Zhou Yu
Zhou Yu (周瑜) (175 - 210) was a famous militarist and
strategist of
Wu of the
Three Kingdoms of China.
Zhou Yu was born in Lujiang District, which is in modern day
Lujiang county of
Anhui province. Zhou Yu was born into a cultured family that produced many officials, and when
Sun Jian was attacking
Dong Zhuo, he moved his family to live together with Zhou Yu's family. Sun Jian's son
Sun Ce and Zhou Yu studied together and became lifelong friends. Soon, Zhou Yu's uncle became the governor of
Danyang, and the whole family relocated to Danyang.
After
Sun Ce borrowed troops from
Yuan Shu, his army began to push southeast towards
Yangzhou, and Zhou Yu was the first to join
Sun Ce's army. Afterwards, Zhou Yu temporary went back home to help his uncle in the struggle against Yuan Shu. Failed in that attempt, in
198 he joined
Sun Ce for the second time. Sun Ce personally greeted him, and Zhou Yu became the most powerful general under Sun Ce with a personal guard of two thousand men and fifty horses.
It was around this time, when the famous marriage took place between Zhou Yu, Sun Ce and the
Two Qiaos sisters took place. Very soon afterwards, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu pacified most of Yangzhou province south of
Yangtze and extended their power both south into the native
Yue area and north into the
Huai region.
In
200,
Sun Ce was assassinated and he passed down his power to his brother
Sun Quan. Zhou Yu took over the military affairs while
Zhang Zhao was given the domestic affairs. Around this time,
Cao Cao defeated
Yuan Shao and he demanded that
Sun Quan sent a family hostage. Zhou Yu advised against sending a hostage. This raised Zhou Yu's respect within the Sun family, and he was treated as an elder brother by
Sun Quan. In
206, Zhou Yu attacked the local bandits and captured over ten thousand people and resettled them. Then he repelled an attack by
Liu Biao and captured enemy general
Deng Long.
In
208, Cao Cao began a general campaign aimed at wiping out all oppositions in southern China and reunify the empire. As his army conquered
Jingzhou and was closing in on Sun Quan, Sun Quan's court was divided on the issue of whether to surrender or resist. Sun Quan consulted Zhou Yu, and replied: "Although Cao Cao pretends to be a minister of Han, he is actually a thief who is attempting to steal the empire from Han. Your majesty, with your brilliant talent and your father and brother's military prowess, have ruled and pacified
Eastern Wu. The territory stretches thousand of
li, the soldier are well trained, brilliant advisors of great talents are at your disposal. It is the time to get rid Cao Cao and help the Han dynasty to reunify china. Cao Cao came down south and presented himself as an opportunity for you, your majesty. Now I will analyse for you the dire situation Cao Cao has placed himself into: Even if the north has been completely unified, can Cao Cao's ground based army fight against our superior navy and marines? The truth is that the north has not been completely pacified.
Ma Chao will remain a thorn in Cao Cao's flesh. Cao Cao's superior calvary is usless against the mountainous and watery terrain of the south. Winter is upon us, and yet Cao Cao's large army has to depend on a long supply line halfway across China. Cao Cao's army are mainly composed of northerners, and they are not used to the environment of the south, thus they will easily become sick. With all of these problems, I promise you that with thirty thousand men, I can easily break him." Greatly relieved, Sun Quan decided to fight.
The famous
Battle of Red Cliffs ensued. Contarary to popular belief,
Zhuge Liang did not contribute much and Zhou Yu was the supreme commander of the united forces against Cao Cao
. In this battle, a series of strategems was employed by Zhou Yu to destroy Cao Cao. His subordinate
Huang Gai pretended to surrender to Cao Cao and infiltrated Cao Cao's camp. There he set his own ships on fire and rammed them into Cao Cao's ships before jumping into the river. Much of Cao Cao's ships were destroyed and Cao Cao was forced to flee back to
Xuchang.
Afterwards, Zhou Yu led his army in pursue and laid siege to the strategic town of Nanjun (
Jiangling). After a year of siege, Nanjun was taken and Zhou Yu was named Governor of Nanjun. Zhou Yu suffered an arrow wound in this battle.
In
210, Zhou Yu proposed to Sun Quan his plan to attack
Liu Zhang of
Sichuan and unify all of southern China under Sun Quan against northern China under Cao Cao. While preparing for the long expedition, he died at the young age of thirty six.
He was buried in his ancestral home in
Lujiang.
Zhou Yu was intelligent and young. Considered a very handsome man by his contemporaries. He is very open, and makes friend by his humbleness.
Cheng Pu was an elder general of
Sun Jian and he made fun of Zhou Yu's youth. Yet Zhou Yu took all of the abuse stoically and they eventually became great friends. He was a man of many talents, who was also well versed in music and poems. There was a saying at that time: "Should the tune be in error, Zhou Yu takes note." ("曲有誤, 周郎顧")
He was also famous for his loyalty. Even though Sun Quan saw Zhou Yu as an older brother, Zhou Yu never crossed the line, and he always served Sun Quan with humility and care.
Great Grandfather:
Zhou Rong was the Imperial Secretary ("尚书令") in charge of reading and interpreting reports to the emperor.
Grandfather:
Zhou Jing was first the governor of
Yuzhou, ("豫州刺史"), and then became Imperial Secreatary ("尚书令") and finally Imperial Minister of Defence ("太尉").
Father:
Zhou Yi was the Mayor of the Capital city
Luoyang.
Uncle:
Zhou Shang was the governor of
Danyang, ("丹楊太守")
Chen Shou, in
Sanguo Zhi: "While Cao Cao was at the zenith of his power, and every one in China was fearful of him. Zhou Yu and
Lu Su were able to recognize his weakness, convince Sun Quan to go to war, and defeat Cao Cao. They are truly men of great talent."
Sun Ce: "Zhou Yu was handsome and brilliant, we studied together and he is like a brother to me.''
Cheng Pu: "To befriend Zhou Yu is like drinking good wine: you become inebriated before you even realize it."
Jiang Gan: "Zhou Yu is refined and cultured, no words can express it."
Liu Bei: "Zhou Yu is skilled at both military and domestic affairs. His talent is so great, I suspect he won't be a subordinate much longer."
Sun Quan: "Zhou Yu has the skill to advise an emperor, without him, who can I rely on?", "Without Zhou Yu I would not have been an emperor."
Since
Romance of the Three Kingdoms has a strong pro-
Shu bias, Zhou Yu was portrayed as a jealous man who relentlessly tried to beat Zhuge Liang. Furthermore, his role was deliberately overshadowed by Zhuge Liang, especially in the Battle of the Red Cliffs. For example, the arrow-stealing ploy employed by Zhuge Liang is attributed to
Sun Quan in many other texts. Zhuge Liang even causes Zhou Yu's death: having been poisoned by Wei in a previous ambush, Zhou Yu is thrice provoked by Zhuge Liang and dies a bitter man, his last words being: "Having born Yu, wherefore also Liang?" ("既"瑜, 何"亮?")
On the
Kunqu stage, Zhou Yu appears as a zhiweisheng, as in the scene "The Swaying Reeds" where he is captured and ultimately set free by
Zhang Fei.
In
Chinese Opera, Zhou Yu is played by the Xiao Sheng (young man) or Wu Sheng (military man), even when he shares the stage with
Zhuge Liang, who was actually the younger of the two.
In the
anime short series
Ikki Tousen, the character of Shuuyu Koukin is roughly based on Zhou Yu. His cousin and ward, Sonsaku Hakufu, is based on Zhou Yu's close friend
Sun Ce.
|
Zhou Yu/Shuuyu, as he is portrayed in the anime Ikkitousen. |
In the
Dynasty Warriors video game series, Zhou Yu is portrayed as a handsome, rather effeminite looking young man. He weilds a long, curved sword called the Ancient's Sword. His attack is rather average, but he is very fast and very good in defense. His attacks, which look very artistic in terms of how he moves, involve spinning and upward slashing, making him arguably the best juggler in the game.
There is talk of a movie being made, "
The Battle of Red Cliff", with
Andy Lau playing Zhou Yu.
* Shou, Chen "Sanguo Zhi" [
1]
