ance of the Three Kingdoms 三三三三
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三三三三), written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is a Chinese historical novel based upon events in the turbulent years near the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era, starting in 168 and ending with the reunification of the land in 280.
It is acclaimed as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, with a grand total of 800,000 words, 1191 characters, and 120 chapters.
Story
It must be understood that one of the greatest achievements of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the extreme complexity of its stories and characters. The novel is studded with numerous "mini-stories", many of which could be developed into full-length novels in their own right (the Battle of Red Cliffs and the treatment of Guan Yu by Hua Tuo being two examples). As such, the following effort only serves as a very high level summary of the entire story: Three Heroes of Three Kingdoms, silk painting by Sekkan Sakurai (1715-1790). This painting is usually hung in the offices of businessmen to show that they are trustworthy, just as these brothers were to each other.
The Yellow Turban Rebellion
The story begins in the last years of the Han Dynasty when incompetent eunuchs deceived the emperor and
banished good officials. The government had become extremely corrupt on all levels, leading to widespread deterioration of the empire. During the reign of the penultimate Han emperor, Emperor Ling, the Yellow
Turban Rebellion broke out under the leadership of Zhang Jiao, who allegedly practiced Taoist wizardry and held immortal powers. Zhang pretended to be a
traveling healer curing people of sickness while
secretly inciting them to revolt. In this time of
turmoil, many of the major characters are introduced; Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Cao Cao, Sun Jian,
etc.The rebellion was barely suppressed by imperial troops under the command of He Jin, Emperor Ling’s brother-in-law and the Supreme Commander of the
armies of the Central Government. Fearing his
growing power, the eunuchs under Zhang Rang lured
He Jin alone into the palace following Emperor
Ling's death and murder that was orchestrated by his rivals. His stunned guards, led by Yuan Shao, responded by charging into the palace, which turned into an indiscriminate slaughter. In the ensuing confusion, the child Emperor Shao and the Prince of Chenliu (later Emperor Xian) disappeared from the palace.
Dong Zhuo's tyrannical rule
Soon, the Emperor and the Prince were discovered by soldiers belonging to the warlord Dong Zhuo from Western Liang, who proceeded to seize control of the capital under the pretext of protecting the emperor. Dǒng later had Emperor Shao deposed and replaced with the Prince of Chenliu, who became Emperor Xian. Under Dong Zhuo’s violent rule, the people suffered greatly. There were assassination attempts on him by both the court physician Wu Fu and Cao Cao but both attempts failed.Cao Cao managed to escape and issued an edict in the emperor's name to all governors, calling them to remove Dong Zhuo from power. Under general Yuan Shao, 18 governors and nobles joined forces in a campaign against Dong Zhuo, but undermined by poor leadership and conflict of interest, they only managed to drive him from the capital Luoyang to Chang'an. However, Dong Zhuo was later betrayed and murdered by his own foster son Lü Bu, from a dispute over the beautiful Diaochan, in a scheme orchestrated by minister Wang Yun.
Conflict among the various warlords and nobles
In the meantime, however, the empire was already disintegrating into civil war. Sun Jian, governor of Changsha, found the Imperial Jade
Seal at the bottom of a well in the ruins of
Luoyang but secretly kept it for his own purposes, further weakening royal authority. Without a
strong central government, warlords began to rise
up and fight each other for land and power. In the north, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan were at war,
and in the south, Sun Jian and Liu Biao. Many
others, even those without title or land, such as
Cao Cao and Liu Bei, were also starting to build
up power.
Cao Cao took Emperor Xian from Dong Zhuo’s
former subordinates Li Jue and Guo Si and
established the new court in Xuchang. Even more
powerful now with the emperor in his control,
Cao Cao quickly subdued his rivals such as Yuan
Shu, Lu Bu and Zhang Xiu, culminating in his
greatest military victory, over Yuan Shao in the
famous Battle of Guandu despite being
outnumbered 10-to-1. Cao Cao pursued the
defeated Yuan clan and finally united northern
China, which later served as the foundation for the Kingdom of Wei.
