Zhuge Liang (181-234) was Chancellor of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He is often recognised as the greatest and most accomplished strategist of his era.
Often depicted wearing a robe and holding a fan made of crane feathers, Zhuge was not only an important military strategist and statesman; he was also an accomplished scholar and inventor. His reputation as an intelligent and learned scholar grew even while he was living in relative seclusion, earning him the nickname Wòlóng (??, literally Crouching Dragon).
Zhuge is an uncommon two-character compound family name. His name – even his surname alone – has become synonymous with intelligence and tactics in Chinese culture.
Zhuge Liang was born in Yangdu County (??) in Langya Commandery (??), at present-day Yinan County (??), Shandong Province. He was the second of three brothers and became orphaned at an early age; his mother died when he was nine, and his father when he was twelve. His uncle raised him and his siblings. When Cao Cao invaded Shandong in 195, his family was forced to flee south and his uncle soon died of illness.
Both Zhuge Liang's sisters were married into notable families with numerous relations in the area. For ten years he resided in Longzhong Commandery (??; in present-day Hubei province) with his brothers Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Jun (???), leading a simple peasant life – farming by day and studying at night.
Zhuge Liang developed friendships among the local intelligentsia. His reputation grew and he was nicknamed the "Crouching (or Sleeping) Dragon", an indication of his wisdom in various fields as his peers viewed him. He married the daughter of Huang Chengyan, whose wife was the sister of Lady Cai (wife of the warlord Liu Biao and sister of Cai Mao). The name of Zhuge Liang's wife is rumored to have been Huang Yueying. The Huang family was also related to several other established clans in the region.
Rise to prominence
The warlord Liu Bei resided in the neighboring city of Xiangyang under his distant relative and the governor of the Jing Province (??), Liu Biao. Zhuge Liang joined Liu Bei in 207 only after three personal visits from him. Zhuge Liang presented his Longzhong Plan to Liu Bei and travelled to Eastern Wu to form an alliance between Liu Bei and its ruler Sun Quan.
In the Battle of Red Cliffs of 208, the allied armies of Liu Bei and Sun Quan defeated Cao Cao, thus enabling Liu Bei to establish his own territories. The historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms described Zhuge Liang calling forth a southeastern wind to enhance Huang Gai's fire-attack by spreading the flames across Cao Cao's ships. In reality, however, it was Zhou Yu who masterminded the fire attack. In folklore, the wind is attributed to either Zhuge Liang's magic or his ability to make accurate predictions of the weather.
The alliance with Sun Quan was broken when the Wu general Lü Meng invaded Jing Province in 219 while its defender Guan Yu was at the Battle of Fancheng. Guan Yu was captured by the Wu forces and decapitated. Liu Bei, infuriated by the execution of his longtime comrade, ignored all advice from his subjects to hold back. He led an army to attack Eastern Wu and was defeated in the ensuing Battle of Yiling by Lu Xun. Liu died in the fortress of Baidicheng after a hasty and humiliating retreat to his own borders. After the death of Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang became the chancellor of Shu Han under Liu Shan, Liu Bei's son. He reaffirmed the alliance with Eastern Wu. Despite Liu Bei's request that Zhuge Liang assume control of Shu Han if Liu Shan proved to be an incompetent leader, Zhuge declined the offer and continued to serve Liu Shan with unwavering loyalty.
Southern Expedition
During his reign as regent, Zhuge Liang set Shu Han's objective as the restoration of the Han Dynasty which from Shu's point of view had been usurped by Cao Wei. Zhuge Liang felt that in order to attack Wei, a complete unification of Shu-Han was first needed. Worried that the Nanman tribes in the south might rise in rebellion and press into areas surrounding the capital city of Chengdu while he was leading the army to attack Cao Wei in the north, Zhuge Liang decided to pacify the southern tribes first.
Ma Su, brother of Ma Liang, proposed that Zhuge Liang should attempt to win the hearts of the Nanman peoples and rally their support instead of using military force to subdue them. Zhuge Liang heeded Ma's advice and defeated the rebel leader, Meng Huo, on seven different occasions. He released Meng each time in order to achieve Meng's genuine surrender.
Meng Huo agreed to join Zhuge Liang in a genuine acquiescence. Zhuge Liang appointed him as governor of the region to keep the populace content and secure the southern Shu border. This would ensure that future Northern Expeditions would proceed without internal disruptions. Zhuge Liang also obtained resources from the south, and after this made his move north.
Northern Expeditions
From 228 until his death in 234, Zhuge Liang launched five Northern Expeditions against Cao Wei, all except one of which failed. The failures were usually caused by the shortage or exhaustion of food supplies rather than defeat on the battlefield. His only permanent gain was the addition of Wudu (??) and Yinping (??) prefectures as well as the relocation of Wei citizens to Shu on occasion.
During the first Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang persuaded Jiang Wei of Cao Wei to defect to Shu Han. Jiang Wei would become one of the prominent Shu generals and inherit Zhuge Liang's ideals. On the fifth expedition, Zhuge died of illness at his camp on the Battle of Wuzhang Plains at the age of 54. On Zhuge's recommendation, Liu Shan commissioned Jiang Wan to succeed him as regent.
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang attempted to extend his lifespan by twelve years through a ritual. He failed when the ritual was disturbed by Wei Yan, who rushed in to warn about the advance of the Wei army. The novel also related a story of Zhuge Liang passing the 24 Volumes on Military Strategy (??????) to Jiang Wei prior to his death.
The wisdom and achievements of Zhuge Liang were popularised by Romance of the Three Kingdoms attributed to Luo Guanzhong more than a millennium after the Three Kingdoms era ended. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms itself draws from historical sources, including Chen Shou's Records of Three Kingdoms. Other major influences include Liu Yiqing's Shishuo xinyu or A New Account of Tales of the World, published in 430, and the Sanguozhi pinghua, a chronological collection of eighty sketches starting with the peach garden oath and ending with Zhuge Liang's death.
Several accounts (in relation to Zhuge Liang) contained in Romance of the Three Kingdoms which have been considered fictitious are:
Using straw boats to borrow arrows
Before the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhuge Liang visited the Wu camp to assist Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu saw Zhuge Liang as a threat to Eastern Wu and was also jealous of Zhuge Liang's talent. He assigned Zhuge Liang the task of making 100,000 arrows in ten days or face execution for failure in duties under military law. Zhuge Liang promised that he would finish this seemingly impossible task in three days. He requested 20 large boats, each manned by a few soldiers and filled with straw human-like figures. Before dawn, with river fog cloaking his movements, Zhuge Liang deployed his ships. He ordered his soldiers to beat war drums and shout orders so as to imitate the noise of an attack.
Upon hearing the drums, the Wei soldiers rushed out to meet the "attack".
Zhuge Liang drank wine with Lu Su on one of the boats. The Wei soldiers were unable to see through the fog and fired volleys of arrows at the sound of the drums. The straw figures were soon penetrated by many arrows, which became stuck in the straw. Zhuge Liang returned to Wu in triumph.
After removing the arrows from the straw figures' bodies, Zhuge Liang discovered there were over 100,000 arrows.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms records this event, whereas no such account can be found in the historical accounts. The historical accounts do record the same strategem being performed by Sun Quan in the Battle of Ruxukou.
Stone Sentinel Maze
In Chapter 84, as Lu Xun pursues the fleeing Liu Bei after the Battle of Yiling, he feels a strong enemy presence near Baidicheng and cautions his army of a possible ambush. He sends scouts ahead, who report that the area is empty except for some scattered piles of stones. Bewildered, he asks one of the locals, who answers that Qi started to emerge from the area after Zhuge Liang had arranged the stones there. Lu Xun personally inspects the area and determines that the "maze" is only a petty display of deception and leads a few horsemen into the maze. Just as he is about to emerge, a strong gust of wind appears. Dust-storms shadow the sky and the stones become swords, mountainous piles of dirt emerge while the waves of the Yangtze River sounde like swords and drums. Lu Xun exclaims, "I have fallen into Zhuge's trap!" and attempts to exit the maze but to no avail.
Suddenly, Lu Xun sees an old man standing before him, who asks if he needs assistance in getting out of the labryinth. Lu Xun follows the man and exits the maze unharmed. The old man identifies himself as Zhuge Liang's father-in-law Huang Chengyan. Huang explains that the maze is constructed using the ideas of the Bagua. Huang Chengyan says that Zhuge Liang had predicted that a Wu general would chance upon this maze when he first constructed the structure. Zhuge asks Huang Chengyan not to lead the general out when that happens. Lu Xun immediately dismounts from his horse and thanks Huang Chengyan. When he returns to his camp, he exclaims that he could never beat Zhuge Liang in intelligence.
Empty Fort Strategy
During the first Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang's efforts to capture Chang'an were undermined by the loss at the Battle of Jieting. With the loss of Jieting, Zhuge Liang's current location, Xicheng (??), was in great danger. With the army deployed elsewhere and left with only a handful of civilian officers in the city, Zhuge Liang decides to use a ploy to ward off the approaching Wei army.
Zhuge Liang orders all the city gates to be opened and has two soldiers sweeping the roads while he sits high up on the gates calmly playing his zither with two children beside him. When the Cao Wei commander Sima Yi (Zhuge Liang's sworn enemy) approaches the fort with the Wei military, he is disconcerted by the scene, and, assuming there is an ambush waiting for his army, retreats with his troops.
Zhuge Liang later tells the bewildered civil officers that the strategy only worked because Sima Yi was suspicious by nature. Sima had personally witnessed the success of Zhuge Liang's highly effective ambushing and misdirection tactics many times before so he probably felt suspicious when he saw the open scene before him just now. Besides, Zhuge Liang had a reputation as a keen but extremely careful military tactician who rarely took risks. Zhuge Liang's meticulousness, coupled with Sima Yi's suspicions, led Sima Yi to the conclusion that the seemingly empty fort had a hidden ambush inside. It is unlikely the same strategy would have worked on someone else. Indeed, Sima Yi's son Sima Zhao saw through the ruse immediately and advised his father against retreat.
Zhuge Liang's name is synonymous with wisdom in the Chinese language. He was believed to be the inventor of the Mantou, the landmine and a mysterious, efficient automatic transportation device (initially used for grain) described as a "wooden ox and flowing horse" (????), which is sometimes identified with the wheelbarrow. Although he is often credited with the invention of the repeating crossbow which is named after him and called the Zhuge Nu, i.e. Zhuge Crossbow, this type of semi-automatic crossbow is an improved version of a model that first appeared during the Warring States Period (though there is debate whether the original Warring States Period bow was semi-automatic, or rather shot multiple bolts at once). Nevertheless, Zhuge Liang's version could shoot further and faster. He is also credited with constructing the mysterious Stone Sentinel Maze, an array of stone piles that is said to produce supernatural phenomenon, located near Baidicheng. An early type of hot air balloon used for military signalling called the Kongming lantern is also named after him.
Some books popularly attributed to Zhuge Liang can be found today. For example, the Thirty-Six Stratagems, and Mastering the Art of War (not to be confused with Sun Tzu's The Art of War) are two of Zhuge's works that are generally available. Supposedly, his mastery of infantry and cavalry formation tactics based upon the Taoist I-Ching were unrivalled. His petition Chu Shi Biao was written prior to the Northern Campaigns and it provided a salutary reflection of Zhuge Liang's unwavering loyalty to Shu-Han. The petition moved readers to tears.
He is also the subject of many Chinese literary works. A poem by Du Fu, one of the most prolific poets from the Tang Dynasty, was written in memory of Zhuge Liang and his unwavering dedication to his cause, against overwhelming odds. Some historians believe that Du Fu had compared himself with Zhuge Liang in the poem. The full text is:
Bai Chongxi, a military leader of the Republic of China and warlord from Guangxi province, earned the laudatory nickname "Little Zhuge" due to his tactical decisions in the Second Sino-Japanese War during World War II.
Takenaka Shigeharu, a Sengoku Period Samurai who served under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was often likened to Zhuge Liang for his reputation as an exceptional strategist. There is also a fictional account of Shigeharu entering Hideyoshi's service after the latter visited him thrice in a manner reminiscent of Liu Bei's three visits.
Zhuge Liang was played by veteran Chinese actor Tang Guoqiang in the 1994 CCTV series Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Zhuge was featured as a minor character in the 2008 film Resurrection of the Dragon and was portrayed by Pu Cunxin. Takeshi Kaneshiro played Zhuge Liang in John Woo's Red Cliff.
Alan Ke played the role of Zhuge Liang in the 2009 Taiwanese teen idol drama series K.O.3an Guo, a parody of Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a modern-day setting.
Video games
Zhuge Liang's reputation for being an unparalleled genius is also emphasised in his portrayal in video games. Reflecting his status as the most highly regarded strategist in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, games such as Destiny of an Emperor and Koei's Romance of the Three Kingdoms series place Zhuge Liang's intelligence statistic as the highest of all characters.
In Dynasty Warriors 5, he helps to unite the land, but he dies while looking outside. In DW6, he somehow survives his illness and continues to support Shu. In DW4 Xtreme Legends, he sets up a plan to get Jiang Wei to join Shu. In DW5 Xtreme Legends, he works with Wei Yan and Zhang Fei to recruit Ma Chao and defeat Zhang Lu.
In Dynasty Tactics, he has no facial hair, has long hair, and looks a lot younger.
Zhuge Liang is the protagonist in Koei's tactical role-playing game Sangokushi Koumeiden, where he can die at the Wuzhang Plains, as he did historically, or go on to restore the Han Dynasty under Emperor Xian. He also appears in Koei's popular Dynasty Warriors series. For more information, see List of Dynasty Warriors characters.
Zhuge Liang is also a main character on the second delivery of Koei's Kessen game also depicting him as a master strategist as well as the main enemy to beat on the Wei campaign. In this game, he is young, but an extremely powerful controller of the elements and a really tall man.
Zhuge Liang is portrayed as a young girl in the Japanese eroge Koihime Mus?.
In Warriors Orochi, Zhuge Liang pretends to be an ally of Orochi. While he was facing Zhao Yun's forces and Sun Ce's forces, Zhuge betrayed Da Ji and had her show him where Liu Bei was being held. In Warriors Orochi 2, he discovers Da Ji's hideout in Shi Ting, and he and his wife, Huang Yue Ying, help to capture both Da Ji and Himiko. He later suspects Taigong Wang of purposefully letting go of Da Ji and Himiko. In Dream Mode, he teams up with Zhou Yu, Takeda Shingen, Taishi Ci, and Gan Ning in repelling Shima Sakon's forces, Uesugi Kenshin, and Sima Yi.
In the collectible card game Magic the Gathering there is a card named Kongming, "Sleeping Dragon", in the Three Kingdoms set.
Zhuge Liang appears in the game Civilization V as a great general along with Cao Cao.
Comics
The young 'Chu-Ko Liang' is a member of the League of Infinity in the superhero pastiche Supreme by Alan Moore.
Manhwa
In the Manhwa Faeries' Landing, the protagonist of the story is a high-school student named Ryang Jegal, whose life is turned upside-down by a fairy and her heavenly (and not-so-heavenly) peers. Ryang Jegal, or Jegal Ryang in the proper Asian sequence, is the Korean translation of Zhuge Liang.
