Zhuge Liang, also named Kong Ming, was born into an official family in Yinan County, Shandong Province. He was a famous statesman, ideologist and strategist during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 -280). As the Cheng Xiang (an ancient term for prime minister) of the Kingdom of Shu, Zhuge Liang devoted his life to his monarch Liu Bei, and to the existence of the Shu Dynasty.
Zhuge Liang had an unfortunate childhood. His mother died when he was three years old and his father died when he was eight. After his father's death, Zhuge Liang and his brothers and sisters all lived with his uncle Zhuge Xuan, a local officer. Zhuge Liang's uncle passed away a few years later, and 16-year-old Zhuge Liang began to live on his own.
Unwilling to serve under Liu Biao whom his uncle had followed, Zhuge Liang moved to the country in the Longzhong area, of Xiangyang in Hubei Province. There worked as a farmer while studying. During his ten years of reclusion, Zhuge Liang met a group of contemporaries including Xu Shu, Pang Tong and Sima Hui. These men were considered the most intelligent people of that period. Through study and astute observation, Zhuge Liang was not only an expert in astronomy and geography, but also mastered military strategy and tactics, and carefully analyzed political situations with great ambition.
In 207, on the recommendation of Sima Hui and Xu Shu, Liu Bei paid three visits to the thatched cottage of Zhuge Liang asking for his assistance. From the Longzhong area, Zhuge Liang introduced his detailed plan for reunifying the whole nation. This both enlightened and pleased Liu Bei and his initiatives were subsequently called the 'Longzhong Dialogue'. From that point on, Zhuge Liang began to assist Liu Bei in realizing his political goal to reestablish the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD).
Zhuge Liang assisted Liu Bei and helped him through many difficult situations. Following Zhuge Liang's strategies, Liu Bei made an alliance with Sun Quan's group and defeated Cao Cao's troops in the Battle of Red Cliffs. Later, Liu Bei successfully captured Jingzhou, Yizhou and Hanzhong. With Zhuge Liang's assistance, Liu Bei appointed himself emperor in 221 and Zhuge Liang was appointed as Cheng Xiang to preside over political affairs. In 223 when Liu Bei died, Zhuge Liang was entrusted with Liu Bei's son, Liu Shan.
After Liu Shan succeeded his father, Zhuge Liang was authorized as Wuxiang Hou (a title of vassal who was given the land of Wuxiang (in current Hanzhong) and appointed the chief executive of Yizhou (most areas of current Sichuan Province). During his tenure, he was always diligent and conscientious in governing the Kingdom of Shu. As a loyal chancellor, Zhuge Liang devoted all his efforts to realize Liu Bei's political ideal. He aligned the Shu with the Wu, implemented the Tun Tian System (farming done by soldiers) and consolidated the military strength of Shu. Zhuge Liang launched six consecutive northern expeditions to the central plains. Unfortunately, he failed to conquer any northern area and did not accomplish Liu Bei's goal of full unification
In 234, during the last northern expedition battle with the general of the Wei Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang died of exhaustion at Wuzhang Plain (currently southwestern of Mei County in Shaanxi Province).
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Travelers' Voices on Zhuge Liang
1.
Nov. 3,2009 20:41 Reply
Mr.Darcn(Indonesia) said:
Zhuge liang is 0ne 0f my her0es, he is the greatest strategiest ever. If i'm 0n that dynasty i will sacrifice all my life just to l0yal t0 him, c0nfucius ever say:"every0ne has 0wn beauty and 0wn skill, it depend 0n wh0 can see it." but, zhuge liang isn't an 0rdinary human he is g0d in using strategy.
2.
Oct. 8,2009 23:58 Reply
Mr.Liu Dang(Indonesia) said:
Sleeping dragon.. who can made great plan, while under presure..
KongMing, is the best strategist in this era, and he made many invention in his life..
though die, he still no match..
if i can saw this era, with my own eyes..
i'll happy, and very glad..
^^. (just my dream)
3.
May. 3,2009 06:28 Reply
Mr.Steven(Singapore) said:
Zhuge Liang is very loyal to follow the foolish A-dou, son of reputable Liu Bei. He supposed to unify China if he is willing to be e emperor himself! However he did have his weakness when encountering Sima Yi during jieting and burning of the bridge while attacking the Sima Camp...
May. 14,2009 10:07
Mr.Nobuyuki(U.S.A.) replied:
Why did he serve A-Dou anyway? A-Dou was a fool and was nothing compared to his father.
Sep. 28,2009 00:27
Mr.Qin(MY) replied:
actually before Liu Bei die he succeed the throne to Zhuge Liang but Zhuge Liang was too loyal to the ShuHan thats why Liu Chan succeed the throne.
4.
Sep. 24,2009 00:24 Reply
Mr.k(U.S.A.) said:
The reason why Zhuge Liang die from exhaustion is because Zhuge Liang had never took any breaks when there was war going around. In other words, he always up late planning on how to make the Shu Kingdom expand with more territories. He always focused on how to win over the land when he never thinks about anyone else until he finally realized what he had done before his death. He had realized that the people that had sacrificed to help expand the Shu Kingdom. Poor Zhuge Liang had to scarified his time just to plan things for Liu Shan. There is also another reason why he was exhausted is because of all these stress going into him from Liu Shan. I agree that Lui Shan isn't perfect like his father is because he was told by his father to listen to what ever Zhuge Liang say or what to do. That's why pressure had went into Zhuge Liang and caused him stress to help the Shu Kingdom win every expansions. But when he came to face the strategist general from the Wei Kingdom(Sima Yi) he was being pressured more since there was another strategist in the battlefield. Zhuge Liang was able to win during some fights with Sima Yi is because Sima Yi didn't know what Zhuge Liang was doing until they fight once more at the Wuzhang plains. That's when Sima Yi had pushed Zhuge Liang into more pressure. Sima Yi knows what Zhuge Liang was planning from the start since Sima Yi was award of Zhuge Liang's suspicious tactics on how Zhuge Liang had carefully plan on ambushing their enemies from the other times. That's why Sima Yi had planned a counter tactics for that situation.
5.
Aug. 20,2009 08:19 Reply
Mr.see(Singapore) said:
why must zhuge liang die in wuzhang plains liu bei and zhuge liang is the best.if iknow where they live iwill want to see them
6.
Aug. 5,2009 02:51 Reply
Mr.Every(United states of america) said:
I look up to this guy ive always found him and Liu bei very facinating to im going to study him i think if we studyed him we could make us that much smarter (im 13 years old)
7.
Jul. 17,2009 21:26 Reply
Mr.Pat magroin(antartica) said:
I reckon that, if Zhuge Liang didn't die from illness in the battle of Wu Zhang Plains, he (with the force of shu) would dominate the entire land!
Jul. 19,2009 04:17
Mr.ketty(india) replied:
I totally agree with you!
8.
Jul. 2,2009 19:36 Reply
Ms.k said:
have you people ever read the real book?
9.
Jun. 22,2009 03:53 Reply
Mr.zhuge's fan(SHUHAN) said:
SHUHAN prime minister is one of the greatest person in the period of 3 kingdoms that i adore however, he's very clever to have use the 5 tiger generals for SHU & contributing in the founding of SHUHAN but stupid enough to stay in SHU for A-DOU resulting in his own death. Actually if you guys observe, in SHU besides ZHUGE LIANG & PANG TONG, thats no talents anymore where WEI there's DENG AI, SIMA YI, ZHONG HUI & WU with ZHOU YU, ZHANG ZHAO, LU SU, LU XUN. i pity SHUHAN for the lose of ZHUGE LIANG & too bad JIANG WEI is not good enough to maintain his work.
10.
Jun. 16,2009 04:58 Reply
Ms.Michelli(Italy) said:
Zhuge Liang is one of my heroes. He is a good example of loyalty, because he stayed loyal to his lord even though his Lord's son was improper. What I regret is that he didn't achieved his goal, though he deserved it. Happy eding is certainly rare in real life, I guess..