Kongming’s predecessor helped Liu Bei win the battle of Fancheng by recognizing and defeating Cao Ren’s use of the dreaded “Eight Gold Locks” formation.

“When you give offense to heaven, to whom can you pray?”
—Cao Cao, quoting Confucius

“Barbarian tribes with their rulers are inferior to Chinese states without them.”
—Confucius, The Analects (trans. Lau)

Only twenty years after the Sima clan united the empire, invading barbarians divided it again.

“Spreading flames illumined cloud and sea: Cao Cao went down; ‘twas Zhou Yu’s victory.”

Kongming and Lu Su tricked Wei troops into shooting over 100,000 arrows at them to later use against the Wei at Red Cliffs.

At Red Cliffs, Kongming and Zhou Yu each wrote his plan for defeating the Wei on the palm of his hand. They laughed as they both revealed the same word, “Fire.”

Using nature to their advantage, wise Three Kingdoms generals often let dammed rivers loose to destroy their enemies.

“In raiding and plundering, be like fire, in immovability like a mountain.”
—Sun Tzu, Art of War (trans. Giles)

Cao Cao’s cousin, Cao Ren was known throughout the three kingdoms as the fiercest of warriors.

The province of Jingzhou was the fulcrum of the three kingdoms. At separate times it was coveted and controlled by the Wu, the Shu, and the Wei.

Though he held the title of prime minister, Cao Cao used the emperor’s name to exert his own influence on the empire.

“Power-hungry eunuchs, the curse of the dynasty, have thrown the masses of the people into the depths of misery.”