The Battle of Xiaoting (猇亭之戰), also known as the Battle of Yiling and the Battle of Yiling and Xiaoting, was fought between the state of Shu and the state of Wu, between the years 221 and 222 in the early Three Kingdoms period of China. The battle is significant because Wu was able to turn the situation from a series of initial losses into a defensive stalemate, before proceeding to win a decisive victory over Shu. The Wu victory halted the Shu invasion and preceded the death of Liu Bei, Shu's founding emperor.
Liu Bei, courtesy name Xuande (玄德), was a Chinese warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. Although he was a distant relative of the Han imperial family, Liu Bei's father died when he was a child and left his family impoverished. To help his mother, he sold shoes and straw mats. When he reached the age of fifteen, his mother sent him to study under Lu Zhi. In his youth, Liu Bei was known as ambitious and charismatic. He gathered a militia army to fight the Yellow Turbans. Liu Bei fought bravely in many battles and grew famous for his exploits. Later, he participated in the coalition against Dong Zhuo, following this joined his childhood friend Gongsun Zan and fought under him against Yuan Shao.
Zhuge Liang, also commonly known by his courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman, strategist, and engineer 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.
Sima Yi, courtesy name Zhongda, was a Chinese military general, politician, and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Zhuge Jin, courtesy name Ziyu, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in the late Eastern Han dynasty, Zhuge Jin started his career in the 200s as an official under the warlord Sun Quan, who later became the founding emperor of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period. In 215, he served as Sun Quan's representative in a territorial dispute over southern Jing Province between Sun Quan and his ally, Liu Bei. In 219, he joined Sun Quan's general Lü Meng in an invasion of Liu Bei's territories in Jing Province after Sun Quan broke the Sun–Liu alliance. He was subsequently appointed as a general and commandery administrator. Before the Battle of Xiaoting of 221–222, Zhuge Jin attempted to dissuade Liu Bei from going to war with Sun Quan but was unsuccessful. The battle ultimately concluded with victory for Sun Quan's side; both sides made peace later and reestablished an alliance between the Eastern Wu and Shu Han states against their rival state, Cao Wei. From 222 until his death in 241, despite being rather incompetent in military affairs, Zhuge Jin served as one of Eastern Wu's top generals and participated in some battles against Cao Wei forces.
Chen Shou, courtesy name Chengzuo (承祚), was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer who lived during the Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China. Chen Shou is best known for his most celebrated work, the Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), which records the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. Chen Shou wrote the Sanguozhi primarily in the form of biographies of notable persons of those eras. Today, Chen's Records of the Three Kingdoms is part of the Twenty-Four Histories canon of Chinese history.
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.
Ding Feng, courtesy name Chengyuan, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Zhuge Dan, courtesy name Gongxiu, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. When he held key military appointments throughout his middle to late career, he was involved in all of the three rebellions which broke out in Shouchun between 251 and 258. During the second rebellion, he actively assisted the Wei regent Sima Shi in suppressing the revolt. After the rebellion, the Wei government put him in charge of Shouchun. As the Sima clan became more powerful and established themselves as the de facto rulers of Wei, Zhuge Dan feared that he would end up slain like Wang Ling and Guanqiu Jian – the leaders of the first two rebellions – so he started the third rebellion against Sima Zhao, who succeeded Sima Shi as regent of Wei in 255. Although he received some support from Wei's rival state Eastern Wu, his rebellion was eventually suppressed by Wei imperial forces and he met his end at the hands of Hu Fen, a military officer under Sima Zhao.
Zhuge Ke, courtesy name Yuanxun (元逊), was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the eldest son of Zhuge Jin, a military general who served under Wu's founding emperor, Sun Quan. After Sun Quan's death in 252, Zhuge Ke served as regent for Sun Quan's son and successor, Sun Liang, but the regency proved to be militarily disastrous due to Zhuge Ke's aggressive foreign policy towards Wu's rival state, Cao Wei. In 253, he was ousted from power in a coup d'état and killed along with his family.
Sun He, courtesy name Zixiao, was an imperial prince of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the third son of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of Wu. In 242, he became the crown prince after the death of his brother Sun Deng, the eldest son and first heir apparent of Sun Quan. In the 240s, a power struggle broke out between Sun He and his fourth brother, Sun Ba, over the succession to their father's throne. The conflict ended in 250 when Sun Quan forced Sun Ba to commit suicide, deposed Sun He and replaced him with Sun Liang. In 253, during Sun Liang's reign, the regent Sun Jun reduced Sun He to commoner status and forced him to commit suicide. In 264, one of Sun He's sons, Sun Hao, became the fourth emperor of Eastern Wu. After his coronation, Sun Hao honoured his father with the posthumous title Emperor Wen.
Deng Zhi, courtesy name Bomiao, was a government official, diplomat and military general of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. A descendant of Deng Yu, Deng Zhi started his career in the late Eastern Han dynasty under the warlord Liu Bei as a low-level officer in Pi County. After Liu Bei discovered his talent, Deng Zhi steadily rose through the ranks to become a county prefect and later a commandery administrator and imperial secretary. In 223, the Shu regent Zhuge Liang sent him as Shu's envoy to meet Sun Quan, the ruler of Shu's ally state Wu, and reestablish the Wu–Shu alliance against their common rival state Wei. Deng Zhi succeeded in his mission and earned praise from Sun Quan for strengthening Wu–Shu ties. In 227, Deng Zhi became a military general and he participated in the first Shu invasion of Wei by leading a decoy force with Zhao Yun to distract the Wei general Cao Zhen. Although they lost the battle, Deng Zhi and Zhao Yun managed to rally their troops to put up a firm defence during their retreat and minimise their losses. Following Zhuge Liang's death in 234, Deng Zhi rose to higher general ranks and was stationed in present-day Chongqing for about 10 years before he was recalled back to the Shu capital Chengdu in his 70s to serve as General of Chariots and Cavalry. In 248, he suppressed a rebellion in Fuling. He died in 251.
The Battle of Wuzhang Plains was fought between the contending states of Cao Wei and Shu Han in 234 AD during the Three Kingdoms period of China. The battle was the fifth and last of a series of Northern Expeditions led by Shu's chancellor, Zhuge Liang, to attack Wei. Zhuge Liang fell ill and died during the stalemate and subsequently the Shu forces retreated.
The Xincheng Rebellion was a revolt that took place in the state of Cao Wei between late 227 and early 228 CE during the Three Kingdoms period. The rebellion was initiated by Meng Da, a former Shu Han general who defected to Wei and was placed in charge of Xincheng Commandery in Jing Province. The revolt was swiftly suppressed within a month by the Wei general Sima Yi. Meng Da was captured and executed.
The conquest of Wu by Jin was a military campaign launched by the Jin dynasty against the state of Wu from late 279 to mid 280 at the end of the Three Kingdoms period of China. The campaign, which started in December 279 or January 280, concluded with complete victory for the Jin dynasty on 1 May 280 when the Wu emperor Sun Hao surrendered. After the campaign, the Jin emperor Sima Yan changed the era name of his reign from "Xianning" to "Taikang", hence the campaign has also been referred to as the Taikang campaign.
The Battle of Dongxing, also known as the Battle of Dongguan, was fought from January to February 253 between the states of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. The battle concluded with a tactical victory for Wu.
The Battle of Quebei was a military offensive launched in 241 by the state of Eastern Wu against its rival state, Cao Wei, during the Three Kingdoms period of China. The campaign was initiated by Wu's founding emperor, Sun Quan, two years after the death of the second Wei emperor, Cao Rui. The campaign ended with an overall failure. Despite its name, Quebei being the location where most of the fighting took place, the campaign was actually a two-front attack and covered a wide area in Anhui and Hubei.
Wu Yan, courtesy name Shize, was a military general of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China and later for the Jin dynasty (266–420). He is most known for his valiant defence of Jianping during Jin's conquest of Wu. After Wu fell, Wu Yan served in administrative positions under Jin, with his most notable being the Inspector of Jiaozhou, succeeding Tao Huang, who was also a former official of Wu.
Wang Hun, courtesy name Xuanchong, was a Chinese military general and politician of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period and Western Jin dynasty period. He spent most of his early career serving at the eastern borders of Jin and Eastern Wu, where he occasionally battled with the southern state. He was most known for his role in the Conquest of Wu between 279 and 280, during which he destroyed Wu's main forces under Zhang Ti, as well as his subsequent dispute with Wang Jun, who he accused of going against orders by capturing Jianye on his own and stealing Wang Hun's chance at glory. Despite the controversy surrounding him following the conquest, he remained an accomplished and well-respected figure within the state.
The Battle of Fancheng was a military offensive launched in 241 by the state of Eastern Wu against its rival state, Cao Wei, during the Three Kingdoms period of China. The campaign was initiated by Wu's founding emperor, Sun Quan, two years after the death of the second Wei emperor, Cao Rui. The campaign ended with a decisive defeat for the Wu forces.
