Three Kingdoms
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The Three Kingdoms in 262, on the eve of the conquest of Shu. |
The
Three Kingdoms period () is a period in the
history of China, part of an era of disunity called the
Six Dynasties. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the
Wei in
220 and the conquest of the
Wu by the
Jin Dynasty in
280. However, many Chinese historians and laymen extend the starting point of this period back to the uprising of the
Yellow Turbans in
184.
The earlier, "unofficial" part of the period, from
190 to
220, was marked by chaotic infighting between warlords in various parts of China. The middle part of the period, from
220 and
263, was marked by a more militarily stable arrangement between three rival states, Kingdom of Wei (魏), Kingdom of Han (漢), and Kingdom of Wu (吳). The later part of this period was marked by the collapse of the tripartite situation: first the destruction of Shu by Wei (
263), then the overthrow of Wei by the
Jin Dynasty (
265), and the destruction of Wu by Jin (
280).
To distinguish these states from earlier states of the same name, historians prepended a character:
Wei is also known as Cao Wei (曹魏),
Han is also known as Shu Han (蜀漢), which later became more commonly known as Shu, and
Wu is also known as Eastern Wu (東吳).
The term "Three Kingdoms" itself is somewhat of a mistranslation, since each state was eventually headed by an
Emperor who claimed legitimate succession from the
Han Dynasty, not by kings. Nevertheless the term has become standard among
sinologists and will be used in this article.
Although relatively short, this historical period has been greatly romanticised in the cultures of
China,
Japan,
Korea and
Vietnam. It has been celebrated and popularised in operas, folk stories, novels and in more recent times, films, television serials, and
video games. The best known of these is undoubtedly the
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a fictional account of the period which draws heavily on history. The authoritative historical record of the era is
Chen Shou's
Sanguo Zhi, along with Pei Songzhi's later annotations of the text.
The Three Kingdoms period is one of the bloodiest in Chinese history. A population census in late Eastern Han Dynasty reported a population of approximately 56 million, while a population census in early Western Jin dynasty (after Jin re-unified China) reported a population of approximately 16 million. Even taking into account the inaccuracies of these census reports, it's safe to assume that a large percentage of the population was wiped out during the constant wars waged during this period.
What is traditionally thought of as the beginning of the "unoffical" Three Kingdoms Period is the
Yellow Turban Rebellion led by Zhang Jiao in 184. The year long revolt devastated northern China, as Jiao's religious sect, the Way of Peace, battled the weakened Han Empire, whose army was led by
He Jin. The Way of Peace primarily composed of farmers who had suffered greatly under the corrupt government system and thus easily converted by Zhang Jiao to create a "new and peaceful world." The rebellion ended when Zhang Jiao died of illness, but the chaos the rebellion wrought, when combined with the natural disasters that had overrun China in the same period, destabilized the Han Dynasty and doomed it to fall. The rebellion also caused the central government to increase the allowance of military power of the local governments, which is one of the cause of the warring period that followed.
The series of events leading to the collapse of dynastic power and the rise of
Cao Cao are extremely complex. The death of
Emperor Ling in May 189 led to an unstable regency under General-in-chief
He Jin and renewed rivalry between the factions of the
eunuchs and regular civil bureaucracy. Following the assassination of
He Jin, his chief ally the Colonel-Lieutenant of Retainers
Yuan Shao led a massacre of the eunuchs in the imperial palaces in
Luoyang. This event prompted the invitation of frontier general
Dong Zhuo to enter Luoyang from the northwest boundary of China. At the time China faced the powerful barbarians of
Qiang tribe to the northwest, and thus Dong Zhuo controlled an army of great number with elite trainings. When he brought the army to Luoyang, he was able to easily overpower the existing armies of both side and took control of the imperial court, ushering in a period of civil war across China. Dong Zhuo manipulated the succession so that the future
Emperor Xian could take the throne in lieu of his elder half-brother. (Dong Zhuo, while ambitious, genuinely wished for a more capable emperor. On his way to Luoyang, he encountered a small team of soldiers protecting the two sons of Emperor Ling fleeing the war zone. In the encounter Dong Zhuo acted arrogantly and threatening, causing the elder half-brother to be paralyzed with fear; but the younger brother, future Emperor Xian, responded calmly with authority and commanded Dong Zhuo to protect the royal family with his army to return to the Imperial Court.)
While Dong Zhuo originally wanted to re-establish the authority of Han Empire and manage all the political conflict properly, his political capabilty proved to be much worse than his military leadership. His behaviour grew more and more violent and authoritarian, executing or sending into exile all that opposed him, and showed less and less respect to the Emperor. He ignored all royal etiquette and openly carried weapons into the imperial court frequently. In 190 a coalition led by Yuan Shao was formed between nearly all the provincial authorities in the eastern provinces of the empire against Dong Zhuo. The mounting pressure from repeated defeat on the southern frontline against the
Sun Jian forces drove the Han Emperor and later Dong Zhuo himself west to
Chang'an in May 191.
Dong Zhuo again demonstrated his lack of management of a country by forcing millions of residents of Luoyang to migrate to Chang'an, then set fire to Luoyang to destroy the biggest city in China at that time, so that his enemies would not gain useful supplies from occupying it. In addition, he ordered his army to slaughter a whole village of civilians, cutting off their heads and carried them into Chang'an to show off as war trophies, pretending to have had a great victory against his enemies. A year later Dong Zhuo was killed in a
coup d'etat by
Wang Yun and
Lu Bu (Who was Dong Zhuo's godson).
In 191 there was some talk among the coalition of appointing an emperor of their own, and gradually its members began to fall out. Most of the warlords, with a few exceptions, in the coalition sought the increase of personal military power in the time of unstability instead of seriously wishing to restore Han Dynasty's authority. The Han empire was divided between a number of regional warlords. Yuan Shao occupied the northern area of
Ye and extended his power, by taking over his superior
Han Fu with trickery and intimidation, north of the
Yellow River against
Gongsun Zan, who held the northern frontier. Cao Cao, directly to Yuan's south, was engaged in a struggle against
Yuan Shu and
Liu Biao, who occupied respectively the Huai River basin and Middle
Yangzi regions. Further south the young warlord
Sun Ce, taking over after the untimly death of
Sun Jian, was establishing his rule in the Lower Yangzi. In the west,
Liu Zhang held Yizhou province whilst
Hanzhong and the northwest was controlled by a motley collection of smaller warlords such as
Ma Teng of Xiliang, the original post of Dong Zhuo.
The few exceptions who did wish to restore the Han Dynasty included the late
Sun Jian (although some argue that rather than "restoring authority" he wished to "restore peace" to the commoners regardless which authority eventually takes government, evidently by the later moves of his successor, Sun Ce. Ironically Sun Jian's aggressiveness and military talent in battles earned him the name "God of Wars"),
Liu Bei (who is a distant relative of the emperical family; and despite having no actual power at all at the beginning, He felt his obigation to aid the cause for the sake of his family name. He traveled and served under several warlords after repeated defeats but eventually started his own military power), and
Cao Cao.
Open warfare broke out as soon as Dong Zhuo burned and sacked Luoyang. In August 195 Emperor Xian left Chang'an and made a year-long hazardous journey east in search of supporters. By 196, when he was received by
Cao Cao, most of the smaller contenders for power had either been absorbed by larger ones or destroyed. This is an extremely important move for Cao Cao with the suggestion from his primary advisor,
Xun Yu, commenting that by supporting the authentic Emperor, Cao Cao would have the formal legal authority to control the other warlords and force them to comply in order to restore the Han dynasty.
Cao Cao, whose zone of control was the precursor to the Kingdom of Wei, had raised an army in the winter of 189. In several strategic movements and battles, he controlled the Dui province and defeated several fractions of the Yellow Turban rebels and earned him the aid of other local militaries controlled by
Zhang Miao and
Cheng Gong, who joins his cause to be create his first sizable army. He continued the effort and absorbed approximately 300,000
Yellow Turbans into his army as well as a number of clan-based military groups particular to the eastern side of Qing province. In 196 he established an imperial court at
Xuchang and developed military agricultural colonies (
tuntian) to support his army. The system did impose a heavy tax in terms of the produces (40% to 60%) for hired civilian farmers, but all the farmers are more than pleased to be able to work with relative stability and professional military protection in a time of chaos. This is later said to be his second important policy to success.
After destroying Yuan Shu in 197, Cao Cao turned to the east because his father was robbed and murdered by one low level officier under
Xu Qian of the Xu province. Originally, Xu Qian ordered the official to escort Cao Cao's father to Cao Cao in an honorable fashion, before the inevitable conflict between Xu Qian and Cao Cao. However, the officier was overcome by the desire of greed when he saw all the wealth Cao Cao's father is transporting, killed him, and escaped with the transporting carts.
During this time, there were two significant turmoils. First one happened while he was on the brink of defeating Xu Qian; to his surprise, his close friend who joined him at the very beginning when he first started an army, Zhang Miao and Cheng Gong, along with Lu Bu who traveled around searching for opportunities, rebelled against him. They are able to influence nearly the whole province of Dui (Cao Cao's central base of operation at the time) to rebel with them, except for four small fortresses/cities. If the rebellion is successful, Cao Cao will not even have a place to return to, and thus he decided to rapidly retreat from Xu province to deal with his homeland first. With some difficulties he was able to defeat the rebels and re-establish his footings. During this time Tao Qian died (whether or not he died of old age or due to the stress of gruesome battle previously is uncertain), and Liu Bei, who was a guest at the time in Xu province, was appointed the successor. Lu Bu and Cheng Gong escaped and was accepted by Liu Bei.
Due to a disagreement and incidents caused by
Zhang Fei, one of Liu Bei's close friend and general, Xu province was unstable again. Lu Bu and Cheng Gong quickly seized power, forcing Liu Bei's followers to be dispersed in exile. Liu Bei surrendered to Cao Cao and was accepted as a guest by himself. Cao Cao then conquered Lu Bu at Xu province in 199.
The second crisis of Cao Cao during this time happened after, when the emperical court secretly plotted with Liu Bei to assassinate and overturn Cao Cao's control. The plan was discovered and halted, and Liu Bei fled to Yuan Shao to the north. To ensure stability of the political environment, Cao Cao blamed the attempt mostly on a couple of selected emperical officiers and Liu Bei to minimize the impact on his reputation.
After settling and the nearby provinces and internal affairs with the emperical court, Cao Cao turned his attention north to Yuan Shao, who himself had eliminated his northern rival Gongsun Zan that same year. The conflict originated when Cao Cao used his influence to grant Yuan Shao and himself two high emperical positions, but his position is technically higher than one granted to Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao refuses such placement on the basis that he is of a more reputable family than Cao Cao, as well as having higher consensus support and military power than Cao Cao. Not wishing to start the war immediately as Cao Cao had his hand full with the rebellions and the battle to the east, Cao Cao gave up his own title and granted it to Yuan Shao, and he accepted it. While it seemed that the conflict had been resolved, the fact that Yuan Shao had to in effect listen to the puppet government under the control of Cao Cao was a dangerous hidden catalyst for war.
Following months of planning, the two sides met in force at
Guandu in 200. Overcoming Yuan's superior numbers, (actual numbers vary in different sources, but Yuan Shao having absolute superior number manyfolds is universally accepted) Cao Cao decisively defeated him by setting fire to his supplies, and in doing so crippled the northern army. In 202, Cao Cao took advantage of Yuan Shao's death and the resulting division among his sons to advance north of the Yellow River. He captured
Ye in 204 and occupied the provinces of Ji, Bing, Qing and You. By the end of 207, after a lightning campaign against the
Wuhuan barbarians,
Cao Cao had achieved undisputed dominance of the
North China Plain.
|
Traditional site of Red Cliffs. |
In 208,
Cao Cao marched south with his army hoping to quickly unify the empire. Liu Biao's son Liu Zong surrendered the province of Jing and Cao was able to capture a sizeable fleet at Jiangling.
Sun Quan, the successor to
Sun Ce in the Lower Yangzi, continued to resist however. His advisor
Lu Su secured an alliance with Liu Bei, himself a recent refugee from the north. Their combined armies of 50,000 met Cao Cao's fleet and 200,000-strong force at
Red Cliffs (also known as Chi Bi) that winter. After an initial skirmish, an attack with fireships inflicted a decisive defeat on Cao Cao, forcing him to retreat in disarray back to the north. The allied victory at Red Cliffs ensured the survival of
Liu Bei and
Sun Quan, and provided the basis for the states of Shu and Wu.
After his return to the north,
Cao Cao contented himself with absorbing the northwestern regions in 211 and consolidating his power. He progressively increased his titles and power, eventually becoming the Prince of Wei in 217, a title bestowed upon him by the puppet Han emperor that he controlled.
Liu Bei entered Yi province and later in 214 displaced Liu Zhang as ruler, leaving his commander
Guan Yu in charge of Jing province.
Sun Quan, who had in the intervening years being engaged with defenses against Cao Cao in the southeast at
Hefei, now turned his attention to Jing province and the Middle Yangzi. Tensions between the allies were increasingly visible. In 219, after Liu Bei successfully seized Hanzhong from
Cao Cao and as
Guan Yu was engaged in the
siege of Fan, Sun Quan's commander-in-chief Lü Meng secretly seized Jing province.
In the first month of 220,
Cao Cao died and in the tenth month his son
Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate to him, thus ending the Han Dynasty. He named his state
Wei and made himself emperor at Luoyang. In 221, Liu Bei named himself Emperor of Han, in a bid to restore the fallen Han dynasty. (His state is known to history as "Shu" or "Shu-Han".) In the same year, Wei bestowed on
Sun Quan the title of King of Wu. A year later, Shu-Han troops declared war on Wu and met the Wu armies at the
Battle of Yiling. At Yiling, Liu Bei was disastrously defeated by Sun Quan's commander
Lu Xun and forced to retreat back to Shu, where he died soon afterward. After the death of Liu Bei, Shu and Wu resumed friendly relations at the expense of Wei, thus stabilizing the tripartite configuration. In 222, Sun Quan renounced his recognition of
Cao Pi's regime and, in 229, he declared himself emperor at Wuchang.
Dominion of the north completely belonged to Wei, whilst Shu occupied the southwest and Wu the central south and east. The external borders of the states were generally limited to the extent of Chinese civilization. For example, the political control of Shu on its southern frontier was limited by the
Tai tribes of modern
Yunnan and
Burma, known collectively as the Southern Barbarians (南蠻).
Population
The population could be derived from the official record of Chen Shou's
Sanguo Zhi. In terms of manpower, the Wei was by far the largest, retaining more than 660,000 households and 4,400,000 people within its borders. Shu had a population of 1,940,000, and Wu 2,300,000. Thus, Wei had more than 58% of the population and around 40% of territory. With these resources, it is estimated that it could raise an army of 440,000 whilst Shu and Wu could manage 100,000 and 230,000. The Wu-Shu alliance against the Wei proved itself to be a militarily stable configuration; the basic borders of the Three Kingdoms remained almost unchanging for more than forty years.
Trade and transport
In economic terms the division of the Three Kingdoms reflected a reality that long endured. Even in the
Northern Song, seven hundred years after the Three Kingdoms, it was possible to think of China as being composed of three great regional markets. (The status of the northwest was slightly ambivalent, as it had links with the northern region and
Sichuan). These geographical divisions are underscored by the fact that the main communication routes between the three main regions were all man-made: the
Grand Canal linking north and south, the hauling-way through the
Three Gorges of the Yangzi linking southern China with Sichuan and the
gallery roads joining Sichuan with the northwest. The break into three separate entities was quite natural and even anticipated by such political foresight as
Zhuge Liang (see
Longzhong Plan 隆中對).
Consolidation
In 223
Liu Shan rose to the throne of Shu following his father's defeat and death. The defeat of Liu Bei at Yiling ended the period of hostility between Wu and Shu and both used the opportunity to concentrate on internal problems and the external enemy of Wei. For Sun Quan, the victory terminated his fears of Shu expansion into Jing province and he turned to the aborigines of the southeast, whom the Chinese collectively called the "Shanyue" peoples (see
Yue). A collection of successes against the rebellious tribesmen culminated in the victory of 234. In that year
Zhuge Ke ended a three year siege of Danyang with the surrender of 100,000 Shanyue. Of these, 40,000 were drafted as auxiliaries into the Wu army. Meanwhile Shu was also experiencing troubles with the indigenous tribes of their south. The South-western
Nanman peoples rose in revolt against Han authority, captured and looted the city of Yizhou. Zhuge Liang, recognising the importance of stability in the south, ordered the advance of the Shu armies in three columns against the Nanman. He fought a number of engagements against the chieftain
Meng Huo, at the end of which Meng submitted. A tribesman was allowed to reside at the Shu capital
Chengdu as an official and the Nanman formed their own battalions within the Shu army.
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions
At the end of
Zhuge Liang's southern campaign, the Wu-Shu alliance came to fruition and Shu was free to move against north. In 227
Zhuge Liang transferred his main Shu armies to
Hanzhong, and opened up the battle for the northwest with Wei. (See
Northern Expeditions) The next year, he ordered the general
Zhao Yun to attack from Ji Gorge as a diversion whilst Zhuge himself led the main force to Qishan. The vanguard
Ma Su, however, suffered a tactical defeat at
Jieting and the Shu army was forced to withdraw. In the next six years
Zhuge Liang attempted several more offensives, but supply problems limited the capacity for success. In 234 he led his last great northern offensive, reaching the
Wuzhang Plains south of the Wei River. Due to the untimely death of Zhuge Liang (232 AD), however, the Shu army was forced once again to withdraw.
Zhuge Liang had five attempts in the north, only one of which succeeded (Tianshui) where he gained
Jiang Wei after a successful defection plot.
Zhuge Liang other attempts included Chen Cang, Mt Qi, Jieting (supply campaign) and the Wu Zhang Plains. There were also some other minor attempts to the north but they were considered as minor battles that had no major outcomes. After the death of
Zhuge Liang his assistant
Jiang Wan took over.
Wu and development of the south
In the times of
Zhuge Liang's great northern offensives, the state of Wu had always been on the defensive against invasions from the north. The area around Hefei was under constant pressure from Wei after the Battle of Red Cliffs and the scene of many bitter battles. Warfare had grown so intense that many of the residents chose to migrate and resettle south of the Yangzi. After
Zhuge Liang's death, attacks on the Huainan region intensified but nonetheless, Wei could not break through the line of the river defenses erected by Wu, which included the Ruxu fortress.
Sun Quan's long reign is regarded as a time of plenty for his southern state. Migrations from the north and the settlement of the Shanyue increased manpower for agriculture, especially along the lower reaches of the Yangzi and in Kuaiji commandery. River transport blossomed, with the construction of the Zhedong and Jiangnan canals. Trade with Shu flourished, with a huge influx of Shu cotton and the development of
celadon and metal industries. Ocean transport was improved to such an extent that sea journeys were made to
Manchuria and the island of
Taiwan. In the south, Wu merchants reached Linyi (southern
Vietnam) and Fu'nan (
Cambodia). As the economy prospered, so too did the arts and culture. In the Yangzi delta, the first
Buddhist influences reached the south from Luoyang. (See
Buddhism in China)
From the late 230s tensions began to become visible between the imperial Cao clan and the Sima clan. Following the death of
Cao Zhen, factionalism was evident between
Cao Shuang and the Grand Commander
Sima Yi. In deliberations, Cao Shuang placed his own supporters in important posts and excluded Sima, whom he regarded as a threat. The power of the Sima clan, one of the great landowning families of the Han, was bolstered by Sima Yi's military victories. Additionally,
Sima Yi was an extremely capable strategist and politician. In 238 he crushed the rebellion of
Gongsun Yuan and brought the Liaodong region directly under central control. Ultimately, he outmaneuvered
Cao Shuang in power play. Taking advantage of an excursion by the imperial clansmen to the Gaoping tombs, Sima undertook a putsch in Luoyang, forcing Cao Shuang's faction from authority. Many protested to the overwhelming power of the Sima family; notable of which were the
Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. One of the sages, Xi Kang, was executed as part of the purges after Cao Shuang's downfall.
Fall of Shu
The decreasing strength of the Cao clan was mirrored by the decline of Shu.
Zhuge Liang gained large amounts of Wei's land. After Zhuge Liang's death, his position as Lieutenant Chancellor fell to
Jiang Wei,
Fei Yi and
Dong Yun, in that order. But after 258, Shu politics became increasingly controlled by the eunuch faction and corruption rose. Despite the energetic efforts of
Jiang Wei, Zhuge's protégé, Shu was unable to secure any decisive victory against Wei. In 263, Wei launched a three-pronged attack and the Shu army was forced into general retreat from Hanzhong. Jiang Wei hurriedly held a position at
Jiange but he was outflanked by the Wei commander
Deng Ai, who force-marched his army from Yinping through territory formerly considered impassable. By the winter of the year, the capital Chengdu had fallen and the emperor Liu Chan had surrendered. The state of Shu had come to an end after forty-three years.
Fall of Wei
Cao Huan succeeded to the throne in 260 after
Cao Mao was killed by
Sima Zhao. Soon after, Sima Zhao died and his title as Lord of Jin was inherited by his son
Sima Yan. Sima Yan immediately began plotting to become Emperor but faced stiff opposition. However, due to advice from his advisors, Cao Huan decided the best course of action would be to abdicate, unlike his predecessor Cao Mao. Sima Yan seized the throne in
264 after forcing Cao Huan's abdication, effectively overthrowing the Wei Dynasty and establishing the successor
Jin Dynasty. This situation was similar to the deposal of
Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty by
Cao Pi, the founder of the Wei Dynasty.
Fall of Wu
Following Sun Quan's death in 252, the kingdom of Wu went into a period of steady decline. Successful Wei oppression of rebellions in the Huainan region by
Sima Zhao and
Sima Shi reduced any opportunity of Wu influence. The fall of Shu signalled a change in Wei politics.
Sima Yan (grandson of Sima Yi), after accepting the surrender of Liu Chan, overthrew the Wei emperor and proclaimed his own dynasty of Jin in 264, ending forty-six years of Cao dominion in the north. After Jin's rise, Emperor
Sun Xiu of Wu died and left the throne to
Sun Hao. Sun Hao was a promising young man, but upon ascension he became a tyrant. In 269 Yang Hu, Jin commander in the south, started preparing for the invasion of Wu by ordering the construction of a fleet and training of marines in Sichuan under
Wang Jun. Four years later,
Lu Kang, the last great general of Wu, died, leaving no competent successor. The planned Jin offensive finally came in the winter of 279. Sima Yan launched five simultaneous offensives along the Yangzi River from Jianye to Jiangling whilst the Sichuan fleet sailed downriver to Jing province. Under the strain of such an enormous attack, the Wu forces collapsed and Jianye fell in the third month of 280. Emperor Sun Hao surrendered and was given a fiefdom to live out his days on. This marked the end of the Three Kingdoms era, and the beginning of a break in the upcoming 300 years of chaos.
*
Battle of Jieqiao (191)
*
Battle of Guandu (200)
*
Battle of Red Cliffs (208)
*
Battle of Hefei (217)
*
Battle of Fancheng (219)
*
Battle of Yiling (223)
*
Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign (225-230)
*
Northern Expeditions (228-234)
*
Battle of Jieting*Battle of
Wu Zhang Plains (234)
*
Dong Zhuo*
Lü Bu*
Cao Cao*
Zhang Jiao*
Yuan Shao*
Yuan Shu*
Liu Bei*
Guan Yu*
Zhang Fei*
Sun Ce*
Sun Quan*
Zhuge Liang*
Jiang Wei*
Sima YiFor a more comprehensive list, see
Personages of the Three KingdomsChina Central Television produced a lengthy television series by the name
Romance of the Three Kingdoms in 1995.
Video games based on the Three Kingdoms romance include the
Dynasty Warriors series, the
Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, the
Dynasty Tactics series, and the second game in the
Kessen series. All of these are made by the Japanese company
Koei.
The card game
Magic: The Gathering has an expansion called
Portal: Three Kingdoms that references famous battles and people from the Three Kingdoms romance.
*
Records of Three Kingdoms*
Romance of the Three Kingdoms*
Military history of the Three Kingdoms*
Yellow Turban Rebellion*
End of Han Dynasty*
Rafe de Crespigny*
Six dynasties* Hill, John E. 2004.
The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略
by Yu Huan 魚豢
: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265. Draft annotated English translation. [
1]
* Shou, Chen "Sanguo Zhi" [
2]
*
Online Three Kingdoms publications of Dr Rafe de Crespigny, Australian National University*
Descriptions of the Major Events of the Three Kingdoms Period*
In-depth discussion and debates of events in the Three Kingdoms period, as well as insightful analysis that draws on a wide range of historical and factual resources*
3 Kingdoms History Forum - Online discussion about the history of 3 kingdoms period
*
Three Kingdoms: A Somewhat Less Than Critical Commentary
