them, and was mocked by both Cao Cao and Lu Bu for his ears.
After Lu Bu's defeat, Liu Bei was indebted to Cao Cao and became a governor under him- deliberating making himself appear timid so that Cao Cao would not suspect him of having ambition4. But (supposedly) Emperor Liu Xie passed him a secret message asking Liu Bei to slay Cao Cao and free him. Thus Liu Bei betrayed Cao Cao, gathering his army and attacking from the rear while Cao Cao was marching to fight a more powerful warlord—Yuan Shao5. Cao Cao decided to end the weaker threat immediately, and turned his army around, obliterating Liu Bei—who fled to Yuan Shao, leaving his family and Guan Yu to be captured. He fought some time for Yuan Shao, first meeting Zhuge Liang6 in this period, and through his wisdom established the Kingdom of Shu-Han, named as such for wanting to restore the Han Dynasty, but not to imply they were the Han Dynasty.
When Guan Yu fell to a conspiracy, Liu Bei broke his alliance with Sun Quan and rode to battle, against Zhuge Liang's advice. He lost the battle, and escaped mortally wounded—dying a year later. He told his heir, Liu Shan, to not repeat his mistake, and to literally do absolutely everything Zhuge Liang says at all times. He then told Zhuge Liang, “If my son can be assisted, then assist him. If he proves incompetent, then you may seize the throne.”
I think I should stop a moment here to talk about the Kingdoms themselves. Cao-Wei had the most territory (all of north China, meaning all of the yellow river), infrastructure, economic development, and the largest military—but suffered from severe currency deflation as they couldn't source bronze for coinage. Much of Wei was reduced to a barter economy, despite having developed silk and porcelain industries. Sun-Wu meanwhile had an immense population of refugees (word gets around when you raze cities), many of which had no option but to be employed in the military. Controlling the coast from Shanghai to Vietnam, Wu enjoyed a near total monopoly on international trade—though the maritime silk road collapsed due to political upheaval in India. Shu-Han meanwhile held the mountainous interior, including most of China's steel, silver, and gold- and all the bronze coin mints. Furthermore, most of the damage from the Yellow Turban revolts and the warlord campaigns had occurred in Wu and Wei, leaving most of Shu-Han intact.
Guan Yu: One of Liu Bei's sworn brothers, serving both as a bodyguard, general, and champion7. Fictionally described as a red faced giant, but all we know historically is that he had a massive beard. He was known for treating the enlisted like family, and nobles like commoners. He was also known for the weapon that bears his namesake- the Guandao—a massive anti-cavalry glaive and one of the largest melee weapons ever fielded. When captured by Cao Cao, he fought for him honoring a debt he felt was owed when Cao Cao helped defeat Lu Bu. Cao Cao was so moved by his honor, he even let Guan Yu leave and rejoin Liu Bei—something he would later regret when Guan Yu won several battles against him. Guan Yu would face defeat when Sun Quan sent a force disguised as merchant ships to raid Guan Yu's hometown and capture his family- but treated them like noble guests. When Guan Yu led his forces on a rescue mission against a supposed ally, his men deserted him as they found the mission selfish and unnecessary—resulting in his capture and execution. However, out of everyone in the 3 Kingdoms era, Guan Yu is considered to have ascended to Taoist wizard-godhood, and is petitioned to this day by shopkeepers as a god of bodyguards who wards off bandits.
Zhang Fei: One of Liu Bei's sworn brothers, serving as both a bodyguard and general. Known for being fat, black8, and sleeping with his eyes open because he didn't trust his men. Which probably had something to do with the fact he often had murderous fits of rage in which he'd kill his obedient subordinates in an emotional outburst. But he was a sworn brother and reasonably competent, so Liu Bei kept him around until he wound up assassinated by his own men.
Zhuge Motherfucking “Hidden Dragon” Liang: Yes, that's his real name. You ever wondered what Von Neumann would be like if he was born in a Chinese civil war? Literally every person—every single one—from childhood classmates to his teachers to his vanquished enemies to Cao Cao talking with his generals—agreed the Zhuge Liang was a genius without peer in all of history (and these people knew Hua Tuo and Ma Jun!). The 3 Kingdoms era was literally his idea—a balance of power he conceived as he told Liu Bei the day they met that uniting the realm would be impossible for him (though possible for Cao Cao if the balance of power was not achieved). From the very beginning, Zhuge's “Longzhong Plan” laid out the necessary alliances and battles that would need to be won in order to establish a balance of power. Zhuge negotiated the alliance with Sun Quan of the Wu Kingdom, and convinced them to confront Cao Cao as he attempted to cross the Yangtzi at the pivotal Battle of the Red Cliffs (aka Battle of Chibi).
This guy has so much shit going on it's hard to cover concisely. I'll start with his role in the war. After the Battle of the Red Cliffs, Zhuge Liang helped Liu Bei establish his capital in Chengdu. Zhuge Liang then became Liu Bei's “Military Advisor General” who was basically a logistics officer with the power of a viceroy. Zhuge then rewrote the legal code9 to limit abuses of nobles, purged corruption, shamelessly stole Cao Cao's military incentive system, restored infrastructure, relieved taxes and reduced the draft to improve agriculture, and everything ran like clockwork. Things went well, until Zhang Fei got necked for his own vices, Guan Yu took bait he wasn't supposed to, Liu Bei himself got baited, and every other competent general had been killed at this point. So Zhuge Liang found himself forced to both lead an army and somehow manage logistics at home, and had no competent people left to delegate too. He won the first two campaigns he embarked on, lost the next two due to logistic failure, and died on the fifth campaign from exhaustion at the age of 5310.
Zhuge requested a pauper's burial; he left no estate and accumulated no wealth specifically to lead by example of Confucian virtue; both his son and grandson died fighting for Shu-Han; he asked people not to worship him (spend your effort doing something useful for this country!)—and temples built to him were torn down to honor his dying wishes (that didn't stop people in the distant future from doing so anyway). So they built temples to worship his Daoist daughter instead, who is the goddess of being Zhuge Liang's daughter. Sichuan still has a national day of mourning for him, in which people wear a red and white cloth over their head. Over 8000 people claim to be descendants of him to this day (which may or may not include his legally adopted nephew).
So aside from running every aspect of a country legally, financially, and militarily- why is this guy such a big deal?
- Zhuge Liang is credited with 3 inventions11. The flying lantern used in lantern festivals to this day, which he used for military signals. The semi-automatic box magazine pump action crossbow (the portable version has too low a draw weight for anything other than home defense; the military used a siege ballista version). And the wooden-ox wheelbarrow, specifically designed to carry things up steep rocky terrain.
- Also invented the Zhuge drum- a cooking pot that could be used as an alarm gong. I guess this wasn't one of his 3 “great” inventions.
- Created the “Bazhen” military formation, praised as genius by both ally and enemy. Unfortunately no record of how to do it exists.
- Created an elite guerrilla warfare unit equipped with poison arrows12; killed twice their number when sacrificed to cover a retreat
- Had the army plant a varietal of turnip farmers discovered that grows quickly, so it could be harvested along the way by logistics or reinforcements; to this day farmers sometimes call this turnip a “Zhuge veggie”.
- Supposedly invented steamed bread13. Which would remain the greatest thing until sliced bread. Not only did he invent steam bread (aka mantou), but he supposedly invented the art of decorating mantou, creating a lifelike statue he filled with lamb meat to fake a human sacrifice so his primitive general Meng Huo would shut the fuck up about it.
- Is possibly14 the author of “Thirty Six Stratagems,” which includes the “Empty Fort Strategy” attributed15 to Zhuge in the novel. Supposedly, Sima Yi navigated around Zhuge's main army to the fort he stayed behind in, and had him outnumbered 20:1; Zhuge told his men to dress as civilians, throw open the gates, and sweep the floors. Zhuge sat in the gate playing his Guqin. Sima Yi took one look at this and said “This is a trap. Zhuge Motherfucking Liang has definitely laid some kind of brilliant trap. Let's withdraw for now”. And thus fell for the ploy, which Zhuge said only worked because he had a reputation for never needing to resort to risky strategies.
- Zhuge proudly took a wife that her own father billed as ugly “with dark skin and yellow16 hair, but she's smart”.
- Made several paintings, which made their way into imperial collections before being raided and lost by future omnicidal asshats.
- Wrote music and a book on music theory, invented instruments, and praised by contemporaries as having an enchanting singing voice.
- Yunan ethnic minorities claim he educated them in basket-weaving and architecture, and their traditional buildings are based on his hat
- Built the largest irrigation project ever made in central China- specifically a weir and dyke system- which is still in use to this day.
- Wrote a book of prophecies for Liu Shan to follow after he died; to this day Chinese school children are required to memorize it in it's entirety (don't worry, it's only 3 pages).
Meng Huo: Is a popular tale that is so fucking absurd historians of every dynasty agree this has to be complete bullshit. Some argue Meng Huo never existed at all, but most historians agree he probably did, and only the “7 captures” tale was fabrication. This tale was nonetheless recorded as history. The legend goes that after Liu Bei died, the southern frontier of Nanzhong went into rebellion. So Zhuge went to pacify it, but reasoned he'll never defeat Cao Cao by exterminating his own people. So instead he needed to subdue these people without eradicating them. He captured the rebel leader Meng Huo and brought him back to his camp, who remarked on the pitifully small size of Zhuge's forces. Zhuge released him and invited him to attack again with this information. Meng Huo did, failed, and was captured again. Zhuge explained what he did wrong, how he could do better, then let him go. They did this 7 times before Meng Huo admitted Zhuge's absolute superiority as a commander and a ruler, disbanded his rebellion, and entered Zhuge's service.
Pu Yuan: legendary swordsmith of Shu-Han. Supposedly made sabers sharp and strong enough that they could cut through bamboo filled with iron.
Zhou Yu: “If Zhou Yu was to be born, why must Zhuge Liang as well?”—a Chinese saying quoted from the novel, at the agony of knowing you would have been the greatest genius in centuries, were there not simultaneously an even greater genius born in your lifetime. This very accurately summarizes Zhou Yu, Sun Ce and Sun Quan's strategist. He is most known for supporting Zhuge Liang's plan to defeat Cao Cao (Sun Quan's other ministers were urging surrender). Cao Cao's invasion force numbered 200,000—where Liu Bei and Sun Quan combined could only muster 50,000—and yet by some measurements the Battle of Red Cliffs is the largest naval battle in history—all on a river no less.
Cao Cao had tied his ships into a flotilla in order to make a temporary bridge. Zhou Yu saw this and devised his plan- he wrote a letter requesting to defect, then had his subordinate sail all their ships towards the flotilla. The front of the armada were all fireships filled with oil, which were set ablaze and drifted unmanned as the navy then boarded the ships in the rear and sailed back to their camp. Not only was the flotilla destroyed in the subsequent fire, but considerable numbers of Cao Cao's troops were trapped aboard—ready to battle if the surrender was a feint. The fire even spread to the ashore camp. Zhou Yu and Liu Bei then crossed and pressed the attack, sending the northern army into further confusion. What ships had survived the attack Cao Cao was forced to scuttle to avoid capture.
Without ships, Cao Cao's crossing was foiled, so he withdrew—and the Sun-Liu alliance had control of the Yangtzi. However, marshlands and rainy weather impeded his retreat now that he no longer had ships. In order to bring logistic wagons through the mud, Cao Cao hastily tries to build a road, and many soldiers wound up trampled to death in the mud17. At this point Cao Cao is facing a total rout of his forces, and is in a race against time to escape to his capital while the rear-guard held off Zhou Yu in a fierce battle. Both sides sustained heavy losses, and Zhou Yu was shot by an arrow but survived. It's believed Cao Cao could have been defeated entirely had the Sun-Liu alliance only had more ships to ferry forces across faster. A year later, Zhou Yu readied for a campaign into Cao Cao's territory, but took ill en route and died at the age of 3518.
Sun Quan: King of Wu. The Battle of the Red Cliffs established the equilibrium of the 3 Kingdoms era, and Sun Quan would marry his sister19 to Liu Bei to cement the alliance. Liu Bei's generals pressed into Cao Cao's territory for one victory after another, with Guan Yu at the head of the spear. Guan Yu had been particularly rude to Sun Quan, refusing to marry his daughter, refusing to show respect for nobility, and seizing Sun Quan's supplies for his own campaign. Meanwhile Sun Quan was busy fending off Cao Cao's next invasion- which he was able to hold at the Yangtzi with Wu's naval superiority- at one point even using seasonal flooding to launch a surprise attack by ship. Now Cao Cao turned his attention to Liu Bei, who suddenly found himself outgunned, so he ceded territory to Wu in return for Sun Quan to provide support and divert Cao Cao by invading. The invasion was disastrous for Sun Quan, who narrowly escaped with his life, and Cao Cao soon returned to cross the Yangtzi again—having adapted to his previous mistakes. Once again, Sun Quan held him off until the spring rains—at which point Cao Cao retreated to avoid getting caught in the mud again—but the attrition to Wu was massive. Sun Quan presented a treaty to Cao Cao, ending hostilities in exchange for recognizing their sovereignty. It was at this point Sun Quan started headhunting for Guan Yu in particular, which prompted a declaration of war from Liu Bei that resulted in Liu Bei’s demise, followed by an alliance from Zhuge Liang that would remain unbroken.
Chen Zhuo: Wu astronomer who—building on the work of previous Han astronomers—produced the first complete star map, including 283 constellations, and 1,464 stars.
Cao Pi: Cao Cao's son and successor. When Cao Cao died in 220AD, he inherited the position of Chancellor (it is not supposed to be a hereditary position) and within months forced Emperor Liu Xie to abdicate and name Cao Pi Emperor. In exchange, Liu Xie was able to retire to the position of Duke, and die of natural causes. Cao Pi continued the war with Zhuge Liang, but he only lasted 6 years on the throne before succumbing to illness. He entrusted his 21 year old heir, Cao Rui, to various officials, including Sima Yi.
Sima Yi: General of Wei given tasked with defeating the almighty Zhuge Liang. And to his profound credit, he succeeded. He ascertained that too much of Shu-Han depended on Zhuge Liang—that Zhuge was taxing himself too greatly, and would soon expire. He simply had to wait Zhuge out. Meanwhile, Cao Rui failed to produce an heir, and as he grew ill after 13 years on the throne, adopted a cousin's child as his successor. Sima Yi was made regent and proceeded to do exactly what Cao Cao had done to Liu Xie. The Sima family would remain hereditary regents and control the Wei Empire's every decision.
Liu Shan: Liu Bei's son and heir, who listened to his dad and let Zhuge Liang do everything. At one point he asked Zhuge what should happen should he die, and Zhuge told him to listen to Jiang Wan, and should he die to listen to Fei Yi. Liu Shan asked what if they all die? Zhuge became quiet, went to his room, and wrote the book of prophecies—which was really more of an algorithm to follow on how to run the country, which Liu Shan faithfully carried out right up until he encountered a situation that wasn't covered. Thoroughly unprepared as a ruler to deal with Wei, he surrendered the entire Shu-Han Kingdom peacefully and became a governor, allowing Wei to turn its full power against Wu, eventually crushing it and uniting the Empire.
“The Empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus has it ever been.” - opening line to the RotTK novel.
Next to Northern and Southern Dynasties
An important caveat that became clear in future dynasties is that not all of these people died. Many of them used the chaos to vanish off the census and therefore not have to pay taxes. Sort of like becoming an undocumented immigrant in your own country.
Or even just to prove a point. When his father fell in battle, Cao Cao punished the enemy nation by committing war crimes—punitively slaughtering civilians.
In the novel, Hua Tuo would diagnose Cao Cao’s brain tumour and offer to give him open-skull surgery to fix it. Cao Cao then ordered his execution on the grounds that he was the world’s dumbest assassin (and historically, it wouldn’t be the first time a doctor had tried to assassinate Cao Cao).
Having ambition is a great way to get killed by a despot in turmoil; Liu Bei was said to have pissed his pants at the sound of thumber while meeting with Cao Cao to sell the bluff.
Not to be confused with Yuan Shu, the pretender who found the imperial seal and is long dead at this point.
When seeking talented advisors, Liu Bei was told Zhuge Liang was nicknamed “Hidden Dragon”. Liu Bei asked to see Zhuge Liang, only to be told, “Zhuge Liang does not visit you. You have to go to him.” Liu Bei had to visit Zhuge Liang’s cottage three times before he agreed to join Liu Bei’s cause. After the meeting, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were jealous of Liu Bei’s new confidant and advisor, to which Liu Bei replied, “Zhuge Liang is to me as water is to fish. Please don’t bring this up again.”
In the novel, Guan Yu would get shot with a poison arrow, which could only be treated by surgical excision by Hua Tuo. He was offered anaesthesia, but the battle was still ongoing, so Guan Yu refused, instead distracting himself with wine, conversation, and board games while Hua Tuo worked. However, Hua Tuo was executed years before this encounter was said to have taken place.
China is willing to apply the term “black” to anyone as dark-skinned as a Sicilian. He was not ethnically anything other than Han Chinese, but artistic portrayals will often exaggerate his skin tone.
Zhuge considered himself both a Confucian and a Legalist, but unlike Qin’s implementation, he emphasised extreme caution in law enforcement and kept the Han sensibility of not maiming or routinely executing people. However, Zhuge hated the idea of giving mercy that was not deserved, and readily punished his own friends and powerful nobles—who somehow respected Zhuge’s punishment and sought to redeem themselves rather than seek to remove Zhuge.
Zhuge ordered a retreat before he died, and wisely kept his death a secret. Enemy General Sima Yi heard reports of his death, but Zhuge’s officers managed to bluff the matter for 10 days, buying enough time to escape. Supposedly, they dressed a wooden mannequin in Zhuge’s clothes. When Sima Yi finally advanced to the next village, they had already coined the saying, “A dead Zhuge scares away a living Sima Yi,” and Sima Yi laughed at Zhuge Liang’s final joke.
All of these appear as officially endorsed Chinese hisotry, but Wikipedia has doubts about each of them.
In the novel, at one point, Zhuge runs out of arrows for his troops. To get more, he sets up scarecrows on a boat, then sets it adrift past an enemy city on a foggy morning. The enemy shot at them, filling them up with arrows, and Zhuge collected it downstream.
Nothing historical ever claimed this. It’s just folklore.
It’s unlikely Zhuge would have authored the text anonymously; however, the author probably did take inspiration from Zhuge Liang’s battles.
Historians agree this tactic was probably actually used, but there’s disagreement as to when and who. One plausible candidate is actually Cao Cao against Lu Bu!
Due to malnutrition. He did not mean blonde.
One source I read claimed Cao Cao ordered the sick and wounded soldiers to lay down and make their bodies a road. However it was done, it worked and proved necessary.
Nobody really knows what sort of illness took him. The novel speculates there was poison in the arrow he was hit with that dislodged over a year later.
Liu Bei reportedly found Lady Sun terrifying. She brought with her a guard of 100 women from Wu, all trained to fight and carrying a sword.