Your work was excellent. Throughly enjoyed your drawings to go along with these videos. I too am a huge fan of The Three Kingdoms era. Hope you continue to do well!
For me, the cruellest irony is that (at least in the novel) Zhuge Liang was one of the greatest strategists in history, and beat Sima Yi on nearly every occasion they fought - even beating him once more after death. And yet, Sima Yi survived, and ultimately won the war via his children. Brilliance was undone by mere persistence.
@@ZeroNumerous I read an interview about a CEO of a robotics company that works with NASA and he was asked why his company was the last one standing. He said his competitors were smarter but they quit and he kept doing it for decades.
I don't think Zhuge was that otherworldly brilliant in the historical documents... Yes he was an able administrator but I don't think he was like super amazing strategist... Zhuge Liang in the romance of the three kingdoms was somewhat modeled after Zhang Liang during Chu-Han war era...
No, zhuge liang actually suffered losses more times than he won. U actually need to read more carefully to seek the truth behind the word of biased historian, because they liked to spin the truth in their wording and narration (downplaying or ignoring ur losses, make a defeat appeared like a winning, etc. For example : see empty ford event and the battle of wu zhang plain, the shu clearly lost the war and retreated but the historians still trying to paint positive view on zhuge liang and trying to shame shima yi)
The ending montage of Dynasty Warriors 7 is a tearjerker because it included all of this in the Jin faction story. It really feels like Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan fought so hard for nothing in the end.
@@CoffeeSuccubus It's like the novel implied. The imperial regime (or any multi-generational form of governance) is naturally unstable, especially if unification can't be accomplished within 10-15 years.
They really did. The same thing that took down the Han took down Wu and Shu: eunuchs corruption. They just couldn't get rid of having the eunuch influence over their dynasties so they were almost destined to fall. All those people died for virtually nothing. Sad when you look at it that way and that's probably one of the bigger reasons a lot of adaptations just exclude that bit.
@MrGuanYu1 no eunuch was never responsible for any of those kingdoms failure. For the Han's it was the greedy warlord that throw the kingdom into chaos. It was the regional warlord's infighting that ravaged all of han's dynasty territory and weaken the central authority. It was the powerful warlord that plan to usurp the Han dynasty, not the eunuch (it was the Cao clan (former warlord) that forced the emperor to abdicate). The eunuch was just used as a scapegoat to justify the warlord's treacherous action, and those warlord later commisioned some historian to make that slanderous accusation For the fall of shu, the story of Liu Chan and the counsel of his eunuch (and witchcraft) was just used by frustated historian and/or former official of the shu kingdom to vent their anger and as an excuse to save their faces after losing against wei. The situation for shu at that time was already hopeless and liu chan decision to surrender was perfectly rational and a wise one, it has nothing to do with witchcraft nor the treacherous whisper of an eunuch.
Here's a food of thought on Jiang Wei continuing Zhuge Liang's northern expedition. Would Shu Han last longer or get defeated faster if Jiang Wei played this completely defensively? If Jiang Wei did nothing, Wei forces could easily build up resources and supply lines on the border of Hangzhong (the county/district north of Sichuan Basin, where Chendu is located). There's also the "Han Restoration" political legitimacy that is essential to Shu Han's existence too. If you play enough RTS games like Starcraft, its important to harass your opponents once a while even though you play defensively. To dislodge your foe a bit and gather intel from the skirmishes. I cannot produce a full list but if I recall correctly, Jiang Wei only suffered one major defeat (with major personnel losses) in all his expedition battles. And he always have lesser resources (Troops, officers....) to work with. Simply put, from the looks of it Jiang been doing more damage to his foe than what his side suffered. Which would slow the downfall of Shu Han. But, in the greater scope of the things, was Shu Han's prolonging worth it for the common people? Well, at least its not Wu. Wu state was turning into a Clown World.
Instead of launching so many campaigns, maybe it is better if Shu Han prepared the campaign much better than they did and launched fewer but more prepared campaigns.
Shu never had enough resource to win in a long run, thats why they're so desperate to launch a lot of campaign in quick succesion. Their cause was doomed from the start, they cant beat wei when the latter had a lot of internal strife and rebellion, even after joining forces with wu they both still cant beat wei, whats more can they ask? Even their esteemed strategist zhuge liang always failed to do so. Not to mention their tripartite strategy (to divide china into three kingdom) which aimed to destroy wei by joining forces with wu had a glaring weakness in it and had bite them in the ass already
@@agathonchristianto9580 Yes the resources from the Yi State & South West was not enough for Shu to win. However, Shu Han had a slight chance and it was the campaign that got Jiang Wei recruited to their cause. Jiang Wei was more than just a talented successor to Zhuge Liang. Jiang came from a small but renowned clan of Liang State (Today's Gansu province). There are a lot of clans who weren't at good term with Wei. If Shu Han manages to secure the Liang State, Shu Han would secure trade route & potential Qiang allies (Ma Chao & Ma Dai's friends). The fan-made game I spoke of elaborated that aspects really well.
@@drunkardhu6517 Zhuge Liang first Wei campaign would have succeed had Meng Da's plan of rebelling not been exposed and Ma Su screw up at Jie Ting. After the first campaign failed, it was over. Now as for Jaing Wei's Northern campaign. I think he would have succeed if he drawn out a long term plan. Maybe conqure lands piece by piece belonging to Wei instead of trying to go all out toward their capital. And also tried to get political support for the war.
Wait so what was the thing Liu Bei would regret when he yeeted Liu Shan aside to celebrate Zhao Yun (Ep 4 battle of Changban)? Liu Shan is somehow mentally impaired by this incident?
Will you cover the Disorder of the Eight Kings(or Eight Princes) of Jin? The ruination of Sima Yi's legacy and beginning of a dark age in Chinese history with the nomadic invasions?
@@grandadmiralzaarin4962 Not immediately. I have many other topics I have promised to cover before this one. But when I do go back to it, I may do it from the perspective of Liu Yuan and the Southern Xiongnu.
There's a line in Dynasty Warriors 4 that is really great. After you humiliate Ma Su, Sima Yi says this line: "Zhuge Liang, you have an eye for battle, but not for people". This line is quite telling, as it fortells the fall of Shu. Liu Bei had wanted his son replaced with Zhuge Liang IF said son was unfit for rule, but the prime minister was too loyal and also could not see how unfit to rule Liu Shan was.
Try and read Ravages of Times manga. It's has interesting alternate take on Liu Shan. The manga is ongoing and Liu Shan is just a boy now. Zhuge Liang is his tutor, and Liu Shan is portrayed as wise even as a child. Not a genius but already a kid who can discern right and wrong. Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang is as brilliant as original novel but he is also someone who torture people directly to get info. He is remorseful of all his action, including murdering Liu Biao son Liu Qi to allow Liu Bei to take over JingZhou forces. I'm looking forward to see how Liu Shan will be as adult in this version.
1. The fall of Shu Han by Cao Wei. 2. The fall of Cao Wei by the Sima clan (until the start of the Jin Dynasty). 3. The fall of Sun Wu by the Jin Dynasty.
Like today USA, Russia & China fight against each other but in the end I believe all 3 of them will lost & suddenly the 4th guy will appeared at the last minutes..USA is the Wei kingdom & Russia(Wu) & China(Shu-Han) alway join hand to fought against the USA the Wei..Japan(Lu Bu) or Korea(Liu Zhang) is like the other warlords that will perished first😄😄😄
Fall of Wu: Corruption, assassination and backstabbing. Fall of Shu: Corruption, backstabbing, eunuch and poverty. Fall of Wei: Corruption, insurrection and a coup. Fall of Jin: Corruption, assassination and foreigners.
Late Han Dynasty's Falldown: Because of the late Cao Cao's son Cao Pi. Shu-Han's Falldown: Because of Cao Wei. Cao Wei's Falldown: Because of the Sima clan. Sun Wu's Falldown: Because of the Jin Dynasty.
Cao Wei existed only in name by the time Shu fell, the Sima clan had taken over. And the Jin dynasty basically destroyed itself immediately after winning. Nobody won any of the wars in the end.
In The Beginning: The empire, long divided, must unite, long united, must divided. In The End: The empire, long united, must divided, long divided, must unite.
tbf Liu Bei would have picked liu feng as successor if he wasnt deny Guan Yu's plea of help.and make Guan Yu dead and Liu Bei Mad and kill his own adopted son
@@MrRichiarditya yeah, even though liu feng was only liu bei's adopted son, he can trace back his ancestry from Liu Fa, one of emperor jing's sons who settled in changsha, so liu feng have a good claim to the shu throne.
That’s one reason why I like the Dynasty Warriors version of Liu Shan. Instead of being a useless idiot he is a quiet, nonconfrontational and misunderstood.
By that time, he was the only son of Liu Bei. So he was important to save. Later on, Liu Bei had other sons, but primogeniture put Liu Shan at the throne (the same thing with Cao Pi in Wei).
@@shanedoesyoutube8001 I'm looking forward to it. The novel seem so phony because it's being told over and over lol. If you're giving 1 dragon ball wish. Which kingdom do you wish to united China? The kingdom you selected will govern and every other kingdoms will submit willingly. This will end all future wars, spare countless civillians deaths and your favorite heroes will live their full life. Which kingdom and why? Your wish will carry on to the future. This mean your favorite hero children will help prevent the Mongols invasion, Japan invasion (no rape of Nanking or unit 731) etc. No century of humiliation. No 8 alliance that plunder, burn and looting Chinese summer palace of it treasures. No 2 Opium wars where the British poison every Chinese with it addicting drugs and stealing Hong Kong. There won't be CCP or KMT. There won't be World war 2 because your unified China will be the world leader. Your goal will always be lifting poverty, building infrastructures, providing the latest technology such as 6G, artificial sun, rain maker, nothing goes to waste renewable energy, abundance of foods, medicines, housings, educations and achieving peace by creating jobs around the world. Your favorite hero children will go into space by building magnificent space stations that's better than the last to create earth 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.
8:28 "In 280AD, the Wu Dynasty crumbled, and the land was at last unified by the Jin Dynasty. The Era of the Three Kingdoms has come to an end." - Dynasty Warriors 4 Encyclopedia These are the two lines I remember the most, and these lines are what made me cry.
one of my favorite ways of watching romance of the three kingdoms is watching the 2010 series then finishing it up with the 1994 series going over the downfall. but one thing I hope to see from you is the fall of the jin dynasty not a lot of videos going over that and will be a real interesting watch I remember hearing about a few stories from that time. like the story of Emperor Min of Jin
The 2010 series was SUCH a great watch. Chen Jianbin did an absolutely amazing job playing Cao Cao. I will say though that I did not watch the last 10-15 episodes because it's just too depressing with everyone gone and watching everything they died for turn sour. That said though it's a phenomenal adaptation.
Excellent work, CJ. Everyone should read RoTK since it's 1) easy to do so (short chapters) and accessible to ADD people (like me) 2) written in a concise way (another ADD bonus) 3) a splendid work of literature. Don't be fooled by the book's length.
I truly enjoyed this series and made me think about a time honored classic that I have read time and again in a new way, with those paradigms of ideals being turned on themselves leading to the falls of their respective lands.
Fun trivia: Some records suggest Xiahou Ba, son of Xiahou Yan is related to the Shu Han Imperial family. Certain records say Zhang Fei was married to a lady from the Xiahou family during the time Liu Bei was with Cao Cao. Because both of Zhang Fei's daughters were married to Liu Shan, the princes and princesses of Liu Shan were related to Xiahou Ba, and the text "Weilue" says Liu Shan welcomed Xiahou Ba and mentioned his children were blood-relatives of the Xiahou family. And, since other records suggest Cao Cao was also related to the Xiahou family, this effectively makes the Three Kingdoms one big family mess. (ps: of course, the credibility of those texts and records mentioned above, are disputed)
Cao Cao origins was from XiaoHu family & he took Cao surname because he was adopted by an powerful eunuch named Cao Kun as son who were his father friends ..Cao Cao biological father real surname are XiaoHu
What a buet of a series, what a buet of a book. I read the entire original book through school and learned a lot, more than my actual schooling… regardless you deserve the success that your channel has and much more. Keeping going cool history bros.
Some viewer: ... But China finally united and, after decades of war, finally knows peace? Right?... *Curb your enthusiasm theme starts playing* * Directed by War of the Eight Princes and Nomadic invasions *
Liu Shan: "I just recieved this letter that says Wei is planning to attack us. Should we make preparations for war?" Huang Hao: "Nah. Its probably nothing to worry about. Lets do absolutely nothing." Liu Shan: "Sounds good to me."
I would love to see the Zhu Yi story included in that. That was a pivotal moment which depicted how horrendous Sun Hao was and solidified the hatred of him by the people, some say this event marked the downfall of Wu entirely.
Thanks for this video. I like the wisdom you articulated at the ending of your video and the relevance of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms . It is a wise advice for all the belligerents in our current geopolitical tensions, especially those who are of the idealistic, utopian, messianic type.
I have read this book long before this video, and I must say this is a great summary. All the important bits out of it, without leaving out too much important details. Still lots of fun details that can be found in the novel not mentioned, and it'll obviously be a lot more naturally, but it's still worth a read if you haven't read it! I recommend Moss Roberts edition as well.
I especially studied this phase of the story and the history (三國志正史) and it is really sad. Jiang Wei was a promising young man who was not exactly in the right place at the right time. "Blind loyalty" is correct though. He was loyal to Zhuge Liang and Shu Han until he died. There was no surrendering for him.
As Cao Cao once dreamed about three horses eat one trough together, well his great grandson were consumed by that three horses (Sima means Horse. Sima Yi, Sima Shi, Sima Zhao). What a tragic ending.
Yes, ‘Ma’ in Sima is ‘horse’ so the 3 horses in the dream represented Sima Yi and his 2 sons. The horses were feeding together and ‘Cao’ the surname & grass are homophones. Taken together the dream meant the 3 gentlemen will cause the downfall of the Cao clan.
Thank u Cool History Bros. Really appreciate ur content. I learnt more about chinese history from u than any other sources. Keep up the good work and i hope u become a massive success in the near future.
This was awesome, watched all 7 episodes in one fell swoop. Loved it, narration easy to understand and entertaining at the same time. I'm gonna go back now to my Total War: Three Kingdoms Campaign with all my new knowledge! 😆 Liked and subbed!
DW seems to have a different perception of Liu Shan. That Liu Shan, beneath his flawed mind, recognized that Shu was a dead kingdom walking, and surrendering to Wei was a way to end its misery.
Hi, I just finished the series. I know pre-Hispanic Philippines is lacking in textual data, but I hope you consider it as a future topic. Philippine history is heavily influenced by western agenda (in Spain and the USA), so it would be great to have you cover the country's rich history.
Thanks God I'm not pilipinoy or I'll be feeling so embarrassed & shameful because despite being invaded,colonized by some non Asian foreigners imperialism colonial that eliminates & wiped out almost all the local social, cultures, religion, Asian identity of the local people's & yet they still shamelessly idolize the invaders to the points of forget & throw away theirs own ancestry teaching & identity & even feeling proud to fight theirs own others Asian brothers & providing base & manpower for the people's who actually invaded,colonized, looted,raped theirs own peoples instead of fight them off & kick them out from theirs lands..even a biggest joke to named the country Philippine over a spanish colonial king...it is a hard truths not meant to humiliate yr peoples..just think & see with yr own eyes there is no others Asia country's would willing to stoop such low to this level even they were also once a victim of this western colonial powers..no country wil respects yr if yr not even know how to respect yr ownself..just think calmly & rationally all I had said even it is irritating but there's some truth in it..
Oh boy, how Jiang Wei glorified thanks to novel. He was worse than Zhuge Liang. Total off 11 expediton and none of em is a success. And real Invasion of Shu story is his another mess. He totally left Shu's capital defenceless and people blames Liu Shan for preventing a masacre. Poor Liu Shan just blamed for mess his father, Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei left him. Only thing I gave credit for Jiang Wei is his loyalty to Liu Shan after fall of Shu.
The Fall of Jin and the Rise of the Five Outlanders is another tragic tale, there were brief glimpses of hope within that darkness, but the Jin Dynasty collapses to the utterly cruel Liu-Song Dynasty, the North breaks into so many factions it's 192 AD all over again. Shu had a good thing going with the Cheng-Han (basically a successful continuation of Zhang Lu's theocracy, with Taoist Sages as high ministers) but that didn't last and was taken over by Huan Wen of Jin. It's not until 200-300 years into the period when a measure of stability returns in the North/South, only to break into another Three Kingdoms situation with Northern Zhou, Northern Qi, and the absolutely ailing Kingdom of Liang (after the Buddhist Sage Emperor Wu's time) which would become Chen.
Kudo to Rei again. I recently learned that Heavy armor around 1st to 3rd Century AD China features armored collar. And Rei featured that in Jiang Wei's portrait.
I had always been interested in Romance of the Three Kingdoms since I got my first exposure to it from the NES game "Destiny of an Emperor". This video series was well put together and I learned a great deal!
Thank you for these videos. When I was a kid the Dynasty Warriors video games were my fave game series and I loved the story of the characters and knew they were based off of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms but never got a chance to read it. I always wanted to know the story in detail but never wanted to sit down and read the very long novel. I watched movies and shows based off of it but thought they never really showed everything just small bits of the large story. Just finished your videos and loved them. I always feel more people would love Romance of the three kingdoms if they gave it a chance. I would love some videos of individual characters of the story like the three brothers Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Liu Bei. Great video series.
My favorite phrases from the adaptations are these two: "Sages follow the rules of heaven; the wise obey the laws of earth; the intelligent follow precedent." and "Do not commit an evil deed even if it is minor; nor omit a good deed because it seems insignificant."
I remember when I own Dynasty Warriors 4 on PS2, I first beaten the Shu storyline. I was a supporter of that faction and thought they were the good guys. I remember hating Wei. Back then I didn't know DW series was loosly based in real history. One day I went to the encyclopedia section in the game. I read the brief info and I was devastated to find out that Shu was the first kingdom to fall by Wei, the faction I hated. I was outrage! I said to myself, how could Shu lose when they have warriors like Zhao Yun(my favorite) and a super genius Zhuge Liang. I was pissed that Zhuge lost to Sima Yi. I felt heart broken 😢 I've spent years denying that outcome. Atlas I eventually accepted and now I like Wei 😊
@@krichenboi Nobody was the good guy in actual history. Part of the reason why Wei became vilified in the first place was because of Cao Cao having a habit of genociding civilians on his campaigns.
And that was right after the endpoint of this video, meaning that the Sima clan basically just continued the entire thing among themselves and destroyed their own dynasty right after they “won”, leaving no winners. It took until basically the Tang dynasty for sanity to return.
having Sima Zhao face the Cousin of Zhuge Dan in Dynasty Warriors is like a Spiritual Re-match, expect Replace Yi for his Son, & Liang for his Cousin, & Shu for Wu.
Hi all , can anyone link or recommend the version of the book that uses the names like zhuge liang and liu bei? I purchased a version before but all the names were styled like Kong ming , xuande etc etc and was harder for me to follow along
i like how you used the colors that are also used by Dynasty Warriors for the factions. it's good to finally witness the true ending to my favourite childhood story. oh and this is the reason why i heavily enjoy the "hypothetical routes" in the 8th game. what would happen had each faction managed to avoid the disasterous loss (Chi Bi for Wei, Yi Ling for Shu, etc.) that mark the beginning of the end for the respective factions will you be covering the Sengoku period of Japan like this?
Linfamy should be covering it afterwards while CJ goes for the Records of the Three Kingdoms But if you're being impatient, watch the extra history Sengoku Jidai series
It was Jiang Wei's multiple campaigns, particularly on Didiao and Qishan on Wei, that opened the Xianbei Rebellion led by Tufa Shujineng and other influential tribes lord in the west (271-279). This large rebellion greatly weaken Jin's influence on the western region and greatly shook up the government in their capital Luo Yang, forcing them to pending their invasion of Wu until 280. Jiang Wei actually had no choice but to keep attacking the Wei kingdom, he knew that it was a matter of time before the Shu kingdom would collapse, either by their own government or by Wei's invasion. He just wanted to resume Zhuge Liang's legacy of restoring Han as well as prolonging the lifespan of the kingdom he serves, even though the way he did it was wrong.
Cool History Bros, I just wanna know, have you ever made a video comparing Confucianism and Legalism? If not, do you have that video topic in your to-do list?
Wow first comment! Thanks for a most entertaining & educational series, much better than GRR Martin's epic, whose TV ending was totally spoilt by D&D. "The seemingly frail Sima Yi" reminds me of Col Sanders, who only succeeded after a hundred over rejections 🤣🤣🤣 Hmm, Jiang Wei 's 11 campaigns...just like the Crusades. Einstein's definition of madness? Better spend the resources enjoying life like his useless lord? Shudda gotten rid of the eunuchs like Dong Zuo did early on. How ironic : both Liu Bei & Zhuge Liang's sons were really much lesser men than their fathers.
The Last "heroes" of the era weren't really covered in a lot of detail here. Jin had a lot of rising stars and even Wu had Lu Xun's son to buffer a breaking regime. Very briefly skimmed over was the "rebel" that Sima Zhao that planned to defect to Wu, that was Zhuge Dan, Zhuge Liang's cousin from the branch that stayed in the Central Plains. He was a true Wei loyalist who planned on using Wu to break the Sima's power. The people and his troops loved him dearly and he had a very high reputation (though Cao Rui once said it was empty). He had some pretty great success at first, with the son of his co-conspirator, Wen Yang causing so much destruction and mayhem against the Wei forces that Sima Shi died after his surgery. Unfortunately, Zhuge Dan had an enormous blunder when he killed his co-conspirator in an argument, causing Wen Yang and his brother to defect to Sima Zhao who had come to carry on the campaign. Zhuge Dan was eventually captured and executed. His men were given the choice to surrender to Sima Zhao. All of them declared loyalty to Zhuge Dan and proceeded to kill themselves.
In rotk I always kill hang hao and liu feng , they ruined Shu lol. Liu Bei had everything , he just couldn’t go against his words and reputation early in his life until the greed got too good
What I walked away learning from this novel is that your descendends will manage to screw up, no matter what you do. So do the best in your time, and do not worry about the future, for it is not in your hand to begin with.
Sima Yi is a traitor! Yes, he won. However, there is one but... The Sima clan will not enjoy power for long. The war of the eight princes will be even worse. Good video!
@@jackjackyphantom8854 it is true, but Cao Cao never became a Chinese emperor. His son Cao Pi took over the heavenly mandate. But I agree that it was Cao Cao who paved the way for the usurpation of the throne of Han. Sima Yi did the same, and thanks to him, his grandson was able to become an emperor.
@@viragest4125 I think Cao Cao saw through Sima Yi, the reason he didn't kill him was because he needed his talent to due with Zhuge Liang or any other threat.
@@jackjackyphantom8854 Cao Cao warned his son and heir Cao Pi that Sima Yi was potentially dangerous and his actions should be monitored. Cao Pi followed the advice but at the same time became very close to the mentor. Sima Yi must not have dared to take the coup because the Cao clan was still strong (Cao Ren, Cao Zhen) and their loyal supporters were still alive (Xiahou family and advisers, such as Chen Qun). When Cao Pi died and Cao Rui ascended the throne, Sima Yi gained even more power and rose through the victory in the military campaign against the southern kingdom of Shu, and after that he conquered the lands of the descendant of Gongsun Zan. Cao Rui dies and the young emperor ascends to the throne of Wei. It would seem that Cao Shuang is able to keep the Sima family in check, but ... I fell for his trick. Sima Yi once again feigned illness. The Empress Dowager was too afraid for the life of her adopted son (Emperor Wei) and was forced to order Sima Yi to arrest me, as if I had betrayed the emperor, but I protected him. Let's not forget that there were people who tried to overthrow the Sima clan and return power to Emperor Wei. Wang Ling, Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin, as well as Zhuge Dan, Zhuge Liang's cousin, but they were all defeated by the Sima clan. Even Emperor Cao Mao took up arms, but he was killed by a supporter of the Sima clan...
For any tragedy lover or masochist out there... If you think this video was already sad to watch then you really need to consider reading the novel cause gonna love it. With all its glorious details, This very last part of the novel is such a miserable ride. You'll get to read about Cao Cao's descendants lamenting their cruel fate of being the puppet emperor with no power under the Sima. You'll get to read about the succession crisis that broke the strong bond of the Sun family, See it crumbling and fading away along with Sun Quan's life. You'll get to read about everything that Liu Bei spent his life building got thrown away by his son who when got asked about it answered: "Well, I'm comfy so I'm not bothered". Ah... Damn... Now I'm depressed... Time to fire up the old Dynasty Warrior series and K.O. thousand of troops for a good time.
Poor Cao Mao, he tried everything. But was marginalized and pushed into fighting for his own throne, in which traitors gladly killed him on the spot. Sun Quan's daughter, Sun Luban took advantage of her ailing father forcing him to change the succession in a terrible manner. Liu Shan had good potential, he could be eloquent, he wasn't especially evil or cruel, and when there were good ministers like Dong Yun he was a good ruler, but as the old guard died new people began to monopolize Liu Shan's attention, causing him to slip further and further until it got to a point that Huang Hao brought in a fortune teller to convince him that Shu is A-Okay, while Deng Ai was struggling in the mountains, that even just the slightest bit of preparedness would have destroyed his hopes.
First time I read the book it was an abridged version in pinyin. Then I got the longer wade-giles version had to figure out all the different spellings and read the long slow painful ending. Long version is way better and I am glad to know the older style of chinese to english translation. Super confusing at first. Ts'ao Ts'ao, Sun Ch'uan, Liu Pei with his brothers Chang Fei and Kuan Yu and his strategist Chuko Liang.
Hi, I am Rui. I am a fan of the Three Kingdoms, and I have drawn more than 400 characters from the Three Kingdoms.
I saw the armored collar you drew for Jiang Wei!
Its really cool that I learned about that from 史大郎's video a week ago. (還是瑞森老哥Reason .....記不起來了)
Your work was excellent. Throughly enjoyed your drawings to go along with these videos. I too am a huge fan of The Three Kingdoms era. Hope you continue to do well!
Fantastic work! Your artwork really made this summarized version pop out.
400+ characters? That's impressive!
@@drunkardhu6517 是吗？我不认识他们。
For me, the cruellest irony is that (at least in the novel) Zhuge Liang was one of the greatest strategists in history, and beat Sima Yi on nearly every occasion they fought - even beating him once more after death. And yet, Sima Yi survived, and ultimately won the war via his children. Brilliance was undone by mere persistence.
In life persistence usually always beats brilliance
Genius means nothing in the face of hardwork.
@@ZeroNumerous I read an interview about a CEO of a robotics company that works with NASA and he was asked why his company was the last one standing. He said his competitors were smarter but they quit and he kept doing it for decades.
I don't think Zhuge was that otherworldly brilliant in the historical documents... Yes he was an able administrator but I don't think he was like super amazing strategist... Zhuge Liang in the romance of the three kingdoms was somewhat modeled after Zhang Liang during Chu-Han war era...
No, zhuge liang actually suffered losses more times than he won. U actually need to read more carefully to seek the truth behind the word of biased historian, because they liked to spin the truth in their wording and narration (downplaying or ignoring ur losses, make a defeat appeared like a winning, etc. For example : see empty ford event and the battle of wu zhang plain, the shu clearly lost the war and retreated but the historians still trying to paint positive view on zhuge liang and trying to shame shima yi)
The ending montage of Dynasty Warriors 7 is a tearjerker because it included all of this in the Jin faction story. It really feels like Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan fought so hard for nothing in the end.
ua-cam.com/video/FQK3pw5c1hY/v-deo.html
@@CoffeeSuccubus It's like the novel implied. The imperial regime (or any multi-generational form of governance) is naturally unstable, especially if unification can't be accomplished within 10-15 years.
They really did. The same thing that took down the Han took down Wu and Shu: eunuchs corruption. They just couldn't get rid of having the eunuch influence over their dynasties so they were almost destined to fall. All those people died for virtually nothing. Sad when you look at it that way and that's probably one of the bigger reasons a lot of adaptations just exclude that bit.
@MrGuanYu1 no eunuch was never responsible for any of those kingdoms failure.
For the Han's it was the greedy warlord that throw the kingdom into chaos. It was the regional warlord's infighting that ravaged all of han's dynasty territory and weaken the central authority. It was the powerful warlord that plan to usurp the Han dynasty, not the eunuch (it was the Cao clan (former warlord) that forced the emperor to abdicate). The eunuch was just used as a scapegoat to justify the warlord's treacherous action, and those warlord later commisioned some historian to make that slanderous accusation
For the fall of shu, the story of Liu Chan and the counsel of his eunuch (and witchcraft) was just used by frustated historian and/or former official of the shu kingdom to vent their anger and as an excuse to save their faces after losing against wei. The situation for shu at that time was already hopeless and liu chan decision to surrender was perfectly rational and a wise one, it has nothing to do with witchcraft nor the treacherous whisper of an eunuch.
Xi Jinping: “yes, they did die for nothing. Now worship me as your god.”
Here's a food of thought on Jiang Wei continuing Zhuge Liang's northern expedition.
Would Shu Han last longer or get defeated faster if Jiang Wei played this completely defensively? If Jiang Wei did nothing, Wei forces could easily build up resources and supply lines on the border of Hangzhong (the county/district north of Sichuan Basin, where Chendu is located). There's also the "Han Restoration" political legitimacy that is essential to Shu Han's existence too.
If you play enough RTS games like Starcraft, its important to harass your opponents once a while even though you play defensively. To dislodge your foe a bit and gather intel from the skirmishes.
I cannot produce a full list but if I recall correctly, Jiang Wei only suffered one major defeat (with major personnel losses) in all his expedition battles. And he always have lesser resources (Troops, officers....) to work with. Simply put, from the looks of it Jiang been doing more damage to his foe than what his side suffered. Which would slow the downfall of Shu Han.
But, in the greater scope of the things, was Shu Han's prolonging worth it for the common people? Well, at least its not Wu. Wu state was turning into a Clown World.
Instead of launching so many campaigns, maybe it is better if Shu Han prepared the campaign much better than they did and launched fewer but more prepared campaigns.
@@godzillamothra5983 Probably. Wouldn't it be nice to have some time machine to see whats going on at span of time.
Shu never had enough resource to win in a long run, thats why they're so desperate to launch a lot of campaign in quick succesion. Their cause was doomed from the start, they cant beat wei when the latter had a lot of internal strife and rebellion, even after joining forces with wu they both still cant beat wei, whats more can they ask? Even their esteemed strategist zhuge liang always failed to do so. Not to mention their tripartite strategy (to divide china into three kingdom) which aimed to destroy wei by joining forces with wu had a glaring weakness in it and had bite them in the ass already
@@agathonchristianto9580 Yes the resources from the Yi State & South West was not enough for Shu to win. However, Shu Han had a slight chance and it was the campaign that got Jiang Wei recruited to their cause.
Jiang Wei was more than just a talented successor to Zhuge Liang. Jiang came from a small but renowned clan of Liang State (Today's Gansu province). There are a lot of clans who weren't at good term with Wei. If Shu Han manages to secure the Liang State, Shu Han would secure trade route & potential Qiang allies (Ma Chao & Ma Dai's friends).
The fan-made game I spoke of elaborated that aspects really well.
@@drunkardhu6517 Zhuge Liang first Wei campaign would have succeed had Meng Da's plan of rebelling not been exposed and Ma Su screw up at Jie Ting. After the first campaign failed, it was over.
Now as for Jaing Wei's Northern campaign. I think he would have succeed if he drawn out a long term plan. Maybe conqure lands piece by piece belonging to Wei instead of trying to go all out toward their capital. And also tried to get political support for the war.
Are you crying yet? The last 15 chapters of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of the most savage literary punch in the guts you'll ever read.
Really love your cover on this beloved series. It's popular in Southeasia too.
Wait so what was the thing Liu Bei would regret when he yeeted Liu Shan aside to celebrate Zhao Yun (Ep 4 battle of Changban)? Liu Shan is somehow mentally impaired by this incident?
Will you cover the Disorder of the Eight Kings(or Eight Princes) of Jin? The ruination of Sima Yi's legacy and beginning of a dark age in Chinese history with the nomadic invasions?
@@grandadmiralzaarin4962 Not immediately. I have many other topics I have promised to cover before this one. But when I do go back to it, I may do it from the perspective of Liu Yuan and the Southern Xiongnu.
I'm too happy to think of Shu.
There's a line in Dynasty Warriors 4 that is really great.
After you humiliate Ma Su, Sima Yi says this line:
"Zhuge Liang, you have an eye for battle, but not for people". This line is quite telling, as it fortells the fall of Shu. Liu Bei had wanted his son replaced with Zhuge Liang IF said son was unfit for rule, but the prime minister was too loyal and also could not see how unfit to rule Liu Shan was.
True
Try and read Ravages of Times manga. It's has interesting alternate take on Liu Shan. The manga is ongoing and Liu Shan is just a boy now. Zhuge Liang is his tutor, and Liu Shan is portrayed as wise even as a child. Not a genius but already a kid who can discern right and wrong. Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang is as brilliant as original novel but he is also someone who torture people directly to get info. He is remorseful of all his action, including murdering Liu Biao son Liu Qi to allow Liu Bei to take over JingZhou forces. I'm looking forward to see how Liu Shan will be as adult in this version.
"Thus the Three Kingdoms of Cao Cao, Sun Quan, and Liu Bei were all eventually conquered under the reign of the Sima clan."
- Dynasty Warriors 7
And even then, the Jin dynasty lasted only 150 years before crumbling.
1. The fall of Shu Han by Cao Wei.
2. The fall of Cao Wei by the Sima clan (until the start of the Jin Dynasty).
3. The fall of Sun Wu by the Jin Dynasty.
Like today USA, Russia & China fight against each other but in the end I believe all 3 of them will lost & suddenly the 4th guy will appeared at the last minutes..USA is the Wei kingdom & Russia(Wu) & China(Shu-Han) alway join hand to fought against the USA the Wei..Japan(Lu Bu) or Korea(Liu Zhang) is like the other warlords that will perished first😄😄😄
@@yuefei8696 Yet USA views Russia as the Wei, China as the Wu and itself as the Shu.
@@christinson1024even then 150 is a gross estimate since their hold on wu was shaky from the start
Zhuge Liang is is the MVP of the entire story. What a badass!!!!!!
Fall of Wu: Corruption, assassination and backstabbing.
Fall of Shu: Corruption, backstabbing, eunuch and poverty.
Fall of Wei: Corruption, insurrection and a coup.
Fall of Jin: Corruption, assassination and foreigners.
Late Han Dynasty's Falldown: Because of the late Cao Cao's son Cao Pi.
Shu-Han's Falldown: Because of Cao Wei.
Cao Wei's Falldown: Because of the Sima clan.
Sun Wu's Falldown: Because of the Jin Dynasty.
Cao Wei existed only in name by the time Shu fell, the Sima clan had taken over.
And the Jin dynasty basically destroyed itself immediately after winning.
Nobody won any of the wars in the end.
Been replaying Dynasty Warriors 9 and re reading Ravages of Time. This series has been a great companion to them
Hah! I have been playing Total War 3 kingdoms on easy mode! Kong Rong is now the first emperor of the Qi Dynasty!
The games before DW9 are better.
@@azureascendant994 yeah but I still love 9
"The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been."
In The Beginning: The empire, long divided, must unite, long united, must divided.
In The End: The empire, long united, must divided, long divided, must unite.
Ghost of Zhao Yun : Why the f*** did I save that brat again?
liu shan gut dropped when he was with zhao yun
tbf Liu Bei would have picked liu feng as successor if he wasnt deny Guan Yu's plea of help.and make Guan Yu dead and Liu Bei Mad and kill his own adopted son
@@MrRichiarditya yeah, even though liu feng was only liu bei's adopted son, he can trace back his ancestry from Liu Fa, one of emperor jing's sons who settled in changsha, so liu feng have a good claim to the shu throne.
That’s one reason why I like the Dynasty Warriors version of Liu Shan. Instead of being a useless idiot he is a quiet, nonconfrontational and misunderstood.
By that time, he was the only son of Liu Bei. So he was important to save. Later on, Liu Bei had other sons, but primogeniture put Liu Shan at the throne (the same thing with Cao Pi in Wei).
Can we get the War of the Eight Princes next and let Cao Cao have a final laugh over Sima Yi?
Not until he's talking about the historical R(ecords)OTK
@@shanedoesyoutube8001 I agree. I almost forgot about the historically accurate version.
@@shanedoesyoutube8001 I'm looking forward to it.
The novel seem so phony because it's being told over and over lol.
If you're giving 1 dragon ball wish. Which kingdom do you wish to united China?
The kingdom you selected will govern and every other kingdoms will submit willingly. This will end all future wars, spare countless civillians deaths and your favorite heroes will live their full life.
Which kingdom and why?
Your wish will carry on to the future.
This mean your favorite hero children will help prevent the Mongols invasion, Japan invasion (no rape of Nanking or unit 731) etc.
No century of humiliation.
No 8 alliance that plunder, burn and looting Chinese summer palace of it treasures.
No 2 Opium wars where the British poison every Chinese with it addicting drugs and stealing Hong Kong.
There won't be CCP or KMT.
There won't be World war 2 because your unified China will be the world leader.
Your goal will always be lifting poverty, building infrastructures, providing the latest technology such as 6G, artificial sun, rain maker, nothing goes to waste renewable energy, abundance of foods, medicines, housings, educations and achieving peace by creating jobs around the world.
Your favorite hero children will go into space by building magnificent space stations that's better than the last to create earth 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.
To make it even more ironic, the jin dynasty was finally destroyed by a rebel leader who was a descendant of a han emperor.
@@chairmanbowl4085 I'm sorry what???
8:28 "In 280AD, the Wu Dynasty crumbled, and the land was at last unified by the Jin Dynasty. The Era of the Three Kingdoms has come to an end."
- Dynasty Warriors 4 Encyclopedia
These are the two lines I remember the most, and these lines are what made me cry.
As a fan of Advisor's Alliance, I loved it more than the ending of the book. Sima Clan deserved it.
one of my favorite ways of watching romance of the three kingdoms is watching the 2010 series then finishing it up with the 1994 series going over the downfall. but one thing I hope to see from you is the fall of the jin dynasty not a lot of videos going over that and will be a real interesting watch I remember hearing about a few stories from that time. like the story of Emperor Min of Jin
The 2010 series was SUCH a great watch. Chen Jianbin did an absolutely amazing job playing Cao Cao. I will say though that I did not watch the last 10-15 episodes because it's just too depressing with everyone gone and watching everything they died for turn sour. That said though it's a phenomenal adaptation.
Excellent work, CJ.
Everyone should read RoTK since it's 1) easy to do so (short chapters) and accessible to ADD people (like me) 2) written in a concise way (another ADD bonus) 3) a splendid work of literature.
Don't be fooled by the book's length.
I would add to watch the 2010 series. That's amazing. I would love to watch all of the episodes straight through one of these days.
I truly enjoyed this series and made me think about a time honored classic that I have read time and again in a new way, with those paradigms of ideals being turned on themselves leading to the falls of their respective lands.
Fun trivia: Some records suggest Xiahou Ba, son of Xiahou Yan is related to the Shu Han Imperial family. Certain records say Zhang Fei was married to a lady from the Xiahou family during the time Liu Bei was with Cao Cao. Because both of Zhang Fei's daughters were married to Liu Shan, the princes and princesses of Liu Shan were related to Xiahou Ba, and the text "Weilue" says Liu Shan welcomed Xiahou Ba and mentioned his children were blood-relatives of the Xiahou family. And, since other records suggest Cao Cao was also related to the Xiahou family, this effectively makes the Three Kingdoms one big family mess. (ps: of course, the credibility of those texts and records mentioned above, are disputed)
Cao Cao origins was from XiaoHu family & he took Cao surname because he was adopted by an powerful eunuch named Cao Kun as son who were his father friends ..Cao Cao biological father real surname are XiaoHu
What a buet of a series, what a buet of a book. I read the entire original book through school and learned a lot, more than my actual schooling… regardless you deserve the success that your channel has and much more.
Keeping going cool history bros.
Based Sunglasses Liu Xuande
@@SeanHiruki incredibly based indeed,
Some viewer: ... But China finally united and, after decades of war, finally knows peace? Right?...
*Curb your enthusiasm theme starts playing*
* Directed by War of the Eight Princes and Nomadic invasions *
Oh hi, Cao Cao, this is Karma speaking.
He will have his final laugh when the Jin dynasty collapses.
Tell that to Sima family. The 8 prince rebellion caused the destruction of the Jin Dynasty.
@@syv5013 Sima Zhong I believe. He was known as Emperor Hui
@@Blackwolfninja89 isnt emperor hui mentally disable instead just dumb ?
@@syv5013 kaisar??? Bukan maharaja meh??? As a Malaysian kenapa orang Indon memanggil maharaja China macam raja Jerman???
Amazed we finally got to the end! Thanks so much for taking us through the whole story.
Thanks. This was a great series. It's cool to hear the names pronounced correctly, too.
Liu Shan: "I just recieved this letter that says Wei is planning to attack us. Should we make preparations for war?"
Huang Hao: "Nah. Its probably nothing to worry about. Lets do absolutely nothing."
Liu Shan: "Sounds good to me."
Ovetsimplified
Story so iconic, Southeast Asian love it too.
"Imbeciles!"
- Sima Yi -
Well said.
Thank you CHB for the explanation of the ROTK. It helped me understand better what was going on in the 2010 series.
If Koei had the Balls to Adapt the Fall of Wu, I can Picture Sun Hao as a Younger Dong Zhuo.
Would be cool to see lu kang
I would love to see the Zhu Yi story included in that. That was a pivotal moment which depicted how horrendous Sun Hao was and solidified the hatred of him by the people, some say this event marked the downfall of Wu entirely.
Thanks for this video. I like the wisdom you articulated at the ending of your video and the relevance of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms . It is a wise advice for all the belligerents in our current geopolitical tensions, especially those who are of the idealistic, utopian, messianic type.
Honestly the 8th prince to the 16 kingdom was pretty dope.
I have read this book long before this video, and I must say this is a great summary. All the important bits out of it, without leaving out too much important details. Still lots of fun details that can be found in the novel not mentioned, and it'll obviously be a lot more naturally, but it's still worth a read if you haven't read it! I recommend Moss Roberts edition as well.
Strong videos all seven of them, really enjoyed it, it's by far the best video series about this history I've seen. Be proud to yourself. ;)
I especially studied this phase of the story and the history (三國志正史) and it is really sad. Jiang Wei was a promising young man who was not exactly in the right place at the right time. "Blind loyalty" is correct though. He was loyal to Zhuge Liang and Shu Han until he died. There was no surrendering for him.
As Cao Cao once dreamed about three horses eat one trough together, well his great grandson were consumed by that three horses (Sima means Horse. Sima Yi, Sima Shi, Sima Zhao). What a tragic ending.
You mean a Qilin?
@@conradojavier7547 the “Ma” represents horse. There was no qilin association in the novel
Yes, ‘Ma’ in Sima is ‘horse’ so the 3 horses in the dream represented Sima Yi and his 2 sons. The horses were feeding together and ‘Cao’ the surname & grass are homophones. Taken together the dream meant the 3 gentlemen will cause the downfall of the Cao clan.
@@jonzcool8005 Curse You Dynasty Warriors for having a Qilin Represent The Sima Clan.
@@conradojavier7547 The qilin motif is pretty cool though
Thank u Cool History Bros. Really appreciate ur content. I learnt more about chinese history from u than any other sources. Keep up the good work and i hope u become a massive success in the near future.
This was awesome, watched all 7 episodes in one fell swoop. Loved it, narration easy to understand and entertaining at the same time. I'm gonna go back now to my Total War: Three Kingdoms Campaign with all my new knowledge! 😆
Liked and subbed!
I can see why Dynasty Warriors Depicts Jiang Wei as a Tragic Figure.
DW seems to have a different perception of Liu Shan. That Liu Shan, beneath his flawed mind, recognized that Shu was a dead kingdom walking, and surrendering to Wei was a way to end its misery.
Hi, I just finished the series. I know pre-Hispanic Philippines is lacking in textual data, but I hope you consider it as a future topic. Philippine history is heavily influenced by western agenda (in Spain and the USA), so it would be great to have you cover the country's rich history.
Thanks God I'm not pilipinoy or I'll be feeling so embarrassed & shameful because despite being invaded,colonized by some non Asian foreigners imperialism colonial that eliminates & wiped out almost all the local social, cultures, religion, Asian identity of the local people's & yet they still shamelessly idolize the invaders to the points of forget & throw away theirs own ancestry teaching & identity & even feeling proud to fight theirs own others Asian brothers & providing base & manpower for the people's who actually invaded,colonized, looted,raped theirs own peoples instead of fight them off & kick them out from theirs lands..even a biggest joke to named the country Philippine over a spanish colonial king...it is a hard truths not meant to humiliate yr peoples..just think & see with yr own eyes there is no others Asia country's would willing to stoop such low to this level even they were also once a victim of this western colonial powers..no country wil respects yr if yr not even know how to respect yr ownself..just think calmly & rationally all I had said even it is irritating but there's some truth in it..
Good narrative and contexts, bros.
Keep up the good job!
Now we need the sequel, the 16 Kingdoms!!!
But first, the Records
You did it! Congrats!
Oh boy, how Jiang Wei glorified thanks to novel. He was worse than Zhuge Liang. Total off 11 expediton and none of em is a success. And real Invasion of Shu story is his another mess. He totally left Shu's capital defenceless and people blames Liu Shan for preventing a masacre. Poor Liu Shan just blamed for mess his father, Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei left him. Only thing I gave credit for Jiang Wei is his loyalty to Liu Shan after fall of Shu.
And then you realize that Jin eventually collapsed due to infighting, to a new Dark Age EVEN WORSE than the Three Kingdoms.
The Fall of Jin and the Rise of the Five Outlanders is another tragic tale, there were brief glimpses of hope within that darkness, but the Jin Dynasty collapses to the utterly cruel Liu-Song Dynasty, the North breaks into so many factions it's 192 AD all over again. Shu had a good thing going with the Cheng-Han (basically a successful continuation of Zhang Lu's theocracy, with Taoist Sages as high ministers) but that didn't last and was taken over by Huan Wen of Jin. It's not until 200-300 years into the period when a measure of stability returns in the North/South, only to break into another Three Kingdoms situation with Northern Zhou, Northern Qi, and the absolutely ailing Kingdom of Liang (after the Buddhist Sage Emperor Wu's time) which would become Chen.
@@HighPriestFuneral The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.
They absolutely loved the eunuch influence and thus corruption and infighting was inevitable.
@@MrGuanYu1 they never realized men who could not sire heirs would instead keep power for themselves
“Eventually”?
It literally collapsed the moment it won. Didn’t even take a decade.
Kudo to Rei again. I recently learned that Heavy armor around 1st to 3rd Century AD China features armored collar. And Rei featured that in Jiang Wei's portrait.
I like you can tell a story and make it interesting and pleasant to watch
GODDAMN this was one hell of a series, really enjoyed it.
Sima Yi mains love the ending.
Unless they know what happened to Jin right after the fall of Wu…
I had always been interested in Romance of the Three Kingdoms since I got my first exposure to it from the NES game "Destiny of an Emperor". This video series was well put together and I learned a great deal!
Could you guys make a video about the other four classic Chinese romances?
5:24 Not without a drill jousting lance or floating swords.
After seeing Koei bring brave on the Story of Jin's Rise, Sega released a DLC for Total War: Three Kingdoms with the War of the 8 Prince.
Then enter 8 Princes and find out that nobody wins in the end. Not even the Sima Jin dynasty.
So damn good. I hope more story will be told after the 3 kingdoms. I have no idea what happen next.
Very good work thanks for this series
The 1995 series showed us all of this in their final seven episodes.
This LBei son Ah Dou was a disgrace to his father..Zi Long shouldn't risk his life to save this joker
Thank you for these videos. When I was a kid the Dynasty Warriors video games were my fave game series and I loved the story of the characters and knew they were based off of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms but never got a chance to read it. I always wanted to know the story in detail but never wanted to sit down and read the very long novel. I watched movies and shows based off of it but thought they never really showed everything just small bits of the large story. Just finished your videos and loved them. I always feel more people would love Romance of the three kingdoms if they gave it a chance. I would love some videos of individual characters of the story like the three brothers Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Liu Bei. Great video series.
Great Series thanks for making it!
Excellent work here.
My favorite phrases from the adaptations are these two:
"Sages follow the rules of heaven; the wise obey the laws of earth; the intelligent follow precedent."
and
"Do not commit an evil deed even if it is minor;
nor omit a good deed because it seems insignificant."
The beginning: Romance
The end: Divorce
I remember when I own Dynasty Warriors 4 on PS2, I first beaten the Shu storyline. I was a supporter of that faction and thought they were the good guys. I remember hating Wei. Back then I didn't know DW series was loosly based in real history. One day I went to the encyclopedia section in the game. I read the brief info and I was devastated to find out that Shu was the first kingdom to fall by Wei, the faction I hated. I was outrage! I said to myself, how could Shu lose when they have warriors like Zhao Yun(my favorite) and a super genius Zhuge Liang. I was pissed that Zhuge lost to Sima Yi. I felt heart broken 😢 I've spent years denying that outcome. Atlas I eventually accepted and now I like Wei 😊
Shu was portrayed as good in the romance of three kingdoms, but in the history book Wei was the good guys
@@krichenboi
Nobody was the good guy in actual history. Part of the reason why Wei became vilified in the first place was because of Cao Cao having a habit of genociding civilians on his campaigns.
@@krichenboi
There were no good guys in actual history. Everyone was bad.
@@krichenboi
There were no good guys in the actual history. Everyone was awful.
@@bkjeong4302 no like in romance of the three kingdoms the author actually kinda portrayed liu bei as the good one
Absolutely Awesome Channel! I Love it xD May i ask what the title of the music is you are using? :)
Sad thing is the Sima family in the end went on to fight each other. The rebellion of the 8 Sima Princes.
And that was right after the endpoint of this video, meaning that the Sima clan basically just continued the entire thing among themselves and destroyed their own dynasty right after they “won”, leaving no winners.
It took until basically the Tang dynasty for sanity to return.
Jiang Wei so slept on 🥱
6:31 Oh my god! Zhuge Dan doesn't even get *NAMED?!!*
I pity him.
having Sima Zhao face the Cousin of Zhuge Dan in Dynasty Warriors is like a Spiritual Re-match, expect Replace Yi for his Son, & Liang for his Cousin, & Shu for Wu.
I’m waiting for this!
Now, I want to see videos about Water Margin
Hi all , can anyone link or recommend the version of the book that uses the names like zhuge liang and liu bei? I purchased a version before but all the names were styled like Kong ming , xuande etc etc and was harder for me to follow along
i like how you used the colors that are also used by Dynasty Warriors for the factions. it's good to finally witness the true ending to my favourite childhood story.
oh and this is the reason why i heavily enjoy the "hypothetical routes" in the 8th game. what would happen had each faction managed to avoid the disasterous loss (Chi Bi for Wei, Yi Ling for Shu, etc.) that mark the beginning of the end for the respective factions
will you be covering the Sengoku period of Japan like this?
Dynasty 9 had a Hypothetical DLC if Chen Gong Survived as Liu Bei's Stretegist, or if Emperor Cow Pee lived longer.
Yeah,I used the colour scheme for the sake of making it easier to understand. historically, the official colors of those kingdoms were different.
@@CoolHistoryBros We Credited Dynasty Warriors for Exposing us to The Three Kimgdoms Period.
Linfamy should be covering it afterwards while CJ goes for the Records of the Three Kingdoms
But if you're being impatient, watch the extra history Sengoku Jidai series
@@CoolHistoryBros What were their colors? Or do I have to wait for an "actual history of the three kingdoms" video for you to tell me?
I get that the end of the novel is a downward spiral, but Jiang Wei is nearly the ideal of loyalty and persistence.
It was Jiang Wei's multiple campaigns, particularly on Didiao and Qishan on Wei, that opened the Xianbei Rebellion led by Tufa Shujineng and other influential tribes lord in the west (271-279). This large rebellion greatly weaken Jin's influence on the western region and greatly shook up the government in their capital Luo Yang, forcing them to pending their invasion of Wu until 280.
Jiang Wei actually had no choice but to keep attacking the Wei kingdom, he knew that it was a matter of time before the Shu kingdom would collapse, either by their own government or by Wei's invasion. He just wanted to resume Zhuge Liang's legacy of restoring Han as well as prolonging the lifespan of the kingdom he serves, even though the way he did it was wrong.
I hope u can have a jin and other dynasty featured here
Where exactly did Gongsum Yaun come from? This guy always puzzled me as he just pops up out of nowhere where gongsan Zan was.
Cool History Bros, I just wanna know, have you ever made a video comparing Confucianism and Legalism? If not, do you have that video topic in your to-do list?
I think I will have to explain Confucianism first. Because a lot of people seems to be confused by it.
@@CoolHistoryBros I see what you did here
@@hung-upear2659 a confusing moral
Great series!
Wow first comment! Thanks for a most entertaining & educational series, much better than GRR Martin's epic, whose TV ending was totally spoilt by D&D.
"The seemingly frail Sima Yi" reminds me of Col Sanders, who only succeeded after a hundred over rejections 🤣🤣🤣
Hmm, Jiang Wei 's 11 campaigns...just like the Crusades. Einstein's definition of madness? Better spend the resources enjoying life like his useless lord? Shudda gotten rid of the eunuchs like Dong Zuo did early on.
How ironic : both Liu Bei & Zhuge Liang's sons were really much lesser men than their fathers.
Awesome work man thanks
I hope you talk about the Jin dynasty next!
1:55 So when the battles were fought in the imperial court the "heroes" were gone. Very telling.
The Last "heroes" of the era weren't really covered in a lot of detail here. Jin had a lot of rising stars and even Wu had Lu Xun's son to buffer a breaking regime.
Very briefly skimmed over was the "rebel" that Sima Zhao that planned to defect to Wu, that was Zhuge Dan, Zhuge Liang's cousin from the branch that stayed in the Central Plains. He was a true Wei loyalist who planned on using Wu to break the Sima's power. The people and his troops loved him dearly and he had a very high reputation (though Cao Rui once said it was empty). He had some pretty great success at first, with the son of his co-conspirator, Wen Yang causing so much destruction and mayhem against the Wei forces that Sima Shi died after his surgery.
Unfortunately, Zhuge Dan had an enormous blunder when he killed his co-conspirator in an argument, causing Wen Yang and his brother to defect to Sima Zhao who had come to carry on the campaign. Zhuge Dan was eventually captured and executed. His men were given the choice to surrender to Sima Zhao. All of them declared loyalty to Zhuge Dan and proceeded to kill themselves.
@@HighPriestFuneral Makes sense.
10:31 Hey! It's same coloring as the Jin Kingdom of Dynasty Warriors!
Green + Blue = Cyan
Wei = Blue
Jin = Cyan
In rotk I always kill hang hao and liu feng , they ruined Shu lol. Liu Bei had everything , he just couldn’t go against his words and reputation early in his life until the greed got too good
What I walked away learning from this novel is that your descendends will manage to screw up, no matter what you do.
So do the best in your time, and do not worry about the future, for it is not in your hand to begin with.
any upload for subtitles? :D
I have finished reading the entire novel some 20 years ago. While most people disregard the true ending of the novel , I find it most interesting.
YES! It's here!
Sima Yi is a traitor!
Yes, he won. However, there is one but... The Sima clan will not enjoy power for long. The war of the eight princes will be even worse.
Good video!
The biggest irony is what Cao Cao did to the Han imperial family, Sima family did exactly the same thing to his descendants.
@@jackjackyphantom8854 it is true, but Cao Cao never became a Chinese emperor. His son Cao Pi took over the heavenly mandate. But I agree that it was Cao Cao who paved the way for the usurpation of the throne of Han.
Sima Yi did the same, and thanks to him, his grandson was able to become an emperor.
@@viragest4125 I think Cao Cao saw through Sima Yi, the reason he didn't kill him was because he needed his talent to due with Zhuge Liang or any other threat.
@@viragest4125 I think Sima Yi was the only one who came close to Zhuge Liang. Even Zhou Yu was literally outclassed. Maybe Guo Jia stand a chance?
@@jackjackyphantom8854 Cao Cao warned his son and heir Cao Pi that Sima Yi was potentially dangerous and his actions should be monitored. Cao Pi followed the advice but at the same time became very close to the mentor.
Sima Yi must not have dared to take the coup because the Cao clan was still strong (Cao Ren, Cao Zhen) and their loyal supporters were still alive (Xiahou family and advisers, such as Chen Qun).
When Cao Pi died and Cao Rui ascended the throne, Sima Yi gained even more power and rose through the victory in the military campaign against the southern kingdom of Shu, and after that he conquered the lands of the descendant of Gongsun Zan.
Cao Rui dies and the young emperor ascends to the throne of Wei. It would seem that Cao Shuang is able to keep the Sima family in check, but ... I fell for his trick. Sima Yi once again feigned illness. The Empress Dowager was too afraid for the life of her adopted son (Emperor Wei) and was forced to order Sima Yi to arrest me, as if I had betrayed the emperor, but I protected him. Let's not forget that there were people who tried to overthrow the Sima clan and return power to Emperor Wei. Wang Ling, Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin, as well as Zhuge Dan, Zhuge Liang's cousin, but they were all defeated by the Sima clan. Even Emperor Cao Mao took up arms, but he was killed by a supporter of the Sima clan...
This is why you don't yeet your baby Liu Bei, he turns into Ah Dou!
"The chaos of the 3 kingdoms has come to an end!"
The Eight Princes: "Oh yeah....about that..."
Ah,shit. Here we go again.
An Lushan went all Joker on the Tang lol
A living dog is better than a dead lion.
2:21 Search yt for "Sima Yi takes over Wei but set to X gon give it to ya". You will not regret it
For any tragedy lover or masochist out there... If you think this video was already sad to watch then you really need to consider reading the novel cause gonna love it. With all its glorious details, This very last part of the novel is such a miserable ride.
You'll get to read about Cao Cao's descendants lamenting their cruel fate of being the puppet emperor with no power under the Sima.
You'll get to read about the succession crisis that broke the strong bond of the Sun family, See it crumbling and fading away along with Sun Quan's life.
You'll get to read about everything that Liu Bei spent his life building got thrown away by his son who when got asked about it answered: "Well, I'm comfy so I'm not bothered".
Ah... Damn... Now I'm depressed... Time to fire up the old Dynasty Warrior series and K.O. thousand of troops for a good time.
Poor Cao Mao, he tried everything. But was marginalized and pushed into fighting for his own throne, in which traitors gladly killed him on the spot.
Sun Quan's daughter, Sun Luban took advantage of her ailing father forcing him to change the succession in a terrible manner.
Liu Shan had good potential, he could be eloquent, he wasn't especially evil or cruel, and when there were good ministers like Dong Yun he was a good ruler, but as the old guard died new people began to monopolize Liu Shan's attention, causing him to slip further and further until it got to a point that Huang Hao brought in a fortune teller to convince him that Shu is A-Okay, while Deng Ai was struggling in the mountains, that even just the slightest bit of preparedness would have destroyed his hopes.
First time I read the book it was an abridged version in pinyin. Then I got the longer wade-giles version had to figure out all the different spellings and read the long slow painful ending. Long version is way better and I am glad to know the older style of chinese to english translation. Super confusing at first. Ts'ao Ts'ao, Sun Ch'uan, Liu Pei with his brothers Chang Fei and Kuan Yu and his strategist Chuko Liang.
Otoh, my most favourite part of the ROTK, the victory of the Sima family.
It's good that Dynasty Warriors Adapt the Rise of Jin in their games.
I laughed when I saw Zhuge Zhan's costume. lol
Why is Xiahou Ba not a Bieber-looking Boy in Bulky Armor?