Revisit the Three Kingdoms 03

International Journal for Romance of the Three KingdomsVolume I • Issue 3 • June 2002

2 Revisit ing the Three Kingdoms

Table of Contents

Historical Articles

Cao Cao’s Ambition (3/9)..............................................................................................................3

Jiao, Shen and Ling (Religions, Gods and Spirits)......................................................................17

Dong Zhuo, The Tyrant...............................................................................................................20

Quarterly Theme Deck

Peach Garden Oath.......................................................................................................................26

Game Design

FUDGE – Revisiting the Three Kingdoms in a nutshell..............................................................28

The cover art, In the Name of Emperor, is illustrated by Solomon Au Yeung of the Creator Workshop for both the Dragon Dynasty’s Three Kingdom Collectible Card Game and Romance of the Three King-doms Tabletop Card Game. Romancing Cathay thanks Mr. Yeung for allowing us to use his arts through-out this issue. Romancing Cathay also want to thank Koei of Japan for allowing us to use the arts from their Romance of Three Kingdoms VIII computer game.

All arts copyright their original author and company.

Revisiting the Three Kingdoms Quarterly is, for now, a free pdf mag-azine dedicated to the advocacy and increase general awareness of Ro-mance of the Three Kingdoms period.

We are currently released quar-terly issues on the World Wide Web. Each issue is a collection of historical translation and game related materials from Romancing Cathay. Annually, FAQs for our published games and membership update are also included. Revisiting the Three Kingdoms Quarterly’s first issue appeared on late November, 2001.

We are currently looking for writers and artists who are interested in submitting arts and articles to Re-visiting the Three Kingdoms Quar-terly. The submission guideline is available at http://www.romancingcathay.com/

newsite/popupArticlesGuideline.htmlSorry it is a handful. There will be a link on Romancing Cathay website that will take you there. We hope these issues would encourage others to con-tribute their works.

The staff of Revisiting the Three Kingdoms Quarterly review and edit articles, correspond with authors, compile issues, manage the various technical issues and sales information.

Chuan Lin - Editor, Writer([email protected])Chuck Hildreth - Editor

Of course, Revisiting the Three King-doms Quarterly could not exist with-out generous contributions of time and efforts by PA Sicart, our authors, the Crator Workshop, CartoonWin.com, and Koei Corp.

Editor Notes:

With early released of the sister publication, BiteMark, I have more chance to polish my desktop publishing and writing skills. Though, it is not yet for me to quit my day job, I am very excited for the oppor-tunity and hope you will see the differences.

Starting this issue and next two, we will be started to describe alter-native tabletop role-playing game system (TRPG). Romancing Ca-thay schedules to have the TRPG be readied for next year’s release.

Without further ado, welcome to the issue 3 of Revisiting of the Three Kingdoms Quarterly ! :-)

Volume I • Issue 3 • June 2002 3

Uphold the Son of Heaven

As Cao Cao and Lu Bu fought over Yan Province, Liu Bei be-came the In-spector of Xu Province. This

was due to Tao Qian’s gratitude for rescuing Xu Province from Cao Cao. When Lu Bu fled to Liu Bei, Cao Cao planned to attack Xu Province for the third time to eliminate both his ri-vals, once and for all. However, his attention was diverted to other important events: prepar-ing to receive the Emperor and to the annexation of Yu Prov-ince.

In Name of the Emperor

As the Last Han Emperor Xian (official name), Liu Xie (personal name) was smarter and more ca-pable than his two predecessors. Tragically, the Emperor was under Dong Zhuo’s control from the start. He was forced to usurp his step-brother Liu Bian’s rightful position. Since this move was entirely or-chestrated by Dong Zhuo, Han Em-peror Xian did not receive support of the imperial court ministers. In fact, many retired as protest against such an unethical move. Yuan Shao led an alliance to openly challenge the Imperial

Court (Chao-ting) The purpose of this alliance had two intentions; first, it sought to remove Dong Zhuo from power; and, secondly, to restore Han Emperor Shao, Liu Bian, as legal sovereign. Hence, at the start of Han Emperor Xian’s reign, his legitimacy was in doubt.

Emperor As Commodity

Dong Zhuo forced the Son of Heaven to relocate to Chang-an in the First Year of Early Peace (190 AD). Of the entire alliance, only Cao Cao and Sun Jian, with the small-est of forces, had actually fought against Dong Zhuo’s faction. Every-one else was too busy scheming and trying to expand their fiefs. There was even rumor of Dong Zhuo that he plotted to replace Han Emperor Xian. In everyone’s eyes, the value of Han Emperor had dropped to rock bottom.

Then, in the Third Year of Early Peace (192 AD), the value of the Han Emperor suddenly skyrocket-ed. That year, Dong Zhuo was as-sassinated. The conspirators who were led by Wang Yun, believed that in order to “uphold the Em-peror,” Dong Zhou’s death was in-evitable. Dong Zhuo’s followers, Li Cui, Guo Fan and Zhang Ji, planned to flee for their lives. Jia Xu, the lead advisor of Li Cui, had a different idea. He urged them to retake Chang-an in order to up-hold the Emperor further. In less than a month, the Emperor that no one wanted had become the Em-peror everyone fought To Uphold .

Though Wang Yun was a loyal and able minister, he lacked polit-ical savvy. His zealousness to right

the wrong without heeding advice or showing mercy left him with few supporters. This allowed Li Cui and his faction to successfully take over Chang-an. Han Emperor Xian, once again, had fallen to the paws of hyenas and jackals.

However, these series of events represented the emergence of the Emperor’s status. At the same time, before the fall of Dong Zhuo or the attack on Chang-an by the Xi-liang force to execute Wang Yun, Cao Cao had just defeated Qing-Provin-cial Troops and became the In-spector of the Yan Province. With newly acquired Qing-Provincial Troops numbering some three hundred strong, Cao Cao had be-come a major player. Mao Jie, an advisor of Cao Cao, then proposed the following strategy:

“These are times of great chaos in Heaven Below. The Emperor is forced to abdicate his capital. Every-where, hundreds of fami-lies are unable to settle down to be productive; they would rather starve and freeze. Even within Yan Province, public sup-plies are not able to last even a year. People are restless and do not plan for long term survival. How long can this last?

Warlords similar to Yuan Shao and Liu Biao have nu-merous troops and plenti-ful supplies. But, they lacked a vision for the fu-ture. Therefore, they are not able to establish a last-

Cao Cao’s Ambition (3/9)

the Last Emperor, Liu Xian, or com-monly known as Han Emperor Xian.

©1999 Creator Workshop


ing foundation. Warlords such as these are not wor-thy of leadership. I believe even in times of chaos, only battles initiated by the just and the righteous would win. To plan ahead, one would realize the im-portance of upholding the Emperor in order to gain legitimacy. Only then can he set forth to execute rebellious lords. This al-lows him to properly en-courage productivity from the people. Only when treasury is full, one can establish hegemony.”

This went with Cao Cao’s per-sonal ideal on how To Serve Heaven Below . However, he lacked both the might and the timing to unleash his ambitions upon Chi-na. It was no doubt that Cao Cao kept these thoughts with him daily for quite sometime.

The stratagem, to uphold the Emperor, did not origin with Cao Cao. Other warlords have thought about it like Tao Qian, Imperial Inspector of Xu Prov-ince. When he was deciding whether or not to join the Alli-ance, his advisors, Wang Lang and Chao Yu offered the fol-lowing suggestion:

“Justices of Spring and Autumn, who are align-ing with various hosts, are not worthy enough to remain loyal to the Emperor. Now, more than ever, we should send an emissary to pledge our loyalty to the Emperor who is far away at Chang-an.”

Despite a strong dislike for Dong Zhuo, Tao Qian sent Chao Yu to pay respect to Han Em-peror Xian. On the First Year of Peace and Prosperity (194 AD), Han Emperor Xian was caught between Li Cui and Guo Fan. Kong Rong, Grand Administra-tor of Beihai Commandery, per-suaded Tao Qian to send troops to escort Han Emperor Xian back to Luo-yang. It was be-cause of Cao Cao’s second in-vasion into Xu Province that Tao Qian abandoned that idea.

Procrastination in Yuan Shao’s Camp

Though the legality of the Han Emperor Xian had gradually reaffirmed, and the stratagem of In the Name of the Emperor would speed up the consolida-tion of power, the latter has hidden cost to a warlord who wanted to carve out a kingdom. This was also the case with Yuan Shao. By the Second Year of Peace and Prosperity (195

AD), he had gained control of the Ji Province, the Bing Prov-ince, and a majority of the Qing Province. He had the strongest force north of the Yellow River. Within his camp, the ideas of Upholding the Emperor had been argued throughly.

Chief Advisor, Ju Shou, rec-ommended the Upholding the Emperor stratagem:

“For three generations out of four, my Lord’s family had the honor of serving as the Emperor’s Prime Minister. The Yuan family was well known for their loyalty and their righteousness. Now, Emperor Above (Huang-shang) and Im-perial Court (Chao-ting) were forced to relocate westward to Chang-an; ancestral temples were desecrated and the royal authority has been

“Upheld Emperor would give us the righteousness to pacify rebellious lord.”

Shen Pei©2000 Koei Coproation

“To Uphold Em-peror is to give away up our mili-tary secrecy”

Chun Yuqiong©2000 Koei Coproration. Political Influences as of 195 AD

©2000 Koei Corporation

Yuan Shao


usurped. Those who raise an army with the slogan of ‘For the Em-peror!’ were in actuality more interested in gain-ing personal fiefdoms. There is no one willing to protect the Imperial members and bring as-surance to the Hundred Surnames in Heaven Be-low. Now that we have established our founda-tion and have sufficient strength, we ought to invite the Emperor to live in Ye (city). This has two benefits: it proves that our intention is to bring peace throughout Heaven Below and it gives us righteousness to pacify rebellious lords and rogue ministers. I believe that one not

would dare to oppose our cause.”

Yuan Shao was about to agree; Elder Shen Pei and Grand General Chun Yuqiong voiced their opposition. They argued that:

“The Imperial Line had been in decline for a while. It would be very difficult task to rebuild it. Right now, various lords are es-tablishing their claims, and have large army to support their causes. It has been said that the Dirge of Qin has spurred the Deer. He who first captures it would be King. Now that the Dirge has been sounded, it is the right time to fight for Heaven Below. If we are to invite the Emperor to Ye and seek his permission, it would ruin our military mo-bility and secrecy. What’s more, he would be sur-rounded by petty nobles and ministers. If we cater to their needs then it would weak our foundation of power. If we ignore them, they would compro-mise our relationship with the Emperor. This requires much reconsideration.”

Ju Shou quickly countered:

“Upholding the Emperor would give us the righ-teousness that is desper-ately needed in Heaven Below. This benefits our cause far more than any-thing else. Now is the time to act. Currently, the Em-peror has no place to go. It would be effortless to per-

suade him. If we waited too long, others may take the initiative. It is said that the potentate did not let go of any opportunity, those who accomplish great things do not squan-der away the moment. Hopefully, Lord Elder (honorific title to one’s liege) would speedily come to the conclusion.”

Unfortunately, Yuan Shao was indecisive and hated in-conveniences. Plus, his ambi-tion was to secure his position in the territory north of Yellow River. He had not thought be-yond that. Therefore, he sat on Ju Shou’s recommendation.

Dissension within Xi-li-ang Faction

Situations became worse in Chang-an as various warlords ignored the merit of Upholding the Sun of Heaven. Xi-liang Faction was unable to follow through with Jia Xu’s In the Name of the Emperor strata-gem. Instead, they were busy looting and strengthening their military might. They nearly di-verted all revenue to Imperial Court for their personal uses. Ma Teng, the Inspector of Liang Province and a member of Xi-liang Faction, felt that he did not get his fair share. He started to demand more. Li Cui was too busy enjoying his lot and denied Ma Teng’s request. In rage, Ma Teng led his force under the pretext of Rescuing the Emperor and attacked. This was later romanticized in the novel by include Ma Teng with the Alliance. In reality, Ma Teng was defeated and forced to re-treat back to Liang Province.

Zhang Ji, the most disciplined of Xi-liang Faction, attempted at peace-making. Disgusted with rest of his Faction that he left them and seek fortune elsewhere. Jai Xu followed him.


Li Cui, member of Xi-liang Faction, could not hold on to the Emperor. He was too busy enjoy a good life.


Guo Fan, member of Xi-Liang Fac-tion, was some-time ally but more often a rival of Li Cui in fighting for Emperor and Chang-an.



Soon after, Li Cui fought Guo Fan within Chang-an and caused chaos. They both tried to take the Emperor by force to their military camp. Han Em-peror Xian was compelled to flee the palaces. Both Li Cui and Guo Fan looted the palac-es. Chang-an fell into anarchy. Ministers urged Yang Feng, a subordinate of Li Cui to rescue the Emperor. After a failed at-tempt, Yang Feng led his tropps away from Li Cui. This had weakened Li Cui’s strength.

Zhang Ji, general of an army from Dong Zhuo original four battle groups, had just returned from Liang Province. Together with Jia Xu, they brokered the peace between Li Cui and Guo Fan. Li Cui refused. Zhang Ji and Guo Fan joined forces to attack Li Cui in Chang-an. Li Cui was forced to relocate to Chi-yang. Zhang Ji was pro-moted to Valiant Cavalry Gen-eral (Piao-qi Jiang-jun), Guo Fan became the Chariot Cav-alry General (Ju-qi Jiang-jun) and Yang Feng became Flour-ishing Righteousness General (Xin-yi Jiang-jun). They were ennobled. Dong Cheng, a nephew of Empress Dowager Dong, was promoted to the Peace Maker General (An-ji Ji-ang-jun) and elevated to the title of Imperial Uncle.

But Guo Fan was discontent with his lot. He tried to kidnap the Emperor Xian. Both Yang Feng and Dong Cheng were se-cretly alerted of the situation. Together, Yang Feng and Rear General Yang Ding prepared their forces to confront Guo Fan. However, Guo Fan sensed that he was outnumbered and led his troops away. Li Cui and

Guo Fan were forced out of the capital, Chang-an.

Before long, Li Cui and Guo Fan were united. They made an attempt to retake the capital together. Yang Ding went forth first in vain. He was defeated by Li Cui’s troops. He retreated to Bing Province. Zhang Ji, Yang Feng and Dong Cheng went to parley with Li Cui and Guo Fan. Their negotiations were unsuc-cessful and lead to a full as-sault. This time around, Li Yue, Yang Feng and Dong Cheng were able to defeat Li Cui. After the battle, Yang Feng and Dong Cheng realized that Chang-an was virtually defenseless as a city. Xi-liang Factions were al-ways within striking distance. This made them uneasy. So, they decided to relocate back to Luo-yang. Dong Cheng and others led the Emperor, minis-ters and nobles. Yang Feng and other generals were rearguards.

Once Li Cui and Guo Fan heard the news they pursued the troops moving away from

Chang-an. Yang Feng’s force was annihilated under their power. In a panic, Dong Cheng and Li Yue barely led Han Em-peror Xian across the Meng-jin Ferry River. There, they set up a temporary palace at East Sta-tion River Commandery Sun Prefecture. Fortunately, the Ad-ministrators of the Inner River and the River East had contrib-uted supplies to the troops. Meanwhile, Li Cui and Guo Fan looted and razed Chang-an for forty odd days. For the next two years, the city remained inhab-itable. At that time, Ju Shou persuaded Yuan Shao to take action. Nearby, Cao Cao had just retaken Yan Province.

All of this occurred during October of the Second Year of Peace and Prosperity (195 AD).

Analysis in Cao Cao’s Camp

It was on New Year’s day, marking the First Year of Re-building Peace (196 AD), which Cao Cao called for a meeting of

Chang-an Luo-yang

Emperor fled from Chang-an

©2000 Koei Corproation

Yang Feng, former subordinate of Li Cui, decided to side with Han Em-peror Xian rather than served his lord.


Dong Cheng, a newphew of Em-press Dowager Dong, with Yang Feng planned for Emperor’s escape.



his generals and staff. To them he proposed the question:

“What are the cost and the benefits of Uphold-ing the Son of Heaven?”

Well-known for his strategies, the long bearded General Cheng Yu was the first to ex-press his opinion:

“According to the intel-ligence, Emperor Above is protected by Yang Feng and Dong Cheng. They have left Guang-zhong and currently at An-ba. We ought to take advantage of the situa-tion to contact Emperor Above; it would give us a great advantage.”

Chief Advisor Xun Yu con-veyed similar thoughts:

“Yu Province is adjacent to Si-li Region. Current-ly, half of it is already under our control. If we

plan to receive the Em-peror, either Luo-yang or Xu-chang would be an ideal location. To do so, we would have to elimi-nate all other potentials in Yu Province.”

General Cao Ren dissented:

“Despite the fact that Zhang Mao’s force has been eliminated, Lu Bu and Cheng Gong are oc-cupying Xu Province. If they ally with Yuan Shu, then they can threaten Yan Province anytime. Therefore, Class Below (how a subordinate re-fers himself to his Lord) believes that we should first pacify the Eastern Front by totally destroy both Yuan Shu and Lu Bu. Only then can we move on to Yu Province.

General Xiahou Dun also had a similar outlook:

“On pure military pros-pect, Yu Porivnce con-nects Si-li Region and Jin Province. These area are full of petty war-lords who sided Yan Shu or Liu Biao. They can hinder our movement. Futher, by clearing out Yu Province would leave us exposed to Yuan Shao in the North, Lu Bu in the East, Liu Biao in the South and other war-lords in the West. This is not profitable.”

Nearly all generals shared Xi-ahou Dun’s analysis. Cao Ren pressed on,

“To Uphold the Son of Heaven is not always profitable. We learn this from Dong Zhuo. With our current strength, To Uphold the Son of Heaven does not neces-sarily grant us the use of In the Name of the Em-peror stratagem. What if, we are unable to maintain control and suffer consequences be-fore reaping rewards?”

General Man Chong voiced his concern:

“Do we know what di-rection Yuan Shao is go-ing? He is the most qualified to carry out To Uphold the Son of Heaven stratagem. If this situation causes us to be in direct conflict with Yuan Shao then it would be a great crisis.”

Cao Cao

Cao Cao influenced (in deep blue) as of 195 AD.©2000 Koei Corporation

Xun Yu advocated to Uphold the Em-peror stratagem


Cheng Yu, the per-fect advisor, equally adopted at civil and martial tasks. He advised what is best for Cao Cao.



Cao Cao replied:

“The latest intelligence from Ji Province indi-cated that Yuan Shao’s camp has divided itself over this issue. Grand Elder Faction led by Shen Pei has opposed it. General Yuan did not seem interested as he is still struggle with Gong-sun Zan. According to our analysis there would be no action from either of them.

Xun Yu objected loudly:

“Upholding the Son of Heaven is not for profit or loss! In earlier days when the High Ancestral (Liu Bang, founder of the Han Dynasty) went to the East to seek re-venge for Emperor Yi, his troops rallied to his cause. Many lords in Heaven Below have re-

sponded to his call. Since the chaos of Dong Zhuo, the Son of Heaven has been exiled in Guang-zhong region.”

As the debates went on and on, Cao Cao remembered the conversation he had with Yuan Shao back when they were part of the Alliance. Yuan Shao had asked Cao Cao:

“If we lost this cam-paign, how are we to secure our foundation?”

Cao Cao countered:

“What is Your Lordship’s opinion?”

Yuan Shao replied:

“I believe to that we should use the mountain region of Ji Province north of the Yellow River as our foundation. We can then secure aids from the northern bar-barians and march south to seek hegemony.”

Cao Cao did not say anything in response though he dis-agreed with Yuan Shao. He knew that the location was im-portant but felt that gaining people’s support was greater priority. Despite what Cao Ren said about the costs of having Han Emperor Xian were true. Nonetheless, the Emperor was still the focus of the people in Heaven Below. His decision was obvious.

Welcome Emperor Xi-an, Relocate Capital to Xu-chang

Based on Cheng Yu and Xun Yu’s recommendation, the best place for the new government

was to locate to Xu-chang (city) where it lies due east of Luo-yang. Xu-chang, located in Yu Province, had two advantages. First, it allowed Han Emperor Xian to be fully free from influ-ences of Si-li Region and of Xi-liang warlords. Second, it was closer to Qiao Prefecture, the birthplace of Cao Cao. He has a stronger influence there. But first, he has to eliminate all po-tential threats within Yu Prov-ince, especially those aligned with Yuan Shu.

After the New Year, Cao Cao stationed his army at Wu-Ping area. Yuan Si, Chancellor of the Chen Prefecture and pro-Yuan Shu, surrendered. Cao Cao commanded Xun Yu to safe guard Yan Province, and Cao Hang to lead 3,000 troops to An-ba (Prefecture) on a mission to receive Han Emperor Xian. They were now prepared to en-ter Xu-chang Prefecture. Cao Cao would remain in Chen Pre-fecture to watch pro-Yuan Shu warlords from Ru-nan Com-mandery and Ying Province.

Cao Hong’s troops met with strong resistance from Dong Cheng and Chang Nu, an offi-cer under Yuan Shu. He could not advance into Si-li Region. But later, both Dong Cheng and Zhang Yang proposed the Son of Heaven to return to Luo-yang. Yang Feg and Li Yu were strongly opposed to the idea. The disagreement soon esca-lated to an armed conflict. Only the intercession of Han Emperor Xian stopped both parties from more bloodshed.

By February, Cao Cao led troops to attack warlords from Ru-nan and Ying Province. He led surprise attacks against the strongest generals of them all,

Luo-yang

Xu-chang

Cao Cao planned to relocate the capital from Luo-yang to Xu-chang.


“Han Emperor Xian was still the focus of the people in Heaven Below.”


Liu Bi and Huang Shao. Lesser warlords such as He Yi and He Man soon surrendered. Cao Cao granted them mercy. Once their forces has been reorga-nized, they allowed to stay where they were. Their duty was to prevent Yuan Shu and Liu Biao from encroaching.

Once the area had been cleared from potential dangers, Cao Cao ordered Xun Yu to pre-pare the relocation of Xu-chang. The city was to be re-named as Xu-dou or Xu the Capital. This furthered the pro-cess of Upholding the Emperor .

In May, Cao Cao sent an em-issary separately to bribe Dong Cheng and Yang Feng. He wanted them to know that his intentions were to Uphold the Emperor and to respect senior ministers. Soon after, Imperial Court appointed Cao Cao as General who would Build Vir-tue (Jian-de Jiang-jun). By June, he was promoted to General who Pacified the East (Zhen-dong Jiang-jun) and was enno-bled as Marquise of Fei-ting (Fei-ting Hou). Cao Song, Cao Cao’s father, originally held this title. Later, Cao Cao submitted many writs to thank Han Em-peror Xian and to attempt to build up good rapport with the exiled government.

However, Yang Feng and Han Xian prepared to bring Han Emperor Xian to Luo-yang. Yang Feng relocated his army to Liang-cheng in the East to prevent any warlord from en-tering. Dong Cheng had se-cretly sent an emissary to welcome Cao Cao’s army. At the suggestion of the emissary, Dong Zhao, Cheng Yu and Cao Ren were to defend Yan Prov-ince, while Xun Yu continued

to oversee the preparation for welcoming the Emperor at Xu-dou. Cao Cao led his troops with guidance from Dong Zhao and sneaked into Si-li Region.

In mid August, Cao’s troops had arrived in Ming-Yang (city) and surprised Han Xian who fled to join Yang Feng’s forces. Han Emperor Xian asked Cao Cao and Dong Cheng not to pursue Yang Feng and Han Xian for they had escorted him to safety. On the sixteenth of August, Han Emperor Xian pro-moted Cao Cao to Colonel Di-rector of the Retainers (Si-li Xiao-wei) and to be in charge of the Ministry of Writing. Cao Cao had the Master of Writing, Ping Shuo, Gentleman-Consultant, Hou Qi and Gentleman-in-At-tendance, Hu Sui, executed for conspiration with Xi-liang Fac-tion. Dong Cheng and twelve others who have escorted the Emperor were promoted to no-bility.

October, Cao Cao led troops to set siege against Yang Feng's force at Liang-cheng. Yang-Feng forced to flee to Yuan Shu. In this battle, Cao Cao received Xu Huang, the foremost fierce some general in Yang Feng's camp. Cao Cao considered him the prized spoil of this battle. Xu Huang soon became one of Cao Cao's Five Tiger Generals.

Zhang Xiu Offered Yu Province

Campaign of Yu Province: To Win Without Bloodshed

Zhang Xiu inherited his army from Zhang Ji, general of one of four main army groups under Dong Zhuo and an elder clans-man of Zhang. Zhang Ji’s army group was the most disciplined

and most respected under Dong Zhuo. After the assassina-tion, Zhang Ji attempted to bro-ker peace between Li Cui and Guo Fan over the control of Chang-an. It did not work. Zhang Ji decided to lead his army group out of Chang-an and to settle down at northern Jing Province. This brought him into conflict with Liu Biao who was the Inspector of Jing Prov-ince. During one of sorties, Zhang Ji was killed by stray ar-row. Zhang Xiu step in to took over. Jia Xu, a well-known advi-sor, was accompanied with Zhang Ji and continued his ser-vice under Zhang Xiu. He ad-vised Zhang Xiu to negotiate peace with Liu Biao. An alli-ance was formed. And they agreed to move his army to western Yu Province to act as buffer for Jing Province.

After losing Xu Province to Lu Bu, Cao Cao began to look for other place to expand. Yu Prov-ince was the next candidate despite being fragmented with petty warlords.

To prepare for the Yu Prov-ince Campaign, Cao Cao brought over eighty thousands troops into three army groups. Both Xun Yu and Cheng Yu stayed behind at the home turf. Xiahou Dun led a vanguard. Cao Cao brought along his el-der son, Cao Ang and his neph-ew, Cao An-min, in the central army group. Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Yu Jin, Li Dian and Yue Jin each led a separate force in the rear.

Seeing the approaching forc-es, most minor warlords within Yu Province surrendered. Jia Xu saw no reaction from Liu Biao’s camp, also advised

Xu Huang, one of Cao Cao’s Five Ti-ger Generals, was Cao Cao’s ideal spoil from fighting Yang Feng.


Zhang Xiu inherited the army from his clan elder, Zhang Ji, who was killed during battle against Liu Biao.



Zhang Xiu to surrender to avoid annihilation.

Cao Cao greeted both Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu as if they were old friends. He accepted their surrendering. Cao Cao moved his army group into the city, Wan. Everyone else stationed outside the city and army camps were stretched to ten mile longs.

Without losing a troop or fir-ing a shot, Cao Cao gained the majority control of Yu Province. This was considered highest epitome in the Arts of War.

Cao Cao was very happy that his old habit came back to haunt him.

Lecherous Cao, Vengeful Zhang

Restless, excited, and lecher-ous, Cao had heard that Lady Zou, widow of Zhang Ji, was young and beautiful. She was from Qiang tribe at China pe-ripheral. Qiang tribe has a loose restriction on situation between men and women. Hence Lady Zou was quite ac-tive within the social circle within city of Wan. Cao Cao sent out words that he was in-terested in Lady Zou. She ac-cepted for a chance to become better known and wealth. Both enjoyed each other presence.

Officers under Cao Cao knew about their master’s behavior and shrug. However, being proper, Zhang Xiu took this as an insult. He schemed with Jia Xu with plan to betray Cao Cao in order to avenge his clan honor. Jia Xu advised him to strike quick before the hand over of Wan City is completed. As currently, Cao Cao’s entire force located outside of the city.

A surprise attack may possibly rid of Cao Cao, allowed Zhang Xiu to unite Yu Province and to annex Yan Province.

Zhang Xiu reported to Cao Cao that there were serious de-sertions among newly surren-dered troops. These troops must be reorganized at once to prevent future mishaps. Cao Cao agreed to his proposal and had his chief of security, Dian Wei, assisted him. Since Dian Wei was watching Zhang Xiu, other Cao’s army groups did not pay much attention to Zhang Xiu troop activity.

Dian Wei Held the Fort, Cao Cao Barely Escape

The day the assignment was completed, Zhang Xiu cele-brated and had Dian Wei drunk. Cao’s camp was also have a good time, thus guards were laxness. Cao Cao and Lady Zou were also enjoyed the moment at the main camp. To-ward the Hour of Ox (2 AM), there were shoutings from out-side the camp. Soon, flames erupted. Cao Cao immediately concluded that Zhang Xiu had betrayed him. He called for Dian Wei, who didn’t have time

Cao Ang, Cao Cao’s first born, offered his steed and his life so his father could escape.


Dian Wei defended the gate to the very end so that Zhang Xiu could not be sure Cao Cao whereabouts.



to don armor, to prepare horses for both Cao Cao and Lady Zou to escape. Cao Cao issued that all troops were to retreat and regrouped to eighty miles east-ward at Wu-yin Cheng [City]. Cao Ang and Cao An-min es-corted Cao Cao away. Dian Wei, without any armor, wielded his twin short halberds and led a small group of personal guards to defend the main gate.

As Cao Cao rushed through the front gate of Wan City, his horse was shot under him. Cao Ang gave him his horse. And together with Cao An-min, Cao Ang formed another defensive line at Wei-shui River to buy time for Cao Cao to safely cross the river.

Too many Zhang Xiu troops followed after Cao Cao. There was no survivor from Cao Ang and Cao An-min’s rearguard. However, their sacrifice en-abled Cao Cao to escape safely. But the death of eldest son had caused Cao’s wife, Mistress Ding, to be very angry at Cao Cao. So much so that she di-vorced from Cao Cao and re-turned to her family. Never again would she ever spoke to her ex. Cao Cao was forced to made Mistress Bian, mother of Cao Pi, to be his official wife.

Back at the fort, Dian Wei with his pair of eighty pound short halberds and a small group of men blocked the front gate to prevent Zhang Xiu’s troops from entered the main camp. And because of his ef-fort, Zhang Xiu could not be certain whether Cao Cao was at the base or not. Dian Wei’s sac-rifice had played a significant part on Cao Cao’s escape. But, there were too many of Zhang Xiu’s troops. Eventually, Dian

Wei was the only one left. He had taken many wounds and loss of blood that those hal-berds become cumbersome. He discarded them for a pair of broad swords. He fought on and on until both blades were blunt. Then he grabbed two en-emy soldiers and swirled them around. Finally, he lost so many bloods that he became

sluggish. A stab from the back knocked him to the ground, after several loud cries, he died. Only then did Zhang Xiu’s troops dare to approach the dead and chopped off his head. When Cao Cao heard the news of Dian Wei’s death at Wu-yin Cheng [City], he broke down in tears. He ordered to negotiate with Zhang Xiu for Dian Wei’s body in order for a proper and formal burial.

After troops were reorganized at Wu-yin Cheng [City], Cao Cao saw no point to continue to fight on due too heavy losses. He ordered withdraw. When

Zhang Xiu heard of it, he wanted to attack. But Jia Xu advised him not too. Zhang Xiu didn’t listen and attacked. Cao Cao personally leading his troop to fight off Zhang Xiu and beaten him severely. When Zhang Xiu returned, Jia Xu urged him to try again. Though he didn’t understand the mo-tive, Zhang Xiu complied. This time, he won big and received lots of supplies and equipment left behind by Cao’s troop. Zhang Xiu wanted to know how is it possible.

Jia Xu explained that Zhang Xiu’s ability was not as good as Cao Cao but better than his other generals. When Cao Cao ordered the retreat, due to grav-ity of situation, he knew Zhang Xiu might want to attack. So he personally led the rearguards whose troops were ready to avenge their fallen comrades. This fighting force was more than Zhang Xiu’s troops could handle, so he was bound to lose. However, once an attack was over, Cao Cao assumed that all were safe and left other general to bring up the rear. Therefore, Zhang Xiu’s troops could win on second bout.

Yu Jin: The Only Squadron to perform admirable during the Ambush

When Cao Cao issued com-mand to withdraw to Wu-yin Cheng, each squadron began to mobilize. Qing Provincial Troops under Xiahou Dun, who were lax in maintain troop dis-ciplines, began to raid civilians. When Yu Jin, Pacified via Cap-turing General, prepared for withdraw, he had heard about these news. He immediately went to police them, to elimi-

“Time is better spent at set up defense against enemy than false accusation.”

Yu Jin, one of Five Tiger Generals©2000 Koei Corporation


nate any banditry, and to bring peace to civilians. Qing Provin-cial Troops, lacking organiza-tional structure, retreated back to the main camp. They filed complaints against Yu Jin for betrayal and for killing them. Cao Cao ordered newly arrived troops of Cao Hong, Li Dian and Yue Jin to reorganize and to prepare. He then commanded scouts to find whereabouts of Yu Jin’s units.

Once Yu Jin’s troops ap-proached Wu-yin Cheng [city], Zhang Xiu’s troops were close behind. Yu Jin ordered to set up formation and to prepare for defensive action. Others have warned him that Qing Provin-cial Troops have accused him of treason in front of Cao Cao. It would be prudent for him to go explain himself in front of Cao

Cao rather than stayed here to build up defense.

Yu Jin expressed, “Now ene-mies are at our heel, and would arrive any moment. Times are better spent on building up de-fense and figure out how to defend against inevitable at-tack. To explain oneself is pale in comparison to defend against enemy. Anyway, Grand Cao is intelligent, whether it’s true or not, he will know for sure immediately.”

As expected, Zhang Xiu’s troops arrived right after the defense had build up. Yu Jin personally led the charge to defend. Other Cao’s troops from Wu-yin Cheng [city] joined the attack. Together, they defeated Zhang Xiu’s troops. Afterward, Cao Cao

summoned Yu Jin to answer these charges.

Afterward, Cao Cao happily expressed, “We have lost heav-ily in this campaign. General was able to maintain order in face of chaos and to punish those who have wronged oth-ers. And within a brief span of time, he is able to strengthen troops and to build up de-fenses despite others accusa-tions. This let us to turn the tide around. Such acts, not even fame generals of antiquity, are able to accomplish.”

Beside congratulate in front of everyone, he had given Yu Jin a set of golden instruments and to promote him to Profit and Longevity Baron status.

By the time Cao Cao returned to Xu-du, nearly entire Yu Prov-ince has switched allegiance to Zhang Xiu, including Nan-yang and Zhang-ling Commander-ies. During interim, Cao Hong had repeatedly skirmishes against Zhang Xiu’s troops; he was not very effective. Likewise, Zhang Xiu also sent troops to harass Ye City.

On the winter of the Second Year of Rebuilding Peace (194 A.D.), Cao Cao attempted to re-take Yu Province. At that time, Zhang Xiu’s main camp was still at Wan City. And he forti-fied Wu-yin City as he assumed that would be the battle site. Liu Biao sent troops to help his ally and were stationed at Hu-yang City, 90 li (27.96 mi or 45 km) southeast of Wan City. However, Cao Cao was not as hurried as before, he took more of long-range plan. His first ob-jective was to maintain a solid foundation at the eastern half of Yu Province. He positioned

Map Legend

A. Wu-yin City: Zhang Xiu expected to be the main bat-tle field and forti-fied the city.

B. Wan City: Zhang Xiu stationed here and readied to rein-force Wu-yin City.

C. Hua-yang City: Liu Biao’s forces readied to assist, but expected to sit through the show.

1. Cao Cao ignored Wu-yin City because it is nearest to his border and can be attacked later at leisure.

2. Cao Cao block-aded Wan City to prevent communi-cation to and from the city.

3. Cao Ren attacked Hua-yang City to repel Liu Baio’s force.

4. After routed Liu Baio, Cao Ren turned around and attacked Wu-yin City.

A.B

C

1

2

34


his overwhelming force right outside of Wan City to prevent Zhang Xiu from contacting with other city, Wu-yin. He or-dered Cao Ren to attack Hu-yang City. Since Wu-yin City is lot closer to Yan Province, it could be taken at leisure.

Zhang Xiu’s troops, stationed at Wu-yin City, were expected to be in thick of fight. They worked long and hard to fortify the city. Yet, Cao Cao passed it by. And since the communica-tion had been cut between Wu-yin City and Wan City, the com-mander was at lost at what to do next.

On the other hand, Liu Biao’s troops were expected to just watching the fight between Cao Cao and Zhang Xiu, they were caught totally unprepared. They forced to retreat back to Ying Province. Once the Hu-yang City had been taken, Cao Ren returned to attack Wu-yin City. There were not many troops stationed at Wu-yin City at the start. And once they real-ized that no helps were to ar-rive from Hu-yang City and Wan City, they surrendered.

In less than a month, Cao Cao had retake Yu Province from east of Wei-shui River. He was back to where he was a year early ago. Since Wan City was tightly defended and the sea-son was getting colder which was unfavorable time for the attackers, Cao Cao ordered Cao Hong to safeguard Yu Province east of Wei-shui River. He led troops back to Xu-du.

Execution of Those Who Destroy Farmland

On March of the Third Year of Rebuilding Peace (195 A.D.), Cao Cao personally arrived to eastern side of Wei-shui River. Xun Yu and Cheng Yu stayed behind at Xu-du, he brought along Xun You, Guo Jia, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Yu Jin, Lu Qian and Xu Zhu. Along the way, he saw the crops were ripen but farmers, heard of arriving troops, have fled. There was no one to harvest the crops.

Cao Cao felt remorse that since Dong Zhuo controlled Choa-ting (government), there have been continuous battles; troop disciplines were bad; and commoners suffered the most. Whenever they heard of troop arrival, they shuddered in fear and fled for their lives. Hence, he ordered an edict:

“I, in honor of our Emperor’s command, has set out troops against those who rebelled and rid of those who harmed public. It was in necessity that we forced to raise troops dur-ing harvest time. Those who found guilty of de-stroying crops or farmland, no matter of his station, would be summarily exe-cuted. The rules and regu-lation are severe in order to protect people from harm.”

Once officers and soldiers were aware of this edict, they were careful when traveled through farmland. They got off their horses and carefully watch their steps to make sure there was no mishap. Cao Cao, one who had given the com-mand, still rode his horse

through the farmland and watched grain rippled by winds. He was very please with himself of the decree. Unex-pectedly, a dovetail flew across Cao Cao’s beast and frightened it to run into farmland and de-stroyed crops. In a pinch, Cao Cao thought of something and summoned the Chief Secretary.

Chief Secretary was at loss, “How can the military law be applied to Prime Minister (by then, Cao Cao received the title from Han Emperor Xian)?”

Cao Cao, “If I can not submit to my own rule, how can I ex-pect other to do the same?” He pulled out the sword and about to commit suicide.

Guo Jia, who figured out what Cao Cao was planning, inter-rupted, “Since the time of Spring and Autumn, it had been stated that laws do not apply to the noble. Prime Min-ister, you lead the entire troops, how can you commit suicide?”

Cao Cao though for a while, then solemnly stated, “Since it had been stated since time of Spring and Autumn that laws do not apply to the noble, I will refrain myself from death sen-tence. But my hair will be cut in my stead.”

With that, he cut off his hair and handed to Chief Secretary who then announced to entire army, “Prime Minister tres-passed cropland, he was to be-headed. However, his hair had been cut in his place.” The en-tire army was shocked. No one dared to disobey the rules; the disciplines were strengthened.

“If I can not sub-mit to my own rule, how can I expect others to do the same?”

Cao Cao©2001 Creator Workshop


Garrison Farms To Calm Populace

In the First Year of Rebuilding Peace (196 A.D.), Han Emperor Xian promoted forty-two years old Cao Cao to be General-in-Chief. He had became the nation’s highest military officer. This took place less than two years of his struggle to regain Yan Province.

To maintain good relation with Yuan Shao, the northern warlord, Cao Cao petitioned Han Emperor Xian to grant Yuan Shao position of Grand Commandant and Marquise of Ye (Prefecture).

Since Grand Commandant was considered a rank below General-in-Chief, Yuan Shao thought Cao Cao had slight him. He angrily exclaimed, “If it was not because of me, Cao Cao would have died couple times over. And now, he tried to command me through the Son of Heaven’s name!” Yuan Shao declined such offer.

Cao Cao worried that Yuan Shao may attack and caused new crisis to the newly formed government. He volunteered to give his title, General-in-Chief, to Yuan Shao and accepted the position of Grand Comman-dant instead. To compensate his lost, Han Emperor Xian granted him additional posi-tions of Minister of Works and Chariot and Cavalry General.

Ten Vices of Yuan Shao, Ten Virtues of Cao Cao

Cao Cao promoted Xun Yu to be Master of Writing. Xun Yu was to act as the liaison be-tween the Han Imperial Court and Cao Cao’s camp. Xun Yu, in turn, introduced Xun You,

Grand Administrator of Shu Commandery, and Guo Jia of Yan Province to Cao Cao.

Xun You was known for his attention to detail, he had be-came famous when he was young. He had served as Master of Writing prior the Dong Zhuo usurpation. He retired soon af-terward. Cao Cao summoned him, and after an interview, he happily expressed, “Xun Gong-da (Xun You’s personal name) is not an ordinary man. To have him participated in major events of Heaven Below, I will not have to worry anything.” He assigned Xun You to be Assis-tant Master of Writing and Chief Military Advisor.

Guo Jia originally was a guest under Yuan Shao. He was known for creativity and origi-nality. Yuan Shao respected him very much. But after sev-eral days serving under Yuan Shao, to Xin Ping and Guo Tu (bare no relationship with Guo Jia), both chief advisors to Yuan Shao, Guo Jia expressed,

“To offer one’s effort in working for other, it is most important to select the right lord to serve. Only if one found the right master, then he can gives his all in order to establish merits and recognition. Grand Yuan knows how to treat his subordinates well, yet, he does not know how to use men nor to inspire them; he loves to plan, but afraid to act deci-sively; a leader like this would not success in such chaotic time. He could not even achieve

Hegemony. I plan to leave this place, to look for the one who deserve my service.”

Xin Ping and Guo Tu replied,

“House Yuan has served meritorious in three generations out of four. They are virtuous in Heaven Below. Various warlords in northern provinces and com-manderies supported our lord. He is the Hege-mony. Who else, besides him, is worthy enough to serve under? Where else can you go?”

Guo Jia knew they did not understand his meaning and departed alone.

Through introduction from Xun You, Cao Cao discussed current major situations with Guo Jia. Afterward, he cheer-fully stated, “This is the man who will help me achieve great status and great potential!”

Likewise, Guo Jia was pleased to announce, “He is worthy of my service!”

Yuan Shao was not happy with Cao Cao’s move of snatch-ing Han Emperor Xian from what is rightfully his. And since he thought himself to be more powerful, Yuan Shao insulted Cao Cao through writing and hoped to provoke a fight. Cao Cao was very frustrated and expressed his annoyance to Guo Jia.

Cao Cao complained, “I love to teach this guy a lesson of humility. However, his strength would overwhelm us if we do. What should we do?”

“It is most impor-tant to select the right lord to serve. Only if one found the right master, then he can gives his all in order to establish merits and recognitions.”

Guo Jia©2000 Koei Corporation


Guo Jia smilingly replied, “Liu Bang’s strength was no match against Xiang Yu (the two re-maining contenders after the fall of Qin Dynasty). This situa-tion, my lord, without a doubt understood it well. Yet, Liu Bang was smarter than Xiang Yu. Therefore, despite his strength, Xiang Yu still lost to Liu Bang. In my observation, the situation between Grand Cao and Yuan Shao is similar to that of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu. Yuan Shao has 10 vices; and Grand Cao, you have 10 virtues. Therefore, even currently Yuan Shao has awed us, he is not your worthy opponent.”

Surprised, Cao Cao asked, “Oh, according to mister’s ob-servation, where are mine 10 virtues and where are Yuan Shao’s 10 vices?”

Guo Jia explained in detail, “Yuan Shao views styles, forms, and rituals as necessity. Most virtuous men cannot stand them. Grand Cao treats others with sincerity and naturally and does not ask for proper behavior. This is virtue of Dao.”

“Yuan Shao divides land and declares Hegemony; Grand Cao upholds the Son of Heaven and follows the wishes of people. This is virtue of Righteousness.”

“Since the time of Emperor Huan (146 – 168 AD) and Ling (168 – 189 AD), central govern-ment power had fallen; social order was in disarrayed. Yuan Shao does things as his please and does not follow rules and regulation. Grand Cao realizes the current chaotic situation and strives to established order. And Grand Cao rebuilds the awe of central power. This is virtue of Governed.”

“Yuan Shao appears to be for-giving outwardly but harbors mistrusted within. He uses his men but doubts their abilities. The only who can get into Yuan Shao’s inner circle are his blood relatives. Grand Cao eas-ily accepts others. His judgment is accurate; he uses men with-out doubt. Therefore, Grand Cao can use men based on their capabilities and not be-cause of blood relation or close friendship. This is virtue of Ac-ceptance.”

“Yuan Shao plans often but decides little. Conclusions have been dragged on and on. Un-like him, Grand Cao is very adoptable. He can take advan-tages of changing situations. This is virtue of Scheme.”

“Yuan Shao loves to talk about ideals and pays attention to court virtuous men. He gains a hollow virtue of worthy lord. Therefore, he employs those who loved to show off their lim-ited abilities, or to talk big. Grand Cao treats others ear-nestly, not care for reputation or flattery. Hence, people of true loyalty and potential flock to serve you. This is the essence of Virtue”

“When Yuan Shao sees some-one in hunger or in cold, he immediately wants to show his sympathy. And, he does not see the suffering among people, nor can he imagine. Grand Cao is not affected by triviality in front of him but casts his eyes on events in Heaven Below. He seeks for solution that would benefit throughout Four Seas. Even if he does not witness firsthand, he empathizes the sufferings in Heaven Below. Such is the virtue of Kindness.”

“In Yuan Shao’s court, minis-ters bicker for more powers. Blackmails and accusations are constantly filed. Grand Cao knows his men; any rumors are not affecting his view. This is the virtue of Enlightenment.”

“Yuan Shao is constrained by relationships, he cannot sepa-rate right from wrong. Grand Cao is able to reward those suc-ceed and deals out appropriate punishment to those failed. Such is the virtue of Civility.”

“Yuan Shao loves to threaten and menace; he does not un-derstand the importance of us-ing troops. Grand Cao uses few to defeat many; he knows the essence of warfare. Officers and soldiers trust you implicitly. Your opponents fear you. This is the virtual of Martial.”

Even Cao Cao felt embarrass about such flattering compari-son, “if it is only true to what mister has said, how can I pos-sibly deserve all these virtues?”

Similar comparison of virtues and vices was later used by Liu Bei to distinguish himself from Cao Cao.

Eliminate Famish, Enforc-ing Garrison Farm

At that time, the immediate threat to Cao Cao was not Yuan Shao but the encroaching fam-ine. Only by solved the food supplies would one qualify to pacify the chaotic world and to unite all in Heaven Below.

Food was people’s first priori-ty. No nourishment, no support from the people.

Since the dusk of Late Han Dynasty, China had been in-volved in protracted warfare. This drained large sum of mon-

Han Hao, a former officer of Yuan Shu, researched the Garrison Farm policy of Early Han and modified to suit Cao Cao’s need.



eys and foods. The agrarian based economy failed under such pressures. People were forced to trade their offspring for foods. The origin of Yellow Turban Rebellion was due to people’s starvation and lack of government effort to address this issue.

By the times of warlords, food situation worsen. Even though Yuan Shao controlled bountiful Yi Province, his troops still have to scrounge for foods. Yuan Shu’s force stationed at Shou-chun [City]. They have to de-pend on fishing to survive. Oth-ers lacked plans to secure food. Their troops abandoned them when full and committed rob-bery when starved. Lesser war-lords dissolved without a fight.

Once uphold the Son of Heaven and stabilized the gov-ernment, Cao Cao was commit-ted to settle down Old Hundred Surnames [people] basic neces-sities. He took the advices from Feathered Forest Commanders, Zao Qi and Han Hao. He en-forced Garrison Farm policy and used army to convert wastelands to farmlands.

Han Hao was originally an officer under Yuan Shu’s camp. After the battle at Kaung-ting, he surrendered to Xiahou Dun. He was known for his careful planning and given advisory staff position in Cao Cao’s Feathered Forest Troops. Han Hao researched the original Garrison Farm policy back in the days of Han Emperor Mar-tial. And modified it to fit cur-rent situation, he presented the ideal plan to Cao Cao.

Zao Qi was a local official in Yan Province. When Zhang Mao and Chen Gong rallied the

Province to rebel against Cao Cao, Zao Qi defended Dong-a Prefecture. He was greatly re-warded for his effort. Zao Qi was one of principle support for the Garrison Farm Plan. He was promoted to Garrison Farm Commander. Together with former Cavalry Com-mander, Ren Jun, now General of Gentleman in Charge of Farm, they recruited farmers for Civilian Garrison Farm around Xu-chang.

Garrison Farm policy was composed of the Military Garri-son Farm and the Civilian Gar-rison Farm. The Military Garrison Farms were main-tained by troops at the end of a battle. Almost entire Qing Pro-vincial Troops were from farmer background. They con-tributed to the success of Mili-tary Garrison Farm. The Civilian Garrison Farm re-cruited refugees and local Hun-dred Surnames to farm. Government rent out land and seeds. Those who borrowed livestock and equipment from the government were only al-lowed to retain forty percent of their harvests. Those who have their own livestock and equip-ment were allowed to retain fifty percent of their harvest. Rest was given to the govern-ment. This was severe, even un-der their heavy taxation codes. But in the Late Han Dynasty, government indenture farmers were already paid fifty percent taxes. Therefore, most farmers could accept it.

More so, under prolonged chaos and warfare, popular ex-pression of “Land has no steady master, People has no steady home” meant that roaming peasants did not have

basic necessities. If the govern-ment could provide land and maintain social orders, they were satisfied.

The idea of Garrison Farm was not new. It was established as early as Han Emperor Mar-tial reigned (141 BC – 87 BC). In Book of Han, there were re-cords of Garrison Farm throughout peripheral provinc-es. But within the nation, large scale Garrison Farm was in-deed, originated by Cao Cao.

Initially, there were problems to establish Garrison Farm pol-icy. There were conflicts and confusion over land distribu-tion, farm equipments, seeds, and forecast harvests. Even one time, Xun Yu questioned the feasibility of Garrison Farm. Fortunately, Zao Qi’s conviction had persuaded others. Cao Cao, moved by Zao Qi’s enthusiasm and sincerity, gave his whole-hearted support to make Garri-son Farm a success.

The result of first year of har-vest from Garrison Farm around Xu-chang was a mil-lion hu (1,418,880 bushels) of grains. The success heartened others. Soon, every command-ery had established a Minister of Garrison Farm to actively promote this practice. The Gar-rison Farm success had gar-nered a line in the succinct San-guo Zhi, Ambitions of Three Kingdoms, “Annual plen-tiful harvest, fill-to-brim ware-houses, people were no longer suffered hunger and troops were no lack of supplies. This achievement initiated by Zao Qi and completed by Ren Jun.”

Unfortunately, Zao Qi died of a sickness in the sixth year of Rebuilding Peace (201 AD). Cao

Cao Cao initiated the first Garrison Farm policy within China proper.



Jiao, Shen and Ling (Religions, Gods and Spirits)

Written by Chuan Lin

Edited by Charles Hildreth

Like every other country and empire in early A.D., various religious beliefs have profound effects in the Late Han Dynasty. From the ruling family, they advocated their Mandate in ac-cordance to Heaven’s Will; the rich and powerful were to sponsor the immortality re-search projects; families were to worship their ancestors as part of filial piety and to seek protection under them; then there was the Dao that showed the way as opposed to the Dao that led the way; a new foreign religion, Buddhism, had estab-lished the White Horse Temple at the capital; and, the literati which viewed men as behaving morally and not according to spiritual whim. All-in-all, reli-gious practices under the Late Han Dynasty were generally tolerable unless the status quo was threatened.

Mandate of Heaven

To provide their legitimacy to rule, the Imperial Family of Liu proclaimed that they alone, had received the Mandate of Heav-en. How else had their fore-fa-ther, Liu Bang, defeated an able warrior and general; who also

rose from be-ing the King of a small in-significant Han Province to be the Em-peror of Chi-na. Of the Nine Minis-ters who served in the

Court of Han, the Minister of Ceremonies was put in charge of religious affair, astronomy and augury, and Confucian’s propriety. This office was not new under Han Dynasty but a continual remnant from past regimes. The Minister’s position was viewed as a necessary addi-tion to show the validity of the existing regency. Its presence in the court symbolized an empire resting on a single central gov-ernment, presided over by an emperor who was acting on Heaven’s behalf and who was responsible to Heaven for the physical and moral well-being of the inhabitants of Earth.

Filially Piety

Ancestral worship is even more popular today than it was back in early China. The con-cept behind it has been prac-ticed since the beginning of

Chinese civi-lization. Ap-parently the ideas of an-cestral au-thority did not end at their death. The longer a minister had been dead,

the more potent he had be-come. Paradoxically, if he was not remembered and properly worshipped, his power dwin-dled. The covenant between the living and the departed in-volved remembering their an-cestors by periodic worship and offerings. As a result the departed would look after the welfare of the family. Thus, those who sincerely believe in ancestral worship set up shrines, mausoleums, and even hired defenders against trea-sure hunters in order to keep their ancestors burial safe. This practice of ancestral worship-ping was so prevalent that a specific month and day have been marked to remember the dead.

Immortality

The Holy Grail was a lure to nobility and rich-folk for the ul-

Cao, to show his appreciation, postmortem promoted Zao Qi to Grand Administrator of Chen-liu Commandery. And Zao Qi’s son, Zao Chu-zhong, inherited the position.

Peasants, in fear of losing the capability to farm, dared not to scour the countryside and

formed the new farm inden-ture servant caste. And this is also due to avoid hunger and embrace stabilization, many were willing to enter the new caste. Garrison Farm move-ment was naturally depended on availably of water supply. During Late Han period, Cao

Cao was the first to go out of his way to fix riverbank, to build bridges, to divert water flow, and to create canals in order to rebuild society.

Search for im-mortality is the Holy Grail for the people of means.


timate gift: immortality. Even the First Emperor of the Qin Dy-nasty be-came mad with obses-sion for im-mortality after his kingdom rose to an empire.

There were two factors for the pursuit of never-ending life. The most primal reason is self-pres-ervation; to be able to live in the world of flesh without fear of disease, misfortune and bodily destruction. The second pur-pose was inspired by ascetic hermits who were believed to hold the answer. The hermits, who were better known as ma-gicians or charlatans, offered their services to the rich and powerful by claiming that they had acquired the secret formula from those who have reached immortalities; or, that they had the secret sauce readily avail-able to brew into a potion or to create a pill. Still, there were others who knew the place

where immortals lived and would be willing to lead an ex-pedition to it. For most travelers this would be their last journey.

Named Dao

The text above men-tions one as-pect of Daoism. There were other reli-gions that had similar functions, but they

were geared more towards the general public. The religions offered cures for illnesses, com-muned with spirits, or con-trolled the weather. These activities eventually formed the basis of Daoism which can of-ten be seen in modern day tem-ples or cults in Taiwan and China. Both the Yellow Turbans’ and the Five Pecks of Rice’s Daoism were prime examples of Daoist Religions.

Originally, the Yellow Turbans, founded by Zhang Jiao in cen-tral China, were called The Way of Heavenly Peace. They were based on the mythical book Zhang Jiao received from an im-mortal called Old Man of the South. Zhang Jiao began to offer remedies to cure people’s suf-fering. For instance, he encour-aged people to confess their sins in order to be at personal peace. And, as his followers grew, so did his ambition.

The Five Pecks of Rice Daoism was similar to the Way of Heav-enly Peace. They also practice the method of publicly an-nouncing one’s transgression was a way to cure. The Five

Pecks of Rice Daoism orga-nized in the western part of China. The founder was Zhang Ling who bears no relation to Zhang Jiao and whose grand son, Zhang Lu was a key figure during the Three Kingdoms pe-riod. The Five Pecks of Rice name came from its member-ship fee of annually offering five pecks of rice to the founda-tion. Like The Way of Heavenly Peace, the Five Pecks of Rice Daoism also sought to over-throw the government. But its approach was more peaceful and more regional. Right before they rejoined the Han Dynasty, the Five Pecks of Rice Daoism had controlled several com-manding posts through grad-ual assimilation.

Nameless Dao

Then there was the nameless Dao. Unlike the named Dao reli-

gions, the nameless Dao did not organize into a large entity; it did not have thousands of followers, and it certainly did not promise anything to any-one. These practitioners were interested in self-enlighten-ment and had a smaller num-ber of students. Yet, they were often the ones who achieved legendary status. Ironically enough, the nameless Dao fol-lowers were often noted by named Daoist students as be-ing outstanding followers of Daoism faith.

Buddhism

Buddhism, a foreign religion, had been introduced to China

White Horse Temple, the first Bud-dhist Temple commissioned by Han Emperor at Luo-yang.


as early as 50 A.D. Most likely, it came through the Silk Road. In 166 A.D.,

Buddha’s name was men-tioned along with Lao Tzu dur-ing an important imperial ceremony. By the time of Yel-low Turban Rebellion, Bud-dhism had established a pagoda, White Horse Temple, at the capital Luo-yang. This religion offered opposite alter-natives to Daoism. Instead of searching for an immortal elixir that fused body and soul, Buddhism preached the re-leasing of body and soul from the world of suffering. Like the Nameless Dao, it required in-dividual effort to reach en-lightenment. And, similar to the named Dao, it is accessible to the general public and priv-ileged folks, from all walks of life in various social castes.

Confucianism

The Literati tried to re-duce seemly supernatural events to logi-

cal but mundane occurrences. Occultism was for the unedu-cated masses. Yet, they them-selves could not escape from mysticism. The concept of Yin and Yang, and the five elemen-tal interrelations may have orig-inated from Daoist ideology. However, they could be proven by logical and mundane evi-dence. It was rational to apply these concepts into human re-lations and human natures. And it would not be long after that, based on these concepts, one could predict, nullify, and strengthen other’s behavior and personal conviction. Also dur-ing Late Han dynasty, Con-fucius’ writing and teaching had become a canon. It governed how one was to behave in ac-cordance with moral principles

and to detract from a faith of irrational powers. Any contrary behavior would be viewed as a breach of sanctity.

In general, the Late Han Dy-nasty had allowed free flow of various religious practices. And only when the religion at-tempted to impose itself over the state the government felt threatened and began to crack down. These cyclical events in China exist even today.

Bibliography

Loewe, Michael, Everyday Life in

Early Imperial China, Transworld

Publishers Ltd, ©1973

On Confucius Birthday, children still gathered to celebrated the First Teacher at his temple. Even in China today, Confucianism is making a come back.


Dong Zhuo, The Tyrant

Other than Zhang Jiao and his yellow Turbans, Dong Zhuo was another worthy enemy during the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. However, unlike Zhang Jiao, Dong Zhuo was an officer of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, more informa-tion is available on him. Hopefully through this article you will find more interesting details about Dong Zhuo and his path of life. Below is the translation of Dong Zhuo from San-gu-zhi, the Ambi-tions of the Three Kingdoms offi-cial historical records.

Early Life

Dong Zhuo, whose personal name is Zong Ying (Second Tal-ented Son), came from the Liang Province, Long-xi governed, Lin-tao Prefecture (modern day Gansu Province, Longxi City). In his youth, Dong Zhou displayed chivalrous warrior behavior. He traveled to the Qiang tribes in the Northwest region of the Han Dy-nasty. He made many friends there and maintained contact

even after he returned home. When some of the tribal leaders visited Dong Zhuo, he invited them to his home and killed his own prized bull to feed his guests. They were moved by such chivalrous behavior. When the Qiang returned, they gath-ered nearly a thousand of sheep and gave them to Dong Zhuo.

During the later days of the Han Emperor Huan (146 A.D – 168 A.D), Dong Zhuo became Gentleman-of-the-Household-of-Feather-Forest due to his family background in the Fine House of Six Governors. He was capable and hand martial skills. His strength was so amazing that many were not able to match him. Dong Zhuo could carry two quivers of arrows and fired arrows continuously while riding on horseback.

He had advanced to the posi-tion of Major when he accom-panied the General of Gentleman-of-the-Household Zhang Huan to pacify the Bing Province. For his meritorious effort, Dong Zhuo had been promoted to the Gentleman-of-the-Household-for-All-Pur-poses and then given nine thousand bolts of silk. He dis-tributed nine thousand bolts of silk to his soldiers. He continu-ously climbed the political lad-ders becoming Commander of Guan-wu Prefecture, to Chief Commandant of the Northern Shu territory, and Colonel of the Western Peripheral. He then held a few civil positions as Inspector of the Bing Prov-ince and the East River Grand Administrator before he switched back to a military post. Prior to the Yellow Turban

Dong Zhou’s modern day birthplace, Longxi [City].


Crisis, Dong Zhuo held the po-sition of General of Gentleman-of-the-Household, but his fail-ures during a crisis had stripped him of all titles.

When Han Sui rebelled in Li-ang Province, Dong Zhou was reinstated as the General of Gen-tleman-of-the-Household. He was ordered to lead troops west-ward against Han Sui’s force. In the northern plain, his force was surrounded by tens of thou-sands of Qiang and Hu barbar-ians. His supplies had dwindled and he soon faced annihilation. Dong Zhuo quickly came up with a plan. He ordered some of his troops to disguise as fisher-man, then told them to dam up the river where the barbarians travel. The water level rose quickly and he then led his men quietly through the under-pas-sages of the damn to safety. After

all of his forces had passed, he ordered the damn destroyed. When both Qiang and Hu bar-barians realized their pursuit for Dong Zhuo had ended, the rag-ing and rising river prevented them from following.

Of the six armies sent to the Long-xi territory, five of them faced defeat. Dong Zhuo’s troops were the only to safely return. He then stationed his troops at Fu-feng territory.

As a result of his successful escape, Dong Zhuo was pro-moted to General of the Van-guard, ennobled as Marquise of the Ao Prefecture and be-come Inspector of the Bing Province once more.

Carpe Diem

When the Han Emperor Ling passed away, Emperor Shao as-

cended to the throne. The Gen-eral-in-Chief He Jin and Major of the Si-li region Yuan Shao planned to do away with the unprincipled eunuchs. Howev-er, the Empress Dowager He refused. So, He Jin secretly summoned Dong Zhuo to bring his troops to the capital city. He Jin covertly instructed Dong Zhuo to submit a writ stated,

“Regular attendant Zhang Rang, as well as others, have abused their positions by en-couraging the corrupted practice of enriching their personal wealth and planned to cause havoc in Heaven below. In the past, Zhao Yang had mobilized his troops in Jinyang in order to get rid of the iniquity around the Emperor. Your faithful subject is willing to come to

Han Emperor Shao did not give a good impress to Dong Zhuo. His position became shaky.


Qiang Tribe Population: 198,000

Location: Sichuan

Qiang Tribe has settle in the Qinhai and Tibet for more than 3,000 years. They live on farming and hunting. They have very old written language but lost. Owing to their close contact with the Han people, many Qiang people speak Chinese, which is also the written form for this ethnic group.

Qiang was a name given by ancient Hans to the nomadic people in west China. The Qiangs were not a single distinctive ethnic group then. According to historical records, a clan group made their homes in what is today's Sichuan Province. The Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) court in the 2nd century had set up an administrative prefecture for the area. During A.D. 600 to 900 when the Tibetan Regime gradually expanded its rule over the region, some Qiangs were assimilated by the Tibetans and others by the Hans, leaving a small number unassimilated. These developed into the distinctive ethnic group of today.

excerpt from http://www.china.org.cn/e-groups/shaoshu/shao-2-qiang.htm


Luoyang to sound the alarm for removal of Zhang Rang and others.”

The plan was to force Em-press Dowager He to give in to their demands.

But before Dong Zhuo could arrive, the conspiracy had leaked. Zhang Rang and others had assassinated He Jin. Regular Attendant Duan Gui kidnapped Emperor Shao and fled toward Xiaopingjin (in modern day northwest of Henan Province, Mengying Prefect). Dong Zhuo immediately led a portion of his troops to Beimang (in modern day west Henan Province Luoy-ang Prefect) to escort Emperor Shao back to safety.

By that time, Chariot and Cav-alry General He Miao, younger brother of He Jin, had been killed by others. Both He Jin and He Miao’s troops now had no where to go. They joined Dong Zhuo’s force. He also urged Lu Bu to kill the Bearer of the Gilded Mace Ding Yuan and received his army. There-fore, after a series of fierce con-flicts, Dong Zhuo gained control of all armies around the capital.

Initially, He Jin sent forth Cav-alry Major Bao Xing to raise troops and purchases horses at

his base. Once he returned to the capital-city, Bao Xing im-mediately sought out Yuan Shao and said,

“Dong Zhou has a large ar-my, but his intentions are not righteous. If he is not killed early on, I am afraid that we would be forced to serve him. Now that he has arrived at the Capital City, his troops and horses are exhausted. If we are to strike now, we will capture him.”

But Yuan Shao was afraid of Dong Zhuo; he did not want to utilize troops half heartedly. Bao Xing was known for his foresight; he retired his post and went back to his home.

There had been drought for sometime; the Emperor re-leased Liu Hong of his post as the Minister of Works. The posi-tion then passed to Dong Zhuo. Soon, he was promoted to Grand Commandant and held emperor personal tally. This gave him and his troops power to execute without due process. Once Dong Zhuo gained these powers, he demoted Emperor Shao to the King of Hongnong [territory]. Then he had both the King of Hongnong and Empress Dowager He murdered. He up-held former Emperor Shao’s other son, Prince of Chenliu [territory], as Han Emperor Xian. By then, Dong Zhuo had ad-vanced to become Prime Minis-ter, ennobled as Marquise of Mei [Prefect]. When he visited the Emperor in the morning, Dong Zhuo did not need to ask for permission; he was also al-lowed to bear arms in the pres-ence of Emperor. Not only he received benefits, his mother had become Lady of Chiyang

[Prefect] and set up local offi-cials loyal to Dong Family.

Dong Zhuo had led a group of elite soldiers to the capital city. His timing was perfect as there was a struggle within the Luoy-ang that caused a power vacu-um. He seized the timing to hold hostage of the imperial family and gain access to the national treasury. His audacity had shaken the Heaven Below.

Dong Zhuo was cruel and ter-rible; he has not a shred of sin-cerity. He used harsh torture to threaten others. Even those he did not find pleasing or who gave him the cold shoulder, he would remember the slight and planned for revenge. People were frightened to be around him.

He had sent his troops to Yangcheng [city]. The attack coincided with February when people came out to celebrate the new year. He ordered troops to chop off men’s heads, confiscated their wagons and herds, kidnapped women and then proceeded to pillage the city. He tied the heads along side of chariots or even on wheel spokes. Dong Zhuo then triumphantly returned to Luoy-ang where he claimed to have defeated the bandits and the rebellions. People were asked to praise Dong Zhuo to live to ten thousand years of prosperi-ty. After entering the palace compounds, he distributed the kidnapped women to his troops as slaves and concu-bines. He debauched palace ladies and princesses. His tales of indecency is endless. Dong Zhuo’s malignity had de-scended to such a profundity.

Prince Liu Xie was able to get Dong Zhuo off the horse and kowtowed to him and his broth-er, the Emperor. This impressed Dong Zhou.



Initially, Dong Zhuo had en-trusted the Master of Writing Zhuo Bi and Major of the Pal-ace Gate Wu Qiong. Based on their advice, he promoted Han Fu, Liu Dai, Kong You, Zhang Zi and Zhang Miao to become various Provincial Inspectors or Grand Administrators. Howev-er, when they accepted their posts, they turned around and formed an alliance against Dong Zhuo. When he heard of it, Dong Zhuo thought both Zhuo Bi and Wu Qiong had conspired with others to sell him out. In his rage, he ordered to have both executed.

Wang Kuang, Grand Admin-istrator of Henei territory, mobi-lized troops from Mount Tai (5 miles north of modern day Shandong Province Taian Pre-fecture) to Heyangjin (west of modern day Henan Province Meng Prefecture). He planned to attack Dong Zhuo. Dong Zhuo publicly prepared some of his troops to cross the river to Pingyin (east of modern day Henan Province Meng Prefec-ture). But covertly, he send elite troops to circle around and ambush from behind. They fought to the north of Ney-angjin. Wang Kuang suffered heavy defeat.

Relocation

By then, the alliance had been formed. Dong Zhuo began to

panic. On the second month of the First Year of the Initial Peace (190 A.D.), Dong Zhuo forced Han Emperor Xian to move the capital back to Chang-An. After the evacuation, he razed the palace compounds within Lu-oyang. He then ordered Lu Bu to dig up treasures from imperial burial mounds.

When Dong Zhuo reached the Western Capital, he self-pro-moted the Grand Commander and called himself the Es-teemed Father. His cart had azure colored covers with gold bands around the cart; his flags had images of flying dragons and dancing phoenixes. It was as if the Son of Heaven himself had traveled out among the general populace. People called his magnificent cart, Ganhui Che or the Presumptuous Cart.

Dong Min, younger brother of Dong Zhuo became General of the Left and was ennobled as Marquis of Yu Prefecture. Dong Huang, son of the older brother of Dong Zhuo became the ma-jor of the Central Army of Cere-monial Troops. The entire Dong Clan had received official positions within the Imperial Court by now. All other minis-ters and officials had to kowtow when they saw Dong Zhuo’s cart. He did not have to return to the public. Ministers lower than Three Grand have to re-

port to Dong Zhuo at his per-sonal dwelling.

Dong Zhuo spared no ex-panses and spent a great for-tune to build his estate, Meiwo (Distant View). Its height was no less than those of the Chang-An Palaces. It stored sufficient food supplies to last for 30 years. He often said that if he was to pros-per greatly this palace suited his seat of power. If not, this palace can withstand siege for the rest of his life.

In one incident, Dong Zhuo invited hundreds of ministers to Meiwo for a feast. A huge

Burning of Luo-yang

Dong Zhuo’s forced Relocation


canopy was set up for this oc-casion. Dong Zhuo beckoned others to enter for drinks. Among them were hundreds of officers who covertly conspired to rebel against him in the north. Once everyone was seat-ed, Dong Zhuo quickly ordered his men to kill his opponents. Some of the parts were thrown into boiling oils. None of them died quickly; all of them moaned in pain or begged for quick death. Those remaining ministers were shaken when they could not take food. Only Dong Zhuo behave normally, ate and drank to his content.

On another occasion, a min-ister from the Ministry of Cere-monies had observed the night sky. He predicted that a notable minister would die for his crime. Since his previous Grand Commandant, now Commandant of the Guard, Zhang Wen, was disrespectful

of Dong Zhuo (see previous ezine article, Sun Jian: Scion of Sun Tzu, for detail). Dong Zhu used the pretext of prediction and accused Zhang Wen of conspiring with Yuan Shu to overthrow the government. Zhang Wen was found guilty and was beaten to death by wooden poles.

Law and order under Dong Zhuo was cruel and harsh. Tor-tures were used indiscrimi-nately upon mere accusation. Slanderous cases were plenti-ful. Several thousands of inno-cent people were condemned to death.

Hundreds of families suffered through both oppression and nature’s disasters. People lined up on the streets begging for food. Dong Zhuo ordered to have the Bronze Statue and bronze poles melted down and minted as 5 dollar coins. This displaced the existing 5 dollar coins in cir-culation. The newly minted coins had no emblem; the qual-ity was better, but the handiwork was sloppier. It caused devalua-tion of coins and the inflation of prices. Ten bushels of grain fetched as high as a hundred thousand coins. Soon, the mone-tary system crumbled.

Betrayal and Retribution

On April of the Third Year of Initial Peace (192 A.D.), the Minister Over the Masses, Wang Yun, conspired with Master of Writing-for-Archery-Gentleman Sun Rui and Lu Bu, an officer and stepson of Dong Zhuo, to do away with Dong Zhuo. At that time, the Son of Heaven had just recovered from a disease and began to

hold the court at the Approach-ing Centre Palace Hall. Lu Bu sent forth his county friend, Cavalry Major Li Su and his personal guards to disguise as Palace Guards for an ambush on Dong Zhuo. Lu Bu carried the Emperor’s decree.

Once Dong Zhuo entered the palace compound, Li Su and others suddenly surrounded Dong Zhuo and screamed for his execution. Dong Zhuo was shocked and quickly called forth his foster son,

“Lu Bu! Where are you?”

Lu Bu took out the Emperor’s decree and proclaimed,

“Look, this is the Imperial Writ of your punishment; I am bound by its command!”

As soon as he finished speak-ing, he stabbed the still sur-prised Dong Zhuo. Without pause, he slew the nearby Dong Zhuo relatives for three generations. Chief Secretary Tian Jing rushed to Dong Zhuo’s corpse. Lu Bu’s quick reflex finished him as well. With the link of an eye, he quickly took out three other men. Every Dong Zhuo associ-ate held their breath without making any sudden moves.

The news spread quickly. The entire Chang-An territory erupted in celebration. The Dong Zhuo cronies were either imprisoned or executed.

Unfortunately, within a month, Chang-An was retaken by the generals under Dong Zhuo. Lu Bu fled; Wang Yun died. After extracting their re-venge to the city, they wanted to properly rebury Dong Zhuo. However, once buried, a sud-den thunderstorm came. It


Dong Zhuo shared more than just fa-ther-son relation-ship. They suffered the same fate.

caused a flash-flood. Rain wa-ter and sand flowed into Dong Zhuo’s burial ground and warped his coffin. Dong Zhuo was never properly buried.

Commentary

Chén Shòu (the author of San-gú-zhì) critiqued of Dong Zhuo as followed:

“Dong Zhuo is mean, calcu-lated, violent and terrorized. He suppressed the Virtuous and Righteous. Since man-kind developed the writing system, there was no other like him.”

Author Observation

Interesting enough, there were a lot of similarities be-tween Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo other than just a mere father-son relationship. Dong Zhuo was known for his fighting abil-ity during his prime. As a mem-ber of the Gentlemen-of-the-Household-of-feathered Forest, he was ca-pable and had martial skills. His strength was so amazing that his skill was matched by very few warriors. He could carry two quivers of arrows and fire continuously while riding on horseback. Likewise, Lu Bu was skilled in archery, horse-manship and martial arts; plus, his strength was greater than most and his nickname was General Swift.

Both of them were ambitious and willing to sacrifice almost anything to reach their goals; they even sacrificed the knowl-edge of their advisors and pur-sued their destiny by instinct. Dong Zhuo had been looking for a chance to get involved

with central government poli-tics. That came when he an-swered Her Jin’s call. While on the way there he came upon the prince and young emperor which allowed him to become the Imperial Protector. Each step along the way brought Dong Zhuo closer to the throne. He may very well have had a replica of the Emperor’s throne built in his Meiwo Estate. How-ever, he failed to heed Li Ru’s advice which allowed a seed of discord between Lu Bu and Dong Zhuo to grow. Eventually he died by Lu Bu’s hand.

Likewise, Lu Bu was also seeking political advancement and recognition. His betrayal to Ding Yuen could also be due to political motivation as well as personal greed. After all, Dong Zhuo did have higher political rank than Ding Yuen as both the Minister of Works and the Grand Commandant. His foster father was merely the Bearer of the Gilded Mace or the Chief of Police and Luo-yang. Years lat-er, when Lu Bu became the Warlord of Xu Zhuo (his title as Provincial Inspector of Xu Zhuo was self proclaimed and never sanctioned by Cao’s or Han’s Court), his failure to heed Chen Gong’s advice slowly ceded his advantages to Cao Cao’s com-bined force.

Both were betrayed by their kins-men. Dong Zhuo adopted Lu Bu as his foster son. This was more of a union of conveniences. Through Lu Bu, Dong Zhuo absorbed the remaining army stationed at Luo-yang and became the tyrant of his time. Through Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu received wealth and status, the generalship. Gradually, conve-niences were diminished and hin-drances increased. Dong Zhuo

began to have more and more temper tantrums that make people around him uneasy. Lu Bu feared that he may be punished for hav-ing an affair with one of the serving wenches in Dong Zhuo’s house-hold. This fear drove Lu Bu to con-spire with others against Dong Zhuo. In the end, Dong Zhuo sum-moned Lu Bu for his protection, instead his foster son became the executioner.

When Lu Bu came to Xu Zhou, his name and status were higher than Liu Bei. De-spite objections from his two blooded brothers, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, Liu Bei formed a kinship between Lu Bu. Though he usurped Liu Bei’s Inspectorship, Lu Bu did not slay his foster brother. Instead, he put the youngest in charge of the city Xiao Pei. Even Yuan Shu’s force came to attack Liu Bei and Lu Bu came to his fos-ter brother’s rescue. Liu Bei feared the fickleness of Lu Bu and soon moved to Cao Cao’s army. After a large campaign, Lu Bu was captured. Before his fate was decided, he begged Liu Bei to ask for mercy on him. Liu Bei mumbled under his mouth in disgust. Before Cao Cao ordered Lu Bu’s release, Liu Bei had a change of heart and blurted out,

“Did Grand Cao not remem-ber the downfall of Ding Yuen and Dong Zhuo?”

Despite his failure to estab-lish Dong Dynasty, his reign of terror over the Han’s Court had unofficially signaled the begin of the end of Han’s Dynasty. A process that took more than thirty years to resolve.




Written by Chuan Lin

Edited by Charles Hildreth

This is a bonus article for Dragon Dynasty Collectible Card Game (DD CCG) Deck Composition. Too many decks in DD CCG are chock full of bro-ken cards. Yet, if a majority of the cards are considered bro-ken, then is the game broken? The purpose of this addition is to introduce a specific theme deck in two flavors: tournament deadly and simulated history.

Tournament Deadly

Subjugating the enemy’s army without the fight is the true pinnacle of excellence.

Sun-Tzu’s, Art of War, Chapter 3

This is the design philosophy behind Dragon Dynasty for tour-nament play. The reality is, in tournament where prizes and recognitions are at stakes, people will play hardball. Accordingly,

Subjugating the opponent’s deck on the first draw is the true pinnacle of excellence.

Dragon Dynasty’s Art of Tournament

Nothing is more satisfying than sealing your opponent’s fate on your very first draw. You are in control of time. Of course, it is foolhardy to base your entire deck strategy on the first draw victory. Your deck has to be able to “attack the army” and “siege the deck” as alternate ways of winning. At-tacking the army is the most common route for players to win. This involves bringing out the necessary components to systematically destroy your opponent’s cards, his hand, and his deck. By using attack

the army, the standard victory condition is achieving ten vic-tory points. Therefore, a player has to prepare at least 3 ways of winning for attacking the army to be successful (see below). Time may or may not work against you. The only way siege the deck will work is when you have lost all possible chances to win from your deck or by not clinching the win from the start; you can only hope to out-last your opponent and achieve the dubious win. Deck size helps in this stratagem but it may defeat the possibility of a first draw victory or the flow of attacking the army.

Tournament Deck

The chart below shows the composition of the Tourna-ment Deck – Peach Garden Oath. With Maximum VP of 61, this is a no brainer.

First Draw Victory (FDV)

1 Militia, Liou Bei, Small Town, + any 1 card

Attack the Army (AtA)

1 combo: Militia, Zhang Fei + any personality

2 combo: Liou Bei + any 2 personality cards

3 combo: 10 VP

This is also an easy deck to construct because it requires 3

Quarterly Theme Deck – Peach Garden Oath

First Draw Victory

Tournament Deck:Peach Garden Oath 4 Foot Archer (001C)

4 Horse Archer (002C)1 Zhang Fei (010R)1 Liou Bei (011R)4 Militia (012C)

4 Increase Morale (018C)3 Oath at Peach Garden (020C)

2 Duel of Champions (021U)1 Zhu Jyun (052U)1 Zhao Yun (068R)

1 Nine Section Iron Whip (078C)4 Small Town (0118C)

Staple Defensive Cards

2 Spy (017C)2 Burn Supply (019C)

2 Setup (094C)2 Lost (095C)

2 bags of Trick (097C)Overall VP: 53

Maximum VP: 61


rare cards: Liou Bei, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun. However, Zhao Yun is more of an option be-cause of his unique addition. He can be substituted with any other 2 VP personality cards that are not rare. So, you can get by with 2 rare cards, which will in turn make this deck eas-ier to construct than the Yellow Turban deck.

There are only 2 types of a first draw victory deck, but they are so easily created. Once you have the Militia (10.52%) and Liou Bei (2.64%) cards in your hand on the first draw (6.59%) they will increase your person-ality VP. Remember that Liou Bei requires only 8 VPs to win. Having these two cards already meet three quarters of the VP requirement. However, it does

need 2 more cards to make it a 4 card FDV. You will definitely feel so near, yet so far. Needing 4 cards makes this deck slightly less desirable the Yellow Tur-ban Cheese deck which offers the same chances but only 2 cards are required for a FDV.

More than 90% of the time, you will be ready for an attack the army scenario. Since this is a high VP deck, option 3 is very easy to accomplish within about 10 rounds of the game. Even though option 3 is easy, the Zhang Fei combo is more fun because you get to destroy your opposing personality just like in the story. And, if you somehow send 5 opposing per-sonalities to the discard pile, you win with a Zhang Fei victo-ry. Militia + Zhang Fei represent

the essence of an attacking the army deck. Anytime you get Liou Bei out (the guy who loves to form a band of brothers) he is virtually guarantee a victory.

Simulated History

The strongest point of Dragon Dynasty is the ability to simu-late story events as described in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The chart in this page shows the composition of the Peach Garden Oath men-tioned in the first two chapters of the novel.

As a historical deck, it has the flexibility of choosing a victory run or a traditional beat-down. Here, Zhao Yun is replaced by Gwan Yu. Zhao Yun did not show up until Liou Bei went to Tao Qian’s rescue. Well, techni-cally, Zhao Yun did show up a bit early than that, but he was under the service of Gongsun Zan. Gwan Yu is a powerful card, but it is also one of the more difficult cards to play. He also requires some rules and clarification which will be in-cluded in the DD FAQs. Round-ing out the Peach Garden Oath deck are some minor charac-ters that were on Liou Bei’s side when they crushed the Yellow Turban Bandits.

Liou Bei (011R) was a distant imperial prince whose family had fallen into poverty. He sold straw shoes for living, but he ultimately wanted to serve the country. Unfortunately he lacked the funds and the man-power needed.

Lu Zhi (004C) was one of three Imperial Commanders sent to destroy Yellow Turbans. He was a teacher to young Liou Bei. And in his struggle against Yel-

Historical Deck: Peach Garden Oath

3 Foot Archer (001C)3 Horse Archer (002C)

1 Lu Zhi (004C)1 Hwong Fu Song (006C)

1 Zhang Fei (010R)1 Liou Bei (011R)4 Militia (012C)

3 Increase Morale (018C)3 Oath at Peach Garden (020C)

2 Duel of Champions (021U)1 Zhu Jyun (052U)1 Gwan Yu (059R)

1 Iron Black Snake Spear (079R)1 Military Camp (085U)4 Small Town (0118C)

Staple Defensive Cards

2 Spy (017C)2 Burn Supply (019C)

2 Setup (094C)2 Lost (095C)

2 bags of Trick (097C)Overall VP: 55

Liu Bei (#011R) and Zhang Fei (#010R) are two linchpins for this deck.


By Chuan Lin

Edited by Charles Hildrethberth

AS of right now, we have more than a fifty percent re-sponse in Romancing Cathay’s website poll. Most are in favor of seeing the RTK tabletop role-playing game. We have no problem writing the back-ground information, but there are so many choices for the game engine. The most popular is the d20 system. Starting with this and subsequent issue, we will take a look at a few poten-tial game engine. Here is a brief summary of FUDGE – Re-visiting the Three Kingdoms.

The original FUDGE game system can be download athttp://www.panix.com/~sos/fudge.html

Character and Character Traits

Player in FUDGE - Revisiting the Three Kingdoms (F - RTK) creates a character through de-fined traits. These traits include attributes, careers, skills, gifts, aspect, and possibly magic.

• Attributes are basic founda-tions of everything that is in the F - RTK world.

• Career is a character’s cho-sen pursuit in a society.

• Skill is a developed ability that a character learned dur-ing his lifetime.

• Gift is a bestowed endow-ment due to exceptional at-tribute, career or skill.

• Aspect is a character outlook in life that may benefit or hinder him at time.

• Magic is reserved to select individual who able to ma-nipulate nature through su-pernatural means.

Traits are defined by 10 words scale or level:

• Legendary• Superb (max human limit)• Heroic• Great (max starting traits)• Good• Fair (average person)• Mediocre• Poor• Lousy• Abysmal

Words in red are reserved for extraordinary situation.

Character Creation

The underlying FUDGE is

low Turbans, his student came to his rescue. But Liou Bei could not free Lu Zhi from po-litical entrapment.

Hwong Fu Song (006C) was one of three Imperial Com-manders sent to destroy Yellow Turbans. With a fire, he de-stroyed the rebel encamp-ments. For his effort, the court promoted him to the Right Cav-alry & Chariot General position.

Zhu Jyun (052U) was one of three Imperial Commanders sent to destroy Yellow Turbans. He surrounded the city de-fended by Yellow Turbans. He allowed his army and himself

an escape route in order to take over the city with minimal loss.

Zhang Fei (010R) was a wealthy butcher, who questioned Liou Bei as why he would rather watch than to take charge of the situations at hand. Once he found out that Liou Bei was of a distant relation, he pledged his fealty immediately.

Gwan Yu (059R) was a fugitive from the eastern region of China who had been on the run for a justified homicide. He went into service for his coun-try deciding it would be a more suitable death rather than die to an executioner for murder.

Liou Yen (053U) was the Pro-vincial Inspector of the You Province. He was threatened by the Yellow Turbans so he put out calls for heroes to combat the rising evil. Three Brothers answered his call.

Conclusion

This concludes the Quarterly Theme Deck section. Hopefully, this article will let readers think of additional variations to their card game or to create their own first draw victory design.

FUDGE – Revisiting the Three Kingdomsin a nutshell

Table 1

Heaven Perception Reasoning Willpower

Man Appearance Wealth Status

Earth Agility Strength Health


Edited by Charles Hildrethberth

AS of right now, we have more than a fifty percent re-sponse in Romancing Cathay’s website poll. Most are in favor of seeing the RTK tabletop role-playing game. We have no problem writing the back-ground information, but there are so many choices for the game engine. The most popular is the d20 system. Starting with this and subsequent issue, we will take a look at a few poten-tial game engine. Here is a brief summary of FUDGE – Revisit-ing the Three Kingdoms.

The original FUDGE game system can be download athttp://www.panix.com/~sos/fudge.html

Character and Character Traits

Player in FUDGE - Revisiting the Three Kingdoms (F - RTK) creates a character through de-fined traits. These traits include attributes, careers, skills, gifts, aspect, and possibly magic.

• Attributes are basic founda-tions of everything that is in the F - RTK world.

• Career is a character’s cho-sen pursuit in a society.

• Skill is a developed ability that a character learned dur-ing his lifetime.

• Gift is a bestowed endow-ment due to exceptional at-tribute, career or skill.

• Aspect is a character outlook in life that may benefit or hinder him at time.

• Magic is reserved to select individual who able to ma-nipulate nature through su-pernatural means.

Traits are defined by 10 words scale or level:

Table 2 - Attribute Description

PerceptionAwareness to the environment; raw ability to perceive.

Game Context: mainly used as opposing action; a requirement to learn certain skills and gifts.

ReasoningThinking ability; puzzle-solving; intelligence; mental acuity


WillpowerStrength of will; mental determination to strive victory no matter the cost

Game Context: to resist going unconscious state, to resist outside influence; a requirement to learn certain skills and gifts.

AppearancePhysical presentation that others will remember you by; first or immediate impression


Wealth

Material strength; your ability to obtain favors and items through financial means

Game Context: ability to get equipment during game; a player can get 1 item and 1 service at one level above his current Wealth, 3 items and 3 services equal to his wealth, 5 items and 5 services at one level below his current Wealth, unlimited items and services at two level below his current Wealth.

StatusYour social rank; how much influence you and/or your family background have over others.

Game Context: Social status— Terrible & Poor measure a low social status; Mediocre & Fair means an average social status; Good & Great means an above average social status; Heroic+ means nobility

AgilityPhysical dexterity; adroitness; native talent for physical skills


StrengthPhysical strength; lifting/carrying capacity; ability to deal damage

Game Context: use as part of Offensive Factor calculation; a requirement to learn certain skills and gifts.

Health

Fitness; resistance to disease and injury; physical stamina

Game Context: for every level above Fair, a player can put a wound box in Wound Condition from Scratch to Near Death. A rule of thumb: each wound condition cannot have more boxes than the one to its left.


• Legendary• Superb (max human limit)• Heroic• Great (max starting traits)• Good• Fair (average person)• Mediocre• Poor• Lousy• Abysmal

Words in red are reserved for extraordinary situation.

Character Creation

The underlying FUDGE is flexible enough to allow both the subjective and the objective system of creating a character. However, in F - RTK, the objec-tive system is used as it allows players to start off on an even playing field. It is possible, however, to create a character via the objective system if it is okay with the GM. For more

information on the objective system, please check the FUDGE system at: http://www.panix.com/~sos/fudge.html

In F - RTK, a character cre-ation is made of five steps:

1) Character attributes and be-gin Career trait are all at Fair level. Player gets 5 points to improve them. These traits can not be raise above Great. Points are to be used or lose them before next step.

2) Player receives 5 points to buy Skills.

3) Player receives 3 Gifts

4) Player can choose to have 1 or 2 Aspect.

5) Player purchase equipments

Character Attributes

Ancient Chinese philoso-phers believed that Heaven, Earth, and Man influenced a person. Heaven gives a human mental strength, the way to ob-serve, to reason, and to impose his will. Earth gives the gift of physical abilities, the way to act, to enforce, and to support his will. And, Man gives the gift of social abilities, the way to interact, to survive, and to lead others. These philosophies de-fine a person’s physical, mental and social attributes. See the table 1.

Table 2 gives each attribute a more detail description.

Action Resolution

Nearly every action a player’s character wants to perform, the GM has to determine which trait is tested. If the action is unopposed, or the target is not actively thwarted, a player’s ac-tion will be given a level of dif-ficulty. If that character’s trait is two levels higher than the as-signed difficulty, he automati-cally succeeds. For example a Fair Perception Trait automati-cally succeeds against a Terri-ble Hiding Skill; Good Strength Trait will breakthrough a Poorly constructed barrier; and Great Poem Skill will win ovation over a Mediocre Poem.

Unopposed Actions

Unopposed actions occur when a character perform an action where there is no active opposition. For example, unop-posed actions include writing poetry for emperor or jumping over a stream.

The GM assigns a difficulty of a given action. In most cases, it is default at a Fair level. If a character’s trait in question is at Heroic or higher, then he automatically success at that action. But, there are situations where the difficulty level can be easier or harder.

Dice are used to represent random variable that can affect a character performance. Ordi-nary range from +4 to -4 is add to the character trait in ques-tion. The result is then com-pared to the difficulty level. If it

Table 3a: 3d6 Conversion

Rolled 3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10-11 12-13 14-15 16-17 18

Result -4 -3 -2 -1 0 +1 +2 +3 +4

Table 3b: Percentage

Odds of rolling exactly on 4dF

Odds of Rolling Target or Higher

Superb 1.2% 1.2%

Heroic 4.9% 6.2%

Great 12.3% 18.5%

Good 19.8% 38.3%

Fair 23.5% 61.7%

Mediocre 19.8% 81.5%

Poor 12.3% 93.8%

Terrible 4.9% 98.8%

Abysmal 1.2% 100.0%


is greater than the stated diffi-culty level, a character has suc-cessfully performed his task. Otherwise, he fails. The differ-ence between the result and the difficulty indicates how well that action has been per-formed. The roll is considered open ended where if a player rolls a +4 or a -4 he may roll once more and add the result together. This extended the possible range from +8 to -8. This represents the result of a character’s performance to be either the talk of the town or the punch-line. The GM is en-couraged to come up with a memorable description.

Opposed Actions

Opposed actions occur when the target is to actively prevent a character from succeeding at his task. In this situation, both the player and the opponent will roll the dice and add the roll to the degree of their active traits. The results are compared to determine whether the char-acter is successful or not.

The difference between the re-sults indicates how successful the winner is. If a character gets a Good result and his opposition gets a Mediocre result, then over-all, this character has done Greatly. This is known as the relative de-gree of an opposed action.

Fudge Dice and Other Random Generators

FUDGE Dice are specially de-signed six sided dice. There are two + sides, two blank sides, and two – sides. The dice are rolled four at a time (4dF). Re-move all blanks; remove matching + sides and – sides; then count the remaining + or – sides. Each + equals 1 and each - equals -1. This gives a possible range of +4 to -4. The result is added to the character active trait.

When the dice result in either +4 or -4 it is considered an open end. The player then rolls 4dF again and adds both re-sults together. It extends the possible range from +8 to -8. It is possible to extend the result beyond normal 7 words scale range. This represents perfor-mance of a legend or a terrible blunder that will be talked about for years to come.

For players who have no ac-cess to FUDGE dice, there is an alternative rolling method available. You can use 3d6 to determine the outcome. The rolled numbers are added and compared to the table 3a.

To give an idea of the diffi-culty level, here are the per-centages in the table 3b.

Wounds

When combat occurs during the game, as it often will, the

sessions of diplomacy have ob-viously failed. There are 7 physical states that describe a player’s health condition:

• Undamaged (no wounds at all) – least serious condition

• Scratched (no real game effect)

• Hurt (requires a Fair roll on Willpower to remain active)

• Very Hurt (requires a Good roll on Willpower to stay conscious)

• Incapacitated (requires a Great roll on Willpower to remain conscious)

• Near Death (requires a He-roic roll on Willpower to re-main conscious) – most serious condition

• Dead (time to write a brief requiem or to create an-other character)

To determine wound levels FUDGE offers many ways to track combat damage. Fudge Revisiting the Three Kingdoms RPG recommends the objective wound factor . This will assume a player has both an offensive factor (physical attribute + weapon on hand + combat ma-neuver) and a defensive factor (physical attribute + combat maneuver + additional factor). To determine how much dam-age is done during a combat round, the following formula is used:

Winner’s Relative Degree + Winner’s Offensive Factor – Loser’s Defensive Factor

Table 4: Calculate Damage

Winner’s Relative Degree + Offensive Damage Factor - Loser’s Defensive Damage Factor

Damage: 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9+

Wounds: Scratch Hurt V. Hurt Incap Near Death


See Table 4.

A typical character can with-stand 3 boxes of Scratch, 1 box of Hurt, 1 box of Very Hurt, 1 box of Incapacity and 1 box of Near Death. Once the boxes are filled at a particular condition,

additional wounds are passed on to a more serious condition. The player may increase their Health Attribute to gain addi-tional boxes to increase their survival rate during combat.

Fudge Revisited the Three Kingdoms aims to let the gam-ers experience the Romancing of the Three Kingdoms.

Revisit the Three Kingdoms 03

Entertainment & Humor

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