|
Folktale:
Romance Of The Three Kingdoms
| Our
stories are set in the turbulent Three Kingdoms period
which began soon after the fall of the Han Dynasty
when
the empire was divided into three states, Caowei, Dongwu
and Shuhan. The ambitions of the rulers and wisdom
of
their military advisors and warriors as they contested
for |
|
supremacy
provides valuable lessons about the importance
of justice, righteousness, brotherhood, honour, and loyalty.
Towards
the end of the Han Dynasty, the government became corrupt.
Real power was in the hands of the eunuchs. Famines and floods
struck
the land repeatedly, causing the people to suffer greatly.
In Qulu, three brothers, Zhang Bao, Zhang Liang and Zhang Jiao
formed a rebel group. They bounded their heads with a yellow
turban and called themselves the Yellow Bandits. Their purpose
was to attack the government armies throughout the country.
In a short time, four to five hundred thousand people from
every
corner of the country joined us. Their strength became exceedingly
great.
 |
At
this time, the Prefecture of the Zhu District put up
a
notice to call for volunteers to fight against the rebels.
By coincidence, Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu met
one
another in the district of Zhu. They had the common intention
to help the government to fight against the rebels.
Hence,
they |
decided
to swear brotherhood
under the peach tree to fight against the Yellow Bandits.
| During
this period of great confusion in China, local governors
and landlords fought for control of the country. The country
was divided into three states - Caowei, Dongwu and Shuhan.
Each country had a leader. In Caowei, Emperor Hanxian
left the northern territory to Cao Cao's rule. |
|
Sun Quan
headed the kingdom of Dongwu and Liu Bei called his central
kingdom Shuhan.
At this
time Caowei was the most powerful state among the three kingdoms.
Cao Cao of Caowei had prepared himself to destroy the other
two states, Dongwu and Shuhan. Thus, Zhuge Liang, a great strategist
was invited to Dongwu to discuss the battle plans against Cao
Cao with me, Zhou Yu.
 |
Zhuge
Liang advised me to retaliate against Cao Cao instead
of surrendering my troops to him. When our troops lacked
weapons, he thought of a clever way to obtain arrows from
Cao Cao, our enemy. Finally, I used fire to destroy Cao
Cao |
after making
him believe a feigned surrender. As a result of Zhuge Liang's
strategy, we turned Cao Cao from a confident general to someone
fleeing frantically for his life at the great battle of Chi
Bi.
|
