'Zhuge Liang' (
181 –
234) was one of the greatest strategists during the
Three Kingdoms era of
China. Zhuge Liang was not only a military strategist, but also a statesman, astrologist, engineer, scholar, and inventor.
Zhuge is an uncommon two-character compound family name. His name (or even just his surname) has become synonymous with intelligence and tactics in
Chinese culture.
Life
Early life
Zhuge Liang was born in
Yangdu County (陽都) in
Langya Commandery (琅琊), at present-day
Yinan County (沂南),
Shandong Province. He was the second of three brothers and was orphaned early; 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.
Although both his sisters married into important families with numerous connections in the area, for ten years he resided in
Longzhong Commandery (隆中; in present-day
Hubei province) with his brothers
Zhuge Jin and
Zhuge Jun (諸葛均) in a simple peasant life - farming by day and studying by night. He got to know a group of friends among the intellectuals of the area. His reputation soon grew, and he was named the Crouching (or Sleeping) Dragon, wise among his peers in many areas. In the meantime, he married the daughter of another renowned scholar
Huang Chengyan, whose wife was the sister of
Lady Cai, wife of the warlord
Liu Biao, and
Cai Mao, one of Liu Biao's most powerful generals. Zhuge Liang's wife's name is rumored to be
Huang Yueying. The Huang family was also connected to several other well established clans in the region.
Rise to prominence
The warlord
Liu Bei harbored in the neighboring city
Xiangyang under his distant relative and the governor of the
Jing Province (荊州), Liu Biao. Zhuge Liang joined Liu Bei in
207 only after Liu Bei visited him in person three times. Zhuge Liang soon presented his famous
Longzhong Plan before Liu Bei, travelled in person to
Eastern Wu and formed an alliance with 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 that Zhuge Liang called forth a southeastern wind to sweep
Huang Gai's fire-attack throughout Cao Cao's ships. In reality, however, it was the Wu officer
Zhou Yu who masterminded the fire attack. In folklore, the wind is attributed to either Zhuge Liang's magic or his ability to predict the weather.
The union with Sun Quan broke down when Wu general
Lü Meng invaded the Jing Province in
219 when its defender
Guan Yu was at the
Battle of Fancheng. Guan Yu was eventually captured by the Wu forces and was decapitated. Liu Bei, infuriated with the execution of his longtime comrade, ignored all arguments of his well-meaning subjects and turned on Eastern Wu, leading a huge army to seek revenge. He was defeated in the ensuing
Battle of Yiling by
Lu Xun and died in the lone 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, and renewed the alliance with Sun Quan. Despite Liu Bei's request that Zhuge Liang assume control of Shu Han should his son prove to be an incompetent leader, Zhuge did not, serving Liu Shan unwaveringly.
The Southern Expedition
Main articles: Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign
During his reign as regent, Zhuge Liang pursued the goal of restoring the
Han Dynasty, which, in Shu's point of view, was usurped by
Cao Wei. Zhuge Liang felt that in order to attack Wei he would first have to unify Shu Han completely. If he fought in the north while the
Nanman people rebelled in the south, then the Nanman people would march further and perhaps even press into areas surrounding the capital. So rather than embarking on a northern invasion, Zhuge Liang led an army to pacify the south first.
Ma Su, brother of
Ma Liang, proposed the plan that Zhuge Liang should work toward getting the tribes to join him rather than trying to subdue all of them and he took this plan. Zhuge Liang defeated the rebel leader,
Meng Huo, seven different times, but released him each time in order to achieve his genuine surrender.
Finally, Meng Huo agreed to join Zhuge Liang in a genuine acquiescence, and thus Zhuge Liang appointed Meng Huo governor of the region, so he could govern it as he already had, keeping the populace content, and keeping the southern Shu border secure to allow for the future
Northern Expeditions. Zhuge Liang also obtained resources from the south, and after this, Zhuge Liang made his moves north.
The Northern Expeditions
Main articles: Northern Expeditions
From
228 until his death in 234, Zhuge Liang launched five Northern Expeditions against Cao Wei, but all except one failed, usually because his food supplies ran out rather than failure on the battlefield. His only permanent gain was the addition of the
Wudu (武都) and
Yinping (陰平) prefectures as well as relocating Wei citizens to Shu on occasion.
During his first Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang persuaded
Jiang Wei, a general of Cao Wei, to defect to Shu Han. Jiang Wei would become one of the prominent Shu generals, and inheritor of Zhuge Liang's ideals. On the fifth expedition, he died of overwork and illness in an army camp in the
Battle of Wuzhang Plains at the age of 54. At Zhuge's recommendation, Liu Shan commissioned
Jiang Wan to succeed him as Regent.
In the historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', Zhuge Liang attempted to extend his lifespan by twelve years, but failed when the ceremony was disturbed when
Wei Yan rushed in, announcing the arrival of the Wei army. The novel also related a story of Zhuge Liang passing the ''
24 Volumes on Military Strategy'' (兵法二十四篇) to Jiang Wei at the eve of his death.
In ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''
The wisdom and achievements of Zhuge Liang were exaggerated and made popular by ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' written by
Luo Guanzhong more than a millennium after the Three Kingdoms era ended. The novel incorporates many popular folklore, pseudohistories, and opera scripts into the character of Zhuge Liang, turning him into an embodiment of intelligence itself. Significant deviations from a historically accurate account include:
Using straw boats to borrow arrows
Before the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhuge Liang went to visit the Wu camp to assist Wu strategist Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu, who saw Zhuge Liang as a threat to Eastern Wu and initiated from his personal jealousy of Zhuge Liang's talent, assigned Zhuge Liang the task to make 100,000 arrows in ten days or face execution. Zhuge Liang, however, swore he would finish this seemingly impossible task in three days. He requested 20 large boats, each manned with many straw men and a few soldiers. Before dawn, Zhuge Liang ordered his soldiers beat war drums and shout orders, to imitate the noise of an attack.
Zhuge Liang sat with
Lu Su inside one of the boats drinking wine. The Wei soldiers, unable to see in the dark, fired many volleys of arrows at the sound of the drums. The straw men were soon filled with arrows, and Zhuge Liang returned to Wu having fulfilled his promise.
Stone Sentinel Maze
In Chapter 84, as Lu Xun pursued the fleeing Liu Bei after the Battle of Yiling, he felt a strong enemy presence near
Baidecheng and cautioned his army for possible ambush. He sent scouts ahead, who reported that the area was empty except for some scattered piles of stones. Bewildered, he asked one of the locals, who answered that ''
Qi'' started to emerge from the area after Zhuge Liang had arranged the stones there. Lu Xun himself then inspected the area, and determined that the array was only a petty display of deception. He led a few cavaliers into the array, and as he was about to come out, a strong gust blew. Soon, duststorms were shadowing the sky and the stones became swords, mountainous piles of dirt emerged while the waves of the
Yangtze River sounded like swords and drums. Lu Xun exclaimed, "I fell into Zhuge's trap!" and attempted to exit to no avail.
Suddenly, Lu Xun saw an old man standing before his horse, who then asked if Lu needed assistance out of the array. Lu Xun followed the man and exited the maze unharmed. The old man revealed himself to be Zhuge Liang's father-in-law Huang Chengyan, and explained that the array is constructed using the ideas of the ''
Bagua''. Huang Chengyan said that Zhuge Liang had predicted that a Wu general would stumble across this maze as he constructed the structure, and asked Huang Chengyan not to lead the general out when that happens. Lu Xun immediately dismounted from his horse and thanked Huang Chengyan, and when he returned to his camp, he exclaimed that he could never top the genius of Zhuge Liang.
Empty Fort Strategy
During the first Northern Expedition, his 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 District (西城), was in great danger. Having sent out all the troops and left with a handful of civil officers, Zhuge Liang decided to use a ploy to ward off the advancing Wei army.
Zhuge Liang ordered all the gates to be opened and had civilians sweeping the roads while he sat high up on the gates calmly playing his zither with two children beside him. When the Cao Wei commander and strategist
Sima Yi approached the fort with the Wei military, he was puzzled by the scene and ordered his troops to retreat.
Zhuge Liang later told the bewildered civil officers that the strategy only worked because Sima Yi was a man of suspicion, the latter having personally witnessed the success of Zhuge Liang's highly effective ambushing and misdirection tactics many times before. Furthermore, Zhuge Liang had a reputation as a keen but extremely careful military tactician who rarely took risks. Zhuge Liang's well-known carefulness, coupled with Sima Yi's own suspicious nature, led Sima Yi to the conclusion that entry into the apparently empty city would have drawn his troops into an ambush. It is unlikely the same strategy would have worked on someone else, and indeed Sima Yi's son
Sima Zhao saw through the ruse immediately and counseled his father against retreat.
Legacy
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 floating horse" (木牛流馬), which is sometimes identified with the wheelbarrow. Although he is often credited with the invention of the repeating crossbow which is named after him, called ''Zhuge Nu'', i.e. '''Zhuge Crossbow''', this type of semi-automatic crossbow is actually an improved version of a model that first appeared during the
Warring States Period (though there is debate whether the original warring states 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 for 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 Strategies'', and ''
Zhuge Liang's The Art of War'' (not to be confused with
Sun Tzu's ''
The Art of War'') are two that are generally available. Supposedly, his mastery of infantry and cavalry formation tactics based upon the Taoist
I-Ching were unrivalled. His ''
Chu Shi Biao'', written before the Northern Expeditions, was considered so moving that it was said that if one read it and shed no tears, the reader would be a disloyal person.
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 remembrance of Zhuge Liang and his unwavering dedication to his cause, against overwhelming odds. Some historians believe that Du Fu compared himself with Zhuge Liang in the poem. The full text is:
The Temple of the Marquis of Wu in
Chengdu, a temple worshipping Zhuge Liang.
'蜀相' （also '武侯祠 '）
丞相祠堂何處尋？
錦官城外柏森森。
映階碧草自春色，
隔葉黃鸝空好音。
三顧頻煩天下計，
兩朝開濟老臣心。
出師未捷身先死，
長使英雄淚滿襟。
| 'Premier of Shu' (also 'Temple of the Marquis of Wu')
:Where to seek the temple of the noble Premier?
:In the deep pine forests outside the City of Silk:
:Where grass-covered steps mirror the colours of spring,
:And among the leaves orioles empty songs sing.
:Three visits brought him the weight of the world;
:Two dynasties he served with one heart.
:Passing ere his quest was complete,
:Tears damp the robes of heroes ever since.
|
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 the
World War II.
Takenaka Shigeharu, a
Sengoku Period samurai who served under the early
Toyotomi Hideyoshi in
Japan, was himself often likened to Zhuge Liang due to his reputation as an exceptional strategist, and due to a fictional account of Hideyoshi gaining Shigeharu's services after visiting him three times in a similar manner to Liu Bei's Three Visits.
Portrayals in popular culture
Games
Zhuge Liang's reputation for being an unparallelled 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.
Zhuge Liang is the protagonist in the tactical role-playing game ''
Sangokushi Koumeiden'', where he can die in the
Wuzhang Plains like history dictates or go on to restore the Han Dynasty under
Emperor Xian.
In Koei's ''
Dynasty Warriors'' series, Zhuge Liang is also portrayed as a brilliant tactician, and is credited with conceiving and bringing about the birth of the Three Kingdoms. He is wise, calm and loyal to a fault, dedicating his life to Liu Bei's dream even after Liu's death. Throughout the game, many of the other strategists depicted, such as Sima Yi, Zhou Yu and
Pang Tong, are portrayed as being jealous of, or having a strong rivalry with, Zhuge Liang. This is especially true of Sima Yi, who admires but also despises Zhuge Liang passionately. The two often come into conflict, attempting to outwit each other on many occasions, with both succeeding and failing as often as the other.
In battle, Zhuge Liang wields a large white fan called the "Peacock Feather", a contrast to Sima Yi's weapon, the "Dark Feather". Zhuge Liang, however, rarely takes to combat during gameplay, instead taking position at the rear and guiding the player's hand. Successfully accomplishing a task or plot that Zhuge Liang has set into motion will usually lead to a quick and effortless victory over the enemy, but failure will result in the plan back-firing, which will usually cause the retreat or death of many fellow officers, making battle exceptionally difficult.
Zhuge Liang eventually dies of illness at the "Battle of Wu Zhang Plains", much to Sima Yi's delight. Sima Yi's forces charge, and following Zhuge Liang's final tactical suggestions determine how difficult the battle will become.
Manhwa
In the manhwa ''
Faeries' Landing'', the protagonist of the story in 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.
References
★ .
★ Lo, Kuan-Chung (c. 1330). ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms.'' Trans.Moss Roberts. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-394-40722-9
See also
★
Three Kingdoms
★
List of personages of the Three Kingdoms
★ ''
Records of Three Kingdoms''
★ ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms''
External links
★
Sanguo Zhi Biography
★
Sanguo Yanyi Biography
★
Chronology of his life
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