Zhao Yun, courtesy name Zilong (子龍), was a military general who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China. Originally a subordinate of the northern warlord Gongsun Zan, Zhao Yun later came to serve another warlord, Liu Bei, and had since accompanied him on most of his military exploits, from the Battle of Changban (208) to the Hanzhong Campaign (217–219). He continued serving in the state of Shu Han – founded by Liu Bei in 221 – in the Three Kingdoms period and participated in the first of the Northern Expeditions until his death in 229. While many facts about Zhao Yun's life remain unclear due to limited information in historical sources, some aspects and activities in his life have been dramatised or exaggerated in folklore and fiction. In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he was lauded as a member of the Five Tiger Generals under Liu Bei.
Jiang Wei, courtesy name Boyue, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in Ji County, Jiang Wei started his career as a military officer in his native Tianshui Commandery, which was a territory of Wei. In 228, when Wei's rival state Shu launched an invasion led by Zhuge Liang, Jiang Wei was distrusted by Ma Zun, then administrator of Tianshui Commandery. As such, Jiang Wei had to defect to Shu. Zhuge Liang, the Imperial Chancellor and regent of Shu, highly regarded Jiang Wei and appointed him as a general in Shu. After Zhuge Liang's death in 234, Jiang Wei continued serving as a military commander during the regencies Jiang Wan and Fei Yi, eventually rising to the highest military rank of General-In-Chief (大將軍) after Fei Yi's death in 253. Between 240 and 262, he continued Zhuge Liang's legacy of waging war against Wei by leading another 11 military campaigns. However, Jiang Wei's campaigns were relatively constrained in terms of both scale and duration due to Shu's limited resources and inadequate food supplies, as well as internal political faultlines. In 263, when Wei launched a massive invasion of Shu, Jiang Wei led Shu forces to resist the invaders at Tazhong, Yinping and Jiange, himself defending Jiange which was under Zhong Hui's attack. While Jiang Wei managed to temporarily stall Wei's main force led by Zhong Hui, Deng Ai, another military commander of Wei, took a shortcut via Yinping and showed up at Chengdu unexpectedly. Liu Shan surrendered to Deng Ai without putting up resistance and ordered Jiang Wei to surrender to the Wei general Zhong Hui; this event marked the end of Shu's existence. In the following year, Jiang Wei instigated Zhong Hui to launch a rebellion in Chengdu against the Wei regent Sima Zhao and hoped to use the opportunity to gain military power and restore Shu. However, some of Zhong Hui's officers were unwilling to participate in the rebellion and started a mutiny, killing Jiang Wei and Zhong Hui.
Zhuge Liang, also commonly known by his courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman, strategist, and inventor who lived through the end of the Eastern Han dynasty and the early Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China. During the Three Kingdoms period, he served as the Imperial Chancellor of the state of Shu Han (221–263) from its founding in 221 and later as regent from 223 until his death in September or October 234.
Zhang He, courtesy name Junyi, was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He continued serving in the state of Cao Wei under its first two rulers, Cao Pi and Cao Rui, during the Three Kingdoms period until his death.
Xiahou Yuan, courtesy name Miaocai, was a Chinese military general and politician serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He is known for his exploits in western China in the 210s, during which he defeated Cao Cao's rivals Ma Chao and Han Sui in Liang Province and the surrounding areas, and forced several Di and Qiang tribal peoples into submission. He was killed in action at the Battle of Mount Dingjun while defending Hanzhong Commandery from attacks by a rival warlord Liu Bei. 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.
The Battle of Jieting was fought between the states of Cao Wei and Shu Han in 228 during the Three Kingdoms period in China. The battle was part of the first Northern Expedition led by Shu's chancellor-regent, Zhuge Liang, to attack Wei. The battle concluded with a decisive victory for Wei.
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions were a series of five military campaigns launched by the state of Shu Han against the rival state of Cao Wei from 228 to 234 during the Three Kingdoms period in China. All five expeditions were led by Zhuge Liang, the Imperial Chancellor and regent of Shu. Although they proved unsuccessful and ended up as a stalemate, the expeditions have become some of the best known conflicts of the Three Kingdoms period and one of the few battles during it where each side fought against each other with hundreds of thousands of troops, as opposed to other battles where one side had a huge numerical advantage.
Cao Zhen, courtesy name Zidan, was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was an adopted son of Cao Cao, a warlord who rose to power in the late Eastern Han dynasty and laid the foundation for Wei. After Cao Cao's death and the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Zhen served under Cao Pi and Cao Rui, the first two emperors of Wei. He is best known for leading a successful defence of Wei from the first two of a series of invasions by Wei's rival state, Shu Han, between 228 and 229.
Xiahou Mao, courtesy name Zilin, was a military general and marquis of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the second son of Xiahou Dun, a general who served under the warlord Cao Cao, while Xiahou Mao was a close friend of the founding Emperor Cao Pi. Xiahou Mao married Princess Qinghe, one of Cao Cao's daughters, though the marriage would be an unhappy one and he once faced accusation of treason from his own family.
Guo Huai, courtesy name Boji, was a Chinese military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He started his career towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty under the warlord Cao Cao as a subordinate of Cao Cao's generals Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He. During the Three Kingdoms period, he served in Wei, the state established by Cao Cao's son Cao Pi, and lived through the reigns of four Wei emperors. From the 220s until his death in 255, he governed and defended Wei's western borders in Yong and Liang provinces. During this time, he resisted multiple invasions by Wei's rival state, Shu Han, and quelled some rebellions by local Qiang, Di and other non-Han Chinese tribes.
Hu Ji, courtesy name Weidu, was a military general of the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Fei Yao was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
The Chu Shi Biao refers to either of two memorials written by Zhuge Liang, the Imperial Chancellor of the state of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He presented them to Liu Shan, the second emperor of Shu. The first Chu Shi Biao, which is referred to as the "Former Chu Shi Biao", was presented in 227 before Zhuge Liang embarked on the first of a series of military campaigns against Shu's rival state, Wei. The second, known as the "Later Chu Shi Biao", was supposedly submitted in 228 before Zhuge Liang left for the second Northern Expedition.
Zhang Yi, courtesy name Bogong, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in the late Eastern Han dynasty, Zhang Yi was a 10th-generation descendant of Zhang Liang. He started his career as a scribe under the warlord Liu Bei, who founded Shu later, and gradually rose to the positions of a county prefect and commandery administrator. In the early 230s, he served as an area commander tasked with maintaining the peace in Shu's southern commanderies. In 234, he led the Shu vanguard during the Battle of Wuzhang Plains against Shu's rival state Wei. From 238 to 259, Zhang Yi steadily rose through the ranks to become one of Shu's top generals. During this time, although he strongly opposed the Shu general Jiang Wei's aggressive stance towards Wei, he still accompanied Jiang Wei on his military campaigns against Wei. In 263, he surrendered to Wei forces along with the Shu emperor Liu Shan when Wei launched a large-scale invasion of Shu. In the following year, Zhang Yi was killed by mutineers during a rebellion by the Wei general Zhong Hui. Like Liao Hua and Zong Yu, Zhang was one of few officials who served the Shu-Han state throughout its entire existence.
Jiang Wei's Northern Expeditions refer to a series of eleven military campaigns launched by the state of Shu Han against its rival state, Cao Wei, between 240 and 262 CE during the Three Kingdoms period in China. The campaigns were led by Jiang Wei, a prominent Shu general. Unlike the previous Northern campaigns led by Zhuge Liang, which added Wudu and Yinping commanderies to Shu Han state territories, Jiang Wei's campaigns ended up being unpopular in both the military and civil circles in Shu. Also unlike Zhuge Liang's campaigns which often featured 60,000 to sometimes even 100,000 Shu Troops, Jiang Wei's were often much smaller rarely exceeding 30,000 even after the death of Fei Yi, where Jiang Wei assumed control of the military. The Zhuge Liang campaigns did suffer from logistical and supply issues for their large army. Zhuge's successor Jiang Wan, believed that it was the Hanzhong's mountainous terrain itself that were to blame for the campaigns failures and attempted to switch the route through the Han river. Fei Yi, who succeeded Jiang Wan, agreed, and never allowed any large campaigns to be launched by Hanzhong. Jiang Wei however overlooked these concerns and used Hanzhong as his home base as Zhuge Liang did.
The Conquest of Shu by Wei was a military campaign launched by the dynastic state of Cao Wei against its rival Shu Han in late 263 during the Three Kingdoms period of China. The campaign culminated in the fall of Shu Han and the tripartite equilibrium maintained in China for over 40 years since the end of the Eastern Han dynasty in 220. The conquest laid the foundation for an eventual reunified China under the Western Jin dynasty in 280.
The Battle of Didao, also known as the Battle of Taoxi, was fought between the states of Shu Han and Cao Wei in 255 during the Three Kingdoms period in China. The battle concluded with a Wei victory.
The Three Rebellions in Shouchun were a series of revolts that occurred in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. The rebellions broke out in the later years of Wei when the Sima clan, headed by Sima Yi, usurped state power. The military governors of Shouchun rose in revolt thrice in the name of a rebellion to oust the Sima clan from power. The respective leaders of the three rebellions were Wang Ling, Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin, and Zhuge Dan. All the revolts were eventually suppressed.
The Battle of Mount Qi was a military conflict which took place around Mount Qi between the states of Cao Wei and Shu Han in 231 during the Three Kingdoms period of China. It was also the most vigorous of the five Shu invasions of Wei, resulting in thousands of deaths on both sides. Although Zhuge Liang was able to make significant achievement in the beginning of the battle, the battle finally concluded with a strategic Wei victory due to the insufficient food supply for the Shu Han army. The insufficient food supply was caused by heavy rain and mistakes made by Li Yan. The Shu regent, Zhuge Liang, spent three years recuperating before launching another invasion on Wei in 234.
