Dynasties of ChinaWei, Jin & the Northern and Southern Dynasties · Division and exchange
11 emperors across Wei, Shu and Wu · AD 220-280 · Jin reunifies the Three Kingdoms
Wei, Shu and Wu divided the realm. The Battle of Red Cliffs and Zhuge Liang's northern campaigns shaped an age of rivalry that ended with Jin reunification.
Dynastic color · Blue-gray
The Three Kingdoms is the period after Eastern Han when the three regimes of Wei, Shu, and Wu were in power. The Yellow Turban Uprising broke out at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the local powerful took advantage of the suppression to form an army to separate the country. After the Dong Zhuo Rebellion, the heroes fought in a melee. Cao Cao welcomed Emperor Xian Duxu, defeated Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, and unified the north; in the Battle of Chibi in 208, the allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao, and the trend of dividing the world into three parts took shape.
In 220, Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor of the Han Dynasty, with his country named Wei, and his capital was Luoyang; the following year, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, his country was named Han, and his country was called Shuhan in history; in 229, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor, his country was named Wu, and his capital was established. The Three Kingdoms were at war with each other. Zhuge Liang of the Shu Han Dynasty made five Northern Expeditions. Wei and Wu fought repeatedly between Huainan and Jianghan. All countries were also committed to cultivating fields and managing borderlands, and Jiangnan and Southwest China were developed as a result.
After the death of Wei Emperor Ming, Sima Yi launched the Gaoping Ling Revolution, and the Sima family gradually took control of the Cao Wei regime. Wei destroyed Shu in 263, and Sima Yan established Western Jin on behalf of Wei in 266 (the traditional calendar is December of the second year of Xianxi, that is, the end of 265). Jin destroyed Wu in 280, ending the nearly hundred years of division since the end of the Eastern Han. Western JinChen Shou wrote "Three Kingdoms Chronicles" to record this period of history, and Luo Guanzhong wrote "Three Kingdoms Romance" based on it in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties, making the Three Kingdoms story a household name.
In 196, Cao Cao adopted the suggestions of Zao Zhi and Han Hao and recruited refugees to work in the fields under the promise. Later, it was extended to all states and counties, and production was organized in a militarized manner to solve the problem of military food and refugees. Shu and Wu also successively implemented farming.
In 220, Cao Pi adopted Chen Qun's suggestion and set up Zhongzheng officials in prefectures and counties. The scholars were rated as ninth grade according to their family background, talents and virtues as the basis for appointing officials. Later, it was gradually monopolized by powerful families, forming a situation where "the upper class has no poor family, and the lower class has no powerful family".
Represented by the "Three Cao" (Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Zhi) and the "Seven Sons of Jian'an", the poems faced the troubled times, were generous and desolate, and were called "Jian'an Style" by later generations. Cao Pi's "Classics and Essays" is one of the earliest extant literary criticism monographs in China.
Sun Wu vigorously operated Jiangnan, and the shipbuilding and navigation industries developed. In 230, he sent Weiwen and Zhuge to lead a fleet to Yizhou (generally considered to be today's Taiwan); Shu Han operated Nanzhong and promoted the development of the southwest region.
During the Zhengshi period, He Yan and Wang Bi supported Taoism and entered Confucianism, interpreted Confucian classics with the thoughts of Lao and Zhuang, and created the metaphysics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties; Ji Kang, Ruan Ji and other "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" advocated nature and were unrestrained, which profoundly influenced the style of a generation of scholars.
Ma Jun improved the silk weaving machine and made a rolling wheel (keel water wheel) and a compass wheel; Liu Hui annotated "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" and calculated pi using the circle cutting method; Hua Tuo performed surgical operations using Ma Fei powder anesthesia.
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Zhang Jiao used Taiping Road to gather crowds and launched the Yellow Turban Uprising in 184. The imperial court allowed various places to recruit troops to suppress the situation, and the powerful states and counties thus supported their troops and respected themselves. Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Jian all rose to prominence in the war to suppress the Yellow Turbans.
Dong Zhuo came to Beijing to abolish the establishment and specialize in government affairs. The princes of Guandong recommended Yuan Shao as the leader of the alliance and launched an army to attack him. Dong Zhuo burned Luoyang and took the Emperor to move west to Chang'an. The coalition forces had different intentions and soon disintegrated, resulting in a situation where the heroes were divided and fighting.
Cao Cao welcomed Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and moved the capital to Xu County, gaining the political advantage of "serving the emperor's orders but not serving as ministers". In the same year, he promoted farming under Xu, recruited refugees to farm, solved the military food problem, and laid the foundation for the unification of the north.
Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought a decisive battle in Guandu. After several months of stalemate, Cao Cao adopted Xu You's plan to surprise Wuchao and burned Yuan's army's food and grass. Yuan's army collapsed. After that, Cao Cao pacified Hebei, and in 207 he conquered Wuhuan and unified the north.
Liu Bei visited the thatched cottage three times, and Zhuge Liang proposed the "Longzhong Pair": crossing Jing and Yizhou, making peace with Zhurong in the west, pacifying the Yiyue in the south, and forming an alliance with Sun Quan in the outside. When the world changes, he will start a two-pronged northern expedition, which laid the strategic concept of the founding of the Shu Han Dynasty.
Cao Cao went south to Jingzhou, and Liu Cong surrendered the whole state. Sun Quan formed an alliance with Liu Bei, and Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu led their troops to defeat Cao Cao's army in Chibi with Huang Gai's fire attack. Cao Cao returned to the north, and the three-point trend was initially established. The plot of "borrowing arrows from a straw boat" comes from "The Romance of Three Kingdoms" and is not historical fact.
Guan Yu attacked Fancheng from the north, and when the Han River surged, all the seven armies under his command were wiped out. Guan Yu "shocked China". Sun Quan took the opportunity to send Lü Meng across the river in white clothes to attack Jiangling. Guan Yu was attacked from both sides and was defeated in Maicheng. He was captured and killed by the Wu army. The alliance between Sun and Liu collapsed.
In 220, Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor of the Han Dynasty, with the country named Wei and his capital Luoyang; in 221, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, with his country named Han, and historically known as Shu Han; in 229, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor, his country named Wu, and soon moved the capital to Jianye, and Three Kingdoms was officially established.
In order to regain Jingzhou, Liu Bei personally led an army to attack Wu. Wu general Lu Xun stood firm and refused to fight. After the Shu army was exhausted, he burned the entire camp and defeated the Shu army in the Yiling and Xiaoting areas. Liu Bei retreated to Baidi City and died of illness the next year. On his deathbed, he entrusted his heir to Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang published the "Execution List" and made five northern expeditions to Cao Wei. The first time he left Qishan, he retreated because Ma Su lost the street pavilion. In 234, he and Sima Yi fought for more than a hundred days in Wuzhangyuan and died of illness in the army. "The Romance of Three Kingdoms" calls it "Six Out of Qishan Mountain".
After the death of Wei Emperor Ming, Cao Shuang and Sima Yi jointly assisted the government, and Cao Shuang had exclusive power to exclude Sima Yi. In 249, Sima Yi took advantage of Cao Shuang's opportunity to accompany King QiCao Fang to visit Gaoping Ling to launch a coup and annihilate the Cao Shuang group. The power of Cao Wei fell into the hands of the Sima family.
Sima Zhao sent Zhong Hui, Deng Ai and others to attack Shu by separate routes. Jiang Wei guarded Jiange to block the main force of Zhong Hui; Deng Ai led his army to sneak across Yinping and reached Chengdu through more than 700 miles of uninhabited land. Last Ruler Liu Shan surrendered and the Shu Han was destroyed.
Sima Zhao died in 265, and his son Sima Yan succeeded him as king of Jin. In December of the second year of Xianxi (February 266 of the Gregorian calendar), Sima Yan forced Cao Huanabdication and established the Jin Dynasty, with its capital in Luoyang, which was known as Western Jin in history. Cao Huan was named King Chenliu, and Cao Wei was destroyed.
Western Jin divided six routes into a large-scale attack on Wu. Wang Jun led his navy from Yizhou down the Yangtze River and used torches to burn through the Wu army's iron locks across the river until they reached Jianye. The last emperor of Wu, Sun Hao, surrendered and the Three Kingdoms were unified, ending the nearly hundred years of division since the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The courtesy name is Mengde, a native of Qiao County, Peiguo. He crusaded against Dong Zhuo, welcomed Emperor Xian Duxu, defeated Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu, and unified the north. In promoting farming, "it is only based on talents"; he was also a leader of Jian'an literature, with generous and sad poems such as "Dan Ge Xing" and "Guan Cang Hai". After his death, he was posthumously honored as Emperor Wu.
A native of Pei Guoqiao County, he was proficient in prescription medicine and acupuncture, and was especially good at surgery. He performed abdominal surgery after anesthesia with "Ma Fei Powder" and created the "Wu Qin Xi" fitness program. Due to excuses, he failed to respond to Cao Cao's call for a long time, so he was imprisoned and executed. The plot of scraping Guan Yu's bones to treat poison in "Three Kingdoms" is fictional.
Zi Yunchang, a native of Jiexian County, Hedong, followed Liu Bei to fight for half his life. Once captured by Cao Cao, he killed Yan Liang among the crowd to repay Cao Cao, and then returned to Liu Bei. In 219, he besieged Fancheng, surrendered to the ban, and beheaded Pang De, who "shocked China". Xuan was defeated and killed due to the fall of Jingzhou. Later generations honored him as "Martial Saint".
His courtesy name was Gongjin, a native of Shu County, Lujiang. He had a good relationship with Sun Ce at the same age and helped him pacify Jiangdong. In 208, he fought against Cao Cao and led an army with Cheng Pu to defeat Cao Cao in Chibi. He is proficient in music, and there are often rumors that "there is a mistake in the music, Zhou Lang will take care of it". The plots of "Three Kingdoms Zhou Yu" and other plots are fictitious.
The courtesy name is Zijing, a native of Linhuai Dongcheng. When he first met Sun Quan, he proposed the strategy of establishing a foothold in Jiangdong to observe the changes in the world; before the Battle of Chibi, he advocated an alliance with Liu to fight against Cao. Zhou Yu took over the army after his death and persuaded Sun Quan to lend Jingzhou to Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao and always maintain the Sun-Liu alliance.
His courtesy name is Kongming, a native of Yangdu, Langya, and lives in seclusion in Longzhong. Assisted Liu Bei to unite Wu against Cao and establish the Shu Han Dynasty. After being entrusted by the Bai Emperor, he took charge of military affairs. He pacified Yiyue in the south and made five northern expeditions. He died of illness in Wuzhangyuan. Shu was governed strictly and strictly, and "Chu Shi Biao" has been passed down through the ages. "The Empty City Strategy" and "Borrowing the East Wind" all come from novels.
Named Zijian, the son of Cao Cao, he was quick-thinking and was often jealous after he failed to compete with Cao Pi to become the heir apparent. His representative works are "Luo Shen Fu" and "White Horse Pian". Zhong Rong's "Poetry" praised him as "extraordinarily high-minded and brilliant in poetry". The "seven-step poem" appears in "Shishuo Xinyu" and may not be credible.
A native of Changshe, Yingchuan, he was an important minister of Cao Wei and his official rank was Taifu. He was good at official script and regular script, and was revered as the "ancestor of regular script" by later generations. Together with Eastern JinWang Xizhi, he was also known as the "Zhongwang". The handed down "Declaration Table" and "Ji Zhi Table" are all copied by later generations.
Zi Boyan, a native of Wu County, Wu County, and the son-in-law of Sun Ce. In 219, he assisted Lü Meng in the attack on Jingzhou; in 222, he was appointed as the governor and defeated Liu Bei at the Yiling Fire Company; in 228, he defeated Cao Xiu at Shiting. From the official to the prime minister, he was repeatedly criticized by Sun Quan for being involved in the dispute between the two palaces, and he died of sorrow and anger.
The courtesy name is Zhongda, a native of Wen County, Hanoi. He served as an official for four generations from Cao Cao to Cao Fang, resisted Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, and pacified Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong. In 249, he launched the Gaoping Ling Revolution and took over the Wei government, laying the foundation for his grandson Sima Yan to establish the Jin Dynasty. After the establishment of Western Jin, he was posthumously honored as Emperor Xuan.
Zi Fusi, a young and wise man, annotated "Laozi" and "Book of Changes", proposed "forgetting images when you are proud", which eliminated the cumbersome learning of images and numbers in the Han Dynasty. Together with He Yan, he advocated "taking nothingness as the foundation" and opened up the metaphysics trend in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Died of illness at the age of only twenty-four.
A native of Ji County, Tianshui, he was originally a Wei general. In 228, Zhuge Liang returned to Shu during his first northern expedition and was highly regarded. Zhuge Liang continued his ambition after his death and made several northern expeditions to Cao Wei. In 263, he relied on Jiange to resist Zhong Hui. After the Last Ruler surrendered, he pretended to surrender to Zhong Hui in an attempt to restore the country, but was defeated and killed.
His courtesy name was Shu Ye, a native of Zhi County, Qiao State, who married the daughter of Cao Wei's clan. He admired Lao and Zhuang and advocated "transcending fame and teaching and letting nature take its course". Together with Ruan Ji and others, he was known as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest. He refused to cooperate with Sima and was framed and killed by Zhong Hui. Before his execution, he calmly played Guangling San. The year of death is said to be 262.
In 263, he wrote annotations for "Nine Chapters on Arithmetic" and created the "Circle Cutting Technique". He used a circle to inscribe a regular polygon to approximate the circumference, and found that the pi ratio was about 3.14, which was later called "Hui Ratio". He also wrote a volume called "Chongcha", which was published in a separate volume in the Tang Dynasty and was called "Haidao Suan Jing".