Romance of the Three Kingdoms (An informative text by yours truely)
20 replies, posted
Since I did so well with my Gough Whitlam informative text, I thought I'd make one on the famous Romance of the Three Kingdoms era of China. I first found out about it in 2005, when Dynasty Warriors 4 came out. Back then I thought it was all made up, later I found out it was real and was intreged to learn about it more indepth. Five years later, I know a decent amount, and now, I want to share it with Facepunch to prove my knowledge. :3: (None of this is being summarized from wikipedia, it's all from the top of my head. Granted, I will take pictures from wiki but all the text is 100% me)
[b][u]The Book[/u][/b]
[img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cv5OeMTPduE/TcRFyb_UryI/AAAAAAAAAIo/8SUIJYewPw8/s1600/rottkcover.jpg[/img]
There are thirteen volumes of this story. The author is Luo Guanzhong.
[b][u]The story[/u][/b]
The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184A.D.
During the coming end of the Han Dynasty in 200A.D, there was much corruption. The Han overly taxed the citizens and many government officials were spies for the uprising rebellion, led by Zhang Jiao (Zhang Jue). With the army growing short of men, the Emperor called forth three leaders to aid to quell the rebellion. Liu Bei, the future leader of Shu agreed for that he was a cousin of the emperor. (Volunteered forces) Cao Cao (Future leader of Wei) and Sun Jian (Future leader of Wu) were obliged to help their superiors, but they also wanted to fight to gain honor and reputation amongst China. This era was called the Yellow Turban Rebellion, due to the rebels wearing yellow scarves/turbans on their heads. The rebellion was vast, mostly consisting of desperate and poor villages. Zhang Jiao was known as the "General of Heaven" and he believed he had something called the Book of Peace. According to Taotism, the Book of Peace would, well...bring peace to the world and destroy all evil. That is why so many followed him. His brothers, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were his two generals. They also showed supernatural powers, being able to control forces of nature, this cannot be confirmed however.
Emperor Ling sent General-in-chief He Jin to command the armies fighting this rebellion. The three future state leaders were under his command and for the next eighteen years, fighting the turbans. The rebels were defeated in 185A.D but the rebellion broke out again that very year in even larger numbers. In 205A.D the rebel army ceased military action.
In 189, Emperor Ling died which gave He Jin and the Eunuches a chance to gain power. He Jin was assassinated later that very year, a righteous leader, Yuan Shao was outraged and slaughtered the Eunuches, then fled the castle, leaving a tyrannic asshole called Dong Zhao to usurp the power. This did not interfer with the Yellow Turban Rebellion however. Yuan Shao made a rebellion against Dong Zhao after Dong found the missing Emperor and Prince, takes control of Luo Yang, kills the emperor and puts the Prince on the thrown which gave Dong state power. Cao Cao was in Lou Yang while this was happening and he managed to escape and issues an imperial edict, calling all warlords to fight against Dong Zhao under Yuan Shao's banner.
Eighteen warlords/governors arrived and formed the coalition against Dong Zhao. This was close to a failure since each Warlord and Governor had their own interests with the lands, but in the end, they all wanted to kill Dong which is what kept the coalition together.
Dong Zhao lost Luo Yang and fled, only to be killed by the infamous Lu Bu. The most feared warrior in China at the time. Lu Bu was Dong's Foster Son. Lu killed his own father in cold blood, and Dong took him in not only as a foster child, but as an iron fist that shouldn't be fucked with. This did not stop the coalition forces however...
After Dong's demise was all over China, everyone's lightbulb flickered. No one was currently running the country. They all had a chance to seize control over China. Yuan Shao had control over the North, alongside Gongsun Zan. Sun Jian had the south coast, alongside Liu Biao. Liu Bei and Cao Cao did not have any land to call their own, but they were growing titles for themselves. Liu Bei travelled a lot but eventually found a haven with Liu Biao, a distant cousin.
Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan fought for power in the north, Sun Jian and Liu Biao fought in the south. Cao Cao dealt with old ties from the past and present (Lu Bu, Yuan Shu and Zhang Xiu) as well as saving Emperor Xian from Dong's remanents. Liu Bei aided Liu Biao but was never called to battle against the Sun family. Sun Jian managed to sneak off with the Emperial Seal which crippled official power even more. (What was left of it...)
Now that Cao Cao has dealt with his rivals and gained a reputation from saving the emperor, he had a tactical advantage against Yuan Shao, who defeated Gongsun Zan. Cao Cao needed to do one last thing, capture Guan Yu and bribe him to fight for him in this one battle. The battle of Guan Du. Guan Yu swore an oath to Liu Bei to bring order to the land but Guan saw his life was more valuable. After Cao Cao captured him, he offered that he fights for Cao in this battle, or dies. Guan obviously accepts and helps Cao Cao's forces. Yuan Shao loses the battle of Guan Du and is forced to retreat. Cao Cao has full power over the north and Guan Yu fled the field. He was chased down by Cao Cao's most trusted general and cousin, Xiahou Dun [sp]WOOOO GO DUN[/sp] but the chase was called off by Cao Cao himself. This was a mistake Cao Cao would not soon forget...
Cao Cao united Northern China and this would become the state of Wei, the first state to come to power, and the strongest.
In the mean time, further south, Sun Jian's life was ended by an ambush party set by Liu Biao. Sun's eldest son, Sun Ce took command of his forces and pushed back Liu Biao. Before fighting Liu however, Sun gave the Emperial Seal to Yuan Shu as payment for reinforcements. This entitled Sun Ce's ownership of Jiangdong and he proclaimed himself the leader of Wu. The Royal Pretender was his nickname. Sun Ce dies of a heart attack from apparently seeing a ghost of someone he sentenced to death. (The person he sentenced to death was wrongly accused)
The younger brother, Sun Quan took command alongside skillful advisors, Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao.
Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei made an oath to the Han Dynasty to bring it back to power in the famous Oath of the Peach Garden. After quelling the rebellion he barely got any credit for his volunteered work. He assisted Gongsun Zan against Dong Zhou, and later becomes a governor. However, Lu Bu attacks Liu Bei's province and Liu is forced to flee. He joins forces with Cao Cao and defeats Lu Bu but does not claim his lands straight away. Cao Cao places a new governor under his rule. This is when Liu Bei attacks and takes back his province. Cao Cao takes the area a second time, forcing Liu Bei to flee. He retreats to Yuan Shao who shelters him for a short time. Liu moves to several castles before meetign with Liu Biao. Cao Cao chases Liu Bei while dealing with Yuan Shao at the same time. He was truely stretching his army's limitations. When the two Liu's meet up, Liu Bei recruits the famed stratigist, Zhuge Liang, to build Liu's forces up.
This is where things get interesting...
Cao Cao wants to take over all of china so he sends forces south and pushes Liu Bei southward. Liu Bei sets up a permanent site at Jiangxia after Liu Biao falls. Zhuge Liang is sent to form an alliance with Sun Quan. The alliance is formed between Shu and Wu, and they decide to stop Cao Cao's forces at ChiBi (Red Cliffs) There was a lot of mutual fighting between Shu and Wu, specifically the Zhou's and Zhuge. The Wu believed Zhuge would become a threat to Wu and tried to kill him a few times. They eventually got over their feelings and deiced to cooperate. It was a great defeat for Cao Cao at ChiBi and he was forced to retreat.
As Cao Cao's forces fled, Shu and Wu turned on eachother and fought over the Jing Province. Liu Bei took from both Wu and Wei, Wu asked for some land back but Shu refused. Liu Bei weds Zhou Yu's sister but it was all a ruse to capture Liu, it failed and Liu went back to Jiangxia with his new wife.
Zhou Yu died a few months after Liu Bei escaped with his new wife and this deteriorated the alliance between Wu and Shu even more but they never actually fought eachother. Liu Bei took land from Liu Zhang and he now owned a considerable amount of the Jing province. Since he defeated Cao Cao's forces at Hanzhong, he proclaims himself "King of Hanzhong"
While Liu Bei was fighting Liu Zhang, Cao Cao was given the title "King of Wei" and Sun Quan, "Duke of Wu" Wu and Wei clashed multiple times with equal outcomes in loses and wins. It was a stalemate until Cao Cao died.
Sun Quan makes peace with Cao Cao after Liu Bei's refusal to give up Jing. Guan Yu, who was in charge of Jing sent a force to attack Cao Ren, one of Cao Cao's generals and cousins. Lu Meng lead the assault to take over Jing province. Guan Yu was away as a hidden agreement with Cao Cao and he loses the Jing province quickly, retreats and is surroudned by Sun Quan's forces.Guan tries to break free of the siege but is ambushed again, and executed.
Cao Cao dies shortly after Guan Yu from a brain tumor. Cao Pi, one of his sons take the throne of Wei. This ends the Han Dynasty, and Wei is renamed as Cao Wei. Liu Bei proclaimes himself emperor to continue the Han Dynasty as a response. He was going to avange Guan Yu but his other sworn brother, Zhang Fei was assassinated in his sleep.
Shortly after Liu Bei grew more vengeful, he sent an army out to attack Sun Quan. Sun Quan tries to pursuade him to stand down, in return he will get Jing province back. Zhuge Liang highly recommended taking up the offer but Liu Bei was interested in avenging Guan and Zhang. A great defeat at the battle of Xiaoting led to Shu Han's retreat, Wu did not pursue them as they fled however.
Liu Bei dies shortly after this defeat due to illness and Zhuge Liang is given permission to take the throne if his successor was proved to be a bad leader. Zhuge Liang refuses however, he decides to remain in his place.
Cao Pi's most trusted stratigist, Sima Yi was head to head with Zhuge Liang. Two great stratagist at eachothers throat. (This would be one game of chess I would not want to fucking miss) Sun Quan pursuaded native forces (Nanman and Qiang tribes) to attack Shu Han. Cao Cao did the same with the Qiang, and the Shu defeated them easily. Meng Huo, the leader of the Nanman was captured SEVEN times before he surrendered. Zhuge released him on each capture. The seventh time he pledged allegience to Shu Han.
Zhuge Liang sent armies to attack Cao Wei and defeat them once and for all, but he died in the battle of Wuzhang Plains. He asked his most trusted generals to build a statue of him to buy some time for the Shu forces to retreat. The battle was a stalemate after Zhuge was defeated. A defected general, Jiang Wei helped with this retreat.
The battle between Wei and Shu raged for another three years. After Cao Rui had died, state power was turned over to the Sima clan. Jiang Wei took Zhuges place and led another nine campaigns against Cao Wei. Jiang Wei fails miserably, and even more so, the successor, Liu Shan was even worse, trusting officials that were really spies. This all led to the fall of Shu Han. Cao Wei had taken over the south-western plains of China. Jiang Wei tries to restore the Shu Han with Zhong Hui, one of the generals of Shu but they were caught by Sima Zhao (Sima Yi's son) and killed on the spot.
Sima Zhao's son, Sima Yan forces the Wei ruler, Cao Huan to give him power which ended the Wei dynasty. Sima Yan was the leader of Jin so Cao Wei was renamed as the Jin Dynasty.
Wu was having political problems after Sun Quan's death. Two people were trying to usurp the state power but someone by the name of Sun Hao restores stability momentarily, but turns int oa tyrant who screws everything up even more. Later, the Jin Dynasty take over and remove Wu from power. By the time Wu ended it was 280. Almost one hundred years of conflict. This era was known as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
So what state do you personally perfer? Wei, Wu, or Shu?
Wei wanted to control China for themselves. (Their army wore blue armor)
Wu wanted the same as Wei, but they did not have as much leverage. (Their army wore red armor)
Shu wanted to restore the Han Dynasty and stop all the war. (Their army wore green armor)
I perfer Wei. :buddy:
Did someone say?
[img]http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/4k/5m/xj/uburender1.png[/img]
Do one about the Opium War instead, that's more interesting.
Or the Mongol invasion.
I bought both volumes of the book after playing Dynasty Warriors. :v: I've only read the first few chapters, though, too busy with other books.
[QUOTE=ColdWave;31029153]Did someone say?
[img]http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/4k/5m/xj/uburender1.png[/img][/QUOTE]
do you pursue Lu bu?
Finished.
[QUOTE=ColdWave;31029153]Did someone say?
[img]http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/4k/5m/xj/uburender1.png[/img][/QUOTE]
You dare challenge Guan Yu!
[img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qt1m6Bfeyjc/SQcSXK3yW-I/AAAAAAAAAcU/L0rFFLxswPw/s400/GuanYu6.jpg[/img]
You use too many names it feels like and leaves it very uninteresting
Oh my god I instantly remembered that fucking game on Playstation 2 when I saw Liu Bei and Cao Cao.
My mind was blown when I found out it was all real, too. I prefer Shu, though.
Who hasn't heard about this from Dynasty Warriors honestly.
I don't really have a favorite of the three, but I use the least number of characters from wei... (I play with my brother, he uses just about every character from wei well ) my favorite chars are taishi ci and wei yan.
[QUOTE=ColdWave;31029153]Did someone say?
[img]http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/4k/5m/xj/uburender1.png[/img][/QUOTE]
He was overpowered in all the dynasty warriors games.
motherfucking cao cao yo
[img]http://kongming.net/dw6/i/characters/caocao-800.jpg[/img]
wei represent
[editline]11th July 2011[/editline]
always had the most badass armor in dw4 empires too
double toast
Dynasty Warriors had the best voice acting.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsTtNhNyA_o[/media]
I got interested in it a few years (from Dynasty Warriors, naturally) and I started to read it online, but it got too confusing to keep track of all the characters involved, especially when I'm not used to the Chinese names.
I am cow pee
[QUOTE=Turnips5;31056647]Dynasty Warriors had the best voice acting.
[/QUOTE]
I agree.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU5hyf2LA10&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL[/media]
If you are interested, there are actually 2 movies on the battle of Chi bi (red cliff). It is not a cheap production and is actually decent.
[url]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425637/[/url]
[url]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1326972/[/url]
like a somebody
[IMG]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wrcdXOfRF9M/TaQS0m4MrqI/AAAAAAAAACc/t9PE95Oe1Bo/s1600/dynasty-warriors-ol-337-2.jpeg[/IMG]
guan yu
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