The next time you see an empty fort on the outside,there are probably enemy troops in the inside or nearby areas of the fort,so keep in mind this -A tip from Kings and Generals probably
Boring game promotion video, nothing of value. The tactics and strategies used by the ancient Chinese were very complex and subtle. Even Alexander the Great couldn't win against the Qin army.
I was expecting actual battlefield tactics...like pike and crossbow warfare (resembling pike and shot), using armored wagons/armored chariots to defend against Xiongnu cavalry charges (similar to Jan Zizka's wagon forts), heavy cavalry charges like those used by Gongsun Zan at the Battle of Jieqiao, crossbow cavalry and horse archery cavalry skirmishing tactics, etc.
I would have added Sima Yi's pretending to be crippled in an attempt to avoid having to serve as an advisor etc for Cao Cao and then later pretending to have dementia in order to get his rival regent to let his guard down.
I think his wife killing a woman in order to keep the cripple act up is probably why she's became playable in Dynasty Warriors if not the scary woman she is in it.
@@jamiemartin1434 Dang I need to try the newer dynasty warrior hvn't played one since the PS-3 era PS: avoid the C.H Brewitt-Taylor translation if u plan on reading the book
@@KroDuK-oo7 You probably gonna want number eight more than number nine I mean I like nine but I have autism and most people complain about it way more than number eight . They we're not the best act informant in open world in dynasty warriors. Also in a tongue and cheek way.They basically The community said they were going to make the dynasty warriors Company says they are going to announce 10 this year near end of Last year.
"If anyone want to see the implementation of my strategy, read romance of the three kingdoms and watch Kings & Generals videos." - Sun Tzu, the Art of War.
@@roihanfadhil2879Going with that logic, Confucius would’ve been Kon Tzu since that’s how you say Confucius in Mandarin, but in the end “Tzu” is really just a title given to those famous philosophers anyway
@@glen7k621It isn't, and that's the sad part. The fictional part is the attribution to Zhuge Liang. The borrowing arrows stratagem was something actually done by a not-so-famous warlord during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, but at a much smaller scale (nothing like 100k arrows). This historical event was then fictionally attributed to various more famous people in novels and plays. Interestingly, in the 3K setting, it was first attributed to Sun Quan, not Zhuge Liang. Luo Guanzhong then switched out Sun Quan for his favorite character and that's the version that stuck. Similarly, the real-life inspiration for Zhuge Liang's empty city stratagem was something a Tang general did during the An Lushan rebellion when An Lushan himself appeared to siege the city he was defending. However, IRL this didn't end that well for him. Although he managed to trick the rebels into retreating the first time, he then used the time he bought to fortify the city and hold it against their second attack, and this one resulted in a long siege that wiped out most of the city's population through starvation. The Battle of Red Cliffs itself (the version in Romance) was inspired by a real battle in the Yangtze between the rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang (founder of the Ming Dynasty) against another rebel warlord. The depiction of fortress ships, tying ships together with chains, and the fire ships that ended the battle all came from this real Yuan-era battle. Romance was written in the Yuan-Ming transition, so the author had plenty of real historical events between the actual 3K era and his own to borrow from.
Mengzi once wrote: "If someone stops where they should not, they’ll stop anywhere. If someone slights a person they should treat generously, they’ll slight anyone. And if someone races ahead, they retreat in a hurry"
One of Cao Cao's stratagems (probably apocryphal) that always struck with me for both its efficacy and cruelty is when he's besieging Yuan Shu's city of Shouchun and his army is running short on supplies. Cao Cao's subordinate in charge of distributing grain, Wang Hou, brings this to Cao's attention, to which Cao Cao replies, "Serve out with a smaller measure. I shall have another device in the future." Wang Hou does so, and predicably, Cao Cao's army begins to complain. When the situation becomes critical, Cao Cao summons Wang Hou and says, "I have a means of pacifying the army, but I need to borrow something from you." Wang Hou asks what this is, and Cao Cao replies, "I need to borrow your head to appease the soldiers." Wang Hou protests that he's done nothing wrong, to which Cao Cao says, "I know, but if I don't execute you, the army will mutiny. Don't worry, your wife and children will be in my care after your death." He then has Wang Hou publicly beheaded and places the blame for the grain shortage on him, mollifying the troops and encouraging them to fight harder. Shouchun falls to Cao Cao shortly afterwards.
That's been proven to be Luo's bs to make Liu Bei look better. In actual history, that never happened. Neither did Cao killing his family friend with Chen Gong.
@disappearingone11 yup. You know you're stuff. Luo also excluded nearly 100 female warlords, Knights, officials, and soldiers from Three Kingdom since Han's gender equality level did not fit Ming society
@disappearingone11 for example, Sun Shangxiang had been warrior through and through. Shangxiang also did duels and stuff. Also she never fked Liu Bei. She fked Liu Bei's adopted son, Liu Feng, who she invited to defect with her while kidnapping Liu Shan, but Liu Feng snitched to Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei. But in Romance thus was never mentioned.
@TheRisingEagle93 Yep. I like how the actual historical records of/around the Three Kingdoms era goes into more details about the other conflicts/wars with other kingdoms too - such as the wars against Gogureyo in Korea, conflict against the Wuhuan and Xianbei, rebellions of the Yue peoples (such as rebellions by Lady Trieu) in the Han's Jiaozhi province/now North Vietnam, Qiang rebellion, etc. But the Ming era Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel skips most of this.
If you watch the tv series and read other stories, there are many other tactics and strategies that cao cao used. When facing off with Liu Bei early on, he used his raw recruits to assault the walls and let them rout in disarray to create a disorganised illusion of his army. But laid an ambush outside the city when the defenders sallied out to chase. He is cunning and ruthless to spend the lives of men to get the objective. And he also used the correct type of troops to fit the bill because no one would fall for it if he used the crack troops to assault the walls
The most ironic part is that his faction gobbled up the biggest territory out of the three, but ended up being the first to be kicked out of the race (by coup d'état).
@@yigon5412 🤓 and wrong. Luo Guanzhong didn't make it up. The story was originally a folk tale with no historical evidence. Luo Guanzhong simply collected it into his novel and attributed it to Zhuge Liang instead of Zhou Yu to make their rivalry more fun.
Zhuge Liang is given credit for alot of stuff that other generals accomplished IRL. I do believe he was a badass, but not 200IQ badass. There is one account in history and in the fictionalized book that I'm glad they included that showed he wasn't 200IQ all the time. He failed to conquer a fortified city called Chencang commanded by a general named Hao Zhao and had to withdraw. Zhuge Liang tried a number of tactics but Hao Zhao countered them all.
Admittedly I haven't read too much about the period, but the more I read the less I think about people like Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei and the more I think of people like Wei Yan.
Zhuge Liang was not as good of a military strategist as his rival Sima Yi, but he was a statesman without equal and the main reason Shu for a time, could afford to launch several attacks on the larger and stronger Wei.
@@bvbxiong5791 there was a limit to what they could do no matter what. Fortified cities in China are no joke, most of the most decisive sieges revolved tricking the enemy to sally out and engage because the sieging force showed signs of weakness, or they just try to piss off the defenders and make them come out. When it doesn't work, they siege the city for months non stop and it becomes a matter of whether the provincial leader surrenders to keep their position instead of losing everything or they remain loyal and it comes down to whether the king can come save the besieged city. a lot of ways Sima Yi used to fend off Zhuge Liang came down to literally just making sure there are no weaknesses in our army, hold our position until they run out of supplies, and punish them if they make a blunder. Most of the time Zhuge Liang had less time to waste so it almost always forced him to commit to a risky battle, and of course, leads to Sima Yi winning it easier.
To clarify here to the general audience/viewers. The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms (The Warring States of Three Kingdoms era/period) did not started with this 3 kingdoms. There were at least a dozen more kingdoms to begin with, it’s just that eventually the ultimate trio remained/survived/left to balance out the power and territory in middle earth. This 3 kingdoms era/period was already like the 3rd installment of the trilogy movie franchise. Hope the public gets a glimpse of the picture here.
To add up to you, actually, those a dozen more kingdoms are not real "kingdoms", they could be described as warlords but they all hold official positions, and titles given by the Han Dynasty (or claimed to be). Until 220AD Cao Pi replaced Han Dynasty as the new emperor, it could be described as the beginning of the Wei Dynasty. And after that Liu Bei and Sun Quan claimed themselves all are official emperors of China.
For example during the earlier stages, even in the battle of Red Cliff, Cao Cao was Si Kong of Han Dynasty, a position bit close to the prime minister. And Liu Bei was officially the General Left of Han Dynasty. Sun Quan was holding an even lower position. That's why Cao Cao could use the Han Emperor as puppet and claimed Liu Bei and Sun Quan were "open rebellion".
@@lukaima5147well in a sense like those dozen states during the Warring States until the Zhou dynasty was officially ended by the Kingdom of Qin when there were only seven states left.
You are one of the best TH-cam channels who tell us about history. I would like you to make a series on mughals because the way you present history is just undoubtedly amazing.
I love the three kingdoms period. Cao Cao in reality was more likeable than his romance countepart. He was such a good administrator that among the three kingdoms Wei was the most stable and strongest. Sima Yi descendants unified China thanks to Cao Cao.
The Sima family usurped the kingdom that the Cao family established with the Sima’s guidance. They definitely needed each other to make the Sima’s Jin Dynasty happen.
@@BlamBird Cao Cao never trusted completely in Sima Yi, he knew how ambitious he was and although he was useful he kept him at arm's length. Cao Pi followed his father's advice and kept him in check. His sucessors unfortunately understimated the old man.
@@vitorpereira9515 Yeah, there's a lot of irony in this whole thread. Starting with Cao Cao being "more likeable," which is subjective. To a casual Western reader learning about his exploits thru a historical lens, sure he's a lot more appreciable than what Mao Zhangong's version. To a Chinese city-dweller living in the central plains or northern Jing as the Han dynasty collapsed, you'd think he was the spawn of Hell. The irony of all of the cycles of reevaluation of ROT3K is that it still ends up in a half-closed loop. Cao Wei forces generally were forgiving to nobles and officials who surrendered, and genocidal towards peasants and commoners for the slightest hint of resistance even if they had no choice. Liu Bei backstabbed and brutalized nobles and officials - including his own clan - but actually had a following among the lower classes ostensibly because of genuine altruism he showed to them. The only character who was really screwed over by Chen, Luo and Mao in their retellings was Sun Jian, who was every bit the hero of the Yellow Turban Rebellions and siege of Hu Lato Gate. Less so for his sons, since Sun Ce hired quite a few former pirates and Quan was effectively an independent warlord who worked towards his own goals. Point is, ironically there were some valid historical reasons why they assigned the roles they did to each kingdom and its founder, including Sima Yi, since Western Jin is reviled in Chinese history for the rampant fraticide and laying out the red carpet for the nomadic hordes
Zhu Ge Liang did not trick Sima Yi but he knows Sima Yi’s biggest enemy is not Shu Empire but Cao Family which was viewing Sima family as a major threat especially if Sima defeats Shu empire. 兔死狗烹，鸟尽弓藏。 Sima Yi was not just a military strategist but also a shrewd politician who understands the bigger picture and Zhu Ge also knew. So a grand Strategen of plot within a plot
Basically, the Chinese armies during this time period undergoing the same changes as the Roman counterparts. Cavalry plays a much bigger role and Infantry adopted the more protective equipment of the cavalry. Instead of vast numbers of troops covered vast distances of the Empire, "Mobile field armies" combined with cunning tactics are favoured in late Eastern Han Era/Three Kingdoms Era. You could argue that historically, Aurelian, Stilicho, Aetius and Majorian relied more on deception to win battles.
The reforms towards much more cavalry happened at least 300 years before this era - around the time of the middle of the Western Han Dynasty (200s BC to 2 AD). During this era around the 100s BC, Han infantry armies that were based around pike and shot tactics (except with crossbows instead of guns) had trouble chasing down and dealing with Xiongnu cavalry armies. So the Han army had to reform their army into a mostly mounted army of cavalry + mounted infantry that rode horses and dismounted to fight. The Western Han era armies had armored wagons/armored chariots that were used to defend against Xiongnu cavalry charges, crossbow cavalry, a lot of horse archers, and several thousand sets of horse armor for heavy cavalry. Around the Three Kingdoms era (late 1st century AD to 2nd century AD), they returned to more infantry tactics of pike-and-crossbow while increasing the number of armored heavy cavalry since they were mostly dealing with armies from other settled agrarian kingdoms.
This happened prior to Han dynasty as China's history is much longer than Roman Empire. The Zhao kingdom of the Zhou dynasty were bordering the nomads to the north, the predecessors to Mongols. The constant warfare taught them to adopt horse archery and cavalry fighting and tactics. This forced Qin kingdom to do the same atleast for a big portion of the army and eventually Qin kingdom conquered the nation. Han dynasty adopted a lot of the Zhou dynasty and Qin dynasty learnings, so their army was heavily cavalry and horse archery. It also helps that Han dynasty has access to regions where they can gain horses from. They had defeated the Xiongnu and they had access to bactria
The depth of research and the clarity of presentation make this video a valuable resource for anyone interested in ancient warfare and strategy. Kudos to the creators for shedding light on this pivotal period in Chinese history!
@@Panicscroll69 Ha, say what you want, but Chinese armies were armed and train in manners which would not be replicated in Europe for centuries to come. I don't see Europeans ever replicating javelin, shield and sword or the maniples. But instead used pikes, helberds and crossbows, with mixed formations, and eventually adopting state reforms to allow mass mobilization. Moreover the first professional army in Europe post Roman collapse, the gendarmerie are organized in units of 5, which is similar to the Chinese smallest unit of 5 in a "wu".
Another theory for Sima Yi falling for Zhuge Liang's empty fort strategy wasnt because he was cautious of Zhuge Liangs ambush but he was more concern of what will happen if he did capture Zhuge Liang if it wasnt an ambush? What will happen to Sima Yi in the Cao court? They will surely get rid of him after his use against Zhuge Liang was no longer needed. Sima Yi was thinking long term.
The problem is that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a book wrote more than a thousand years after the period it make Zhuge Liang Kongming appear as way more powerful and talented than he was. According to "the chroniques of the three kingdoms" which is an accurate historical chronique writed by the Hans officials during this period, the real deal was Zhou Yu Gongjin, the stratego of Wu, he is the carftmen behind Chi Bi, the red cliff and the only one who is better than Cao Cao Mengde.
Thing is, the historian writing the Records, Chen Shou, had a huge bias towards Jin and Shu (where he had served earlier), but had a huge bias against Zhuge Liang, since he probably had his father Chen Ji executed.
@@sanzhang-tx1zm Sorry to ask that, the translator doesn't work so I'm not able to read your message the only thing I understand is "No, the Sān guó" could you please write in english?
@@Puget55 No, although the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written a long time later, Zhuge Liang was still regarded as his own example by generals and prime ministers in the real history, which was very close to the Jin Dynasty. It can be seen from the history books of the Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. People at that time thought that Zhuge Liang was smart and loyal, and spread out for the people
Zhuge Liang and Xie An of the Jin Dynasty are the politicians who were most delayed by ancient emperors. In addition to ability, loyalty, appearance, temperament, and talent are also important. Zhou Yu's military talent is indeed outstanding, but his historical status is a comprehensive score.
Fantastic episode! The content was incredibly rich and unique, and I really appreciated the artistic flair of the video. Keep producing such amazing content, Kings and Generals!😃
We must remember that the Romance was wrriten over a thousand years later, by a court official not a soldier. The empty fort tactics described could easily be unravelled by sending a small calvary scout force (thats their purpose!). Likewise for the "borrowing arrows", which commander would deplete his arrows firing into an unseen enemy who doesnt return a single shot (if they dont shoot back then they are not in range and we are wasting arrows).
Both stratagems were real and they really worked. They just weren't executed in the same way and not in the 3K. The empty city stratagem actually happened several times and in most cases worked by sheer luck. As you said, the easy way to beat it was to send in a cavalry force. The one that matched best the story in Romance is something that happened in the An Lushan rebellion when a Tang general opened the gates of his city and sat on top of the ramparts playing a lute. He did this because he knew that An Lushan himself was leading the rebel force heading towards him. Both men had served the empire together for a long time and knew each other well, so when An showed up, he found the guy who he knew to be one of the empire's most loyal generals sitting up there offering up his city to the rebels. An Lushan rode up to the general, held a brief conversation, was convinced by his old friend's seeming congeniality that the whole damn thing was a giant trap, and pulled his forces back. The city took the window presented by this retreat to fortify itself, then held off the enraged An Lushan's rebel force for a very long time. While the city technically won the siege eventually (An Lushan left the siege to pursue more important matters, got himself killed, and the rebellion fizzled under his usurper Shi Siming), they lost most of their population through starvation. The borrowing arrows stratagem was something that happened in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era. A minor warlord did this over several nights to steal arrows from his opponent. In his case, he initiated the arrow exchange by launching first. The enemy commander was apparently a firm believer in the dakka strategy and kept his men shooting even when no arrows were being shot back. However, the purpose of the real-life stratagem wasn't to steal enemy arrows but to lure them into depleting their arrows before the real attack. Most of the arrows fell into the river, after all. Those caught in the straw men were just a bonus. Presumably some of those were then used the following nights to reinitiate the arrow exchanges.
Cao Cao wrote a letter to 1 of 2 leaders in a combined forces, but he “deliberately” some sentences and words. The other one (Ma Chao) heard of this letter and demanded that he should have a look, but found out the letter was already “unreadable” and the rest of content were just casual chats. He became suspicious that his ally might already sell him out.
Also Dynasty Tactics : in an alternate story you can recruit Lu Bu as one of the strongest general/officer (at the cost of losing one of Cao Cao's strategist Guo Jia). And recruit Gongsun Zan to make Zhao Yun joined Wei.
The era of the 3 kingdoms really is fascinating and full of stories, taking advantage of this, I could talk about guan yu and how the cult of his personality began and also talk about the period from spring and autumn to the warring kingdoms.
At 6.38, Zhuge Liang was never in the castle playing the guzheng musical instrument. He was leading the army somewhere else. The writer of The Three Kingdoms "changed" the story to romanticize history but Sima Yi was conned into believing it was an ambush and retreated. Years later, Sima Yi lamented it as the 'greatest humiliation' in his entire life.
Sun Bin (supposedly Sun Wu aka Sun Tzu's descendent) had one heck of a life story and fabled stories (such as Tian Ji's horse race) and victories against his callous foe Pang Juan.
So I’m coming back after a while away from Kings and Generals. Compared to 2 years ago, how much more accurate and better is this channel in y’all opinion? I found his pronunciations wayyy better ❤
I was really looking forward to the Northern Expansion, I had all the DLC and they just pulled the plug out of nowhere for a sequel they reportedly canceled smh
I loved that game and idk why they stopped working on it. Maybe 3 Kingdoms 2 will expand into Korea and even further north to the tribes? Idk I'll take whatever they wanna make cause Three Kingdoms was so good
Some say Sima knows Zhuge was pulling an empty fort trick, but he pretended he was tricked, he needs Shu to stay Wei king's main enemy, as long as Shu exists, the Wei king needs Sima house to stay strong and wouldn't mind Sima having so much power, eventually the house of Sima got so powerful and took the kingdom from Wei and killed the Wei king.
what's not mentioned in the video is "三十六计，走为上计“。Translates to "of the 36 stratagems, go away/flee is the highest strategy". It means, when you have no ability to defeat the enemy, run away is the best/only option. Of course, you can't make a video out of this stratagem. :)
The first and second battles of Hefei still remain my favorites. During the first battle, Cao Cao's forces, after their defeat the Red Cliffs and at Nanjun, pulled back towards Yang Province, which was split in half by both Cao Cao and Sun Quan and hotly contested. Sun Quan brought a larger force but was defeated in the opening skirmish by Cao Cao's forces. When Sun Quan's forces slipped a spy into the enemy camp to sow chaos, the conspiracy was instantly crushed by Zhang Liao. After interrogating and executing the spies, Zhang Liao intentionally ordered for the watch tower's brazier to be lit and for the front gates to be opened. Sun Quan's top general took his men and charged into the camp where they were destroyed by a hail of arrows almost immediately. Following the exchange of the southern cities of the fertile and strategic Jing province from Liu Bei to Sun Quan, the pair launched a simultaneous attack north with Liu Bei attacking the newly-conquered Hanzhong region west and Sun Quan attacking Hefei to the east. To make sure that there would not be attrition, Sun Quan's forces took the nearby county of Wan which held a significant amount of supplies for Cao Cao's troops in the province before sieging Hefei. In response, Zhang Liao split his significantly smaller army between himself and co-commanders, Yue Jin and Li Dian. When Sun Quan's vanguard arrived, Yue Jin provoked them into heading straight for Hefei while Li Dian destroyed the bridges that Sun Quan's forces used only after Sun Quan's regiment crosses the ford. After allowing Sun Quan to move further deeper, Zhang Liao launches the ambush with Li Dian from behind on Sun Quan's isolated forces. With the vanguard too far out to arrive in time, Sun Quan manages to miraculously vault over the destroyed bridge, but his remaining men are decimated as they've been cut off from each other. When the vanguard learns that their lord is in danger, they try to turn back, but Yue Jin exits Hefei and routs them instead. The irl doesn't even shy too far back either as Zhang Liao leading 800 men with help from Li Dian charged straight into the Wu camp when they were ready to siege Hefei. Several officers and soldiers by this sudden assault. When Sun Quan finally managed to encircle Zhang's forces, the general punched his way out. Before returning Zhang Liao learned that some men were still trapped inside the encirclement, so he proceeds to reenter the encirclement before punching a second hole out to rescue the stranded men. Sun Quan would not be able to take the city after this crushing skirmish, and Zhang Liao held out until a plague forced the Wu forces back. It would be at this time that the three commanders of Cao Cao's forces would burst out of the castle while Sun Quan's unit was about to retreat after everyone else that they would nearly slay the enemy commander before he vaulted over the destroyed bridge.
I have studied Three Kingdoms history for five years now and completed all worthy campaigns of Total War: Three Kingdoms with the best mods activated on legendary difficulty. Since i have a deep knowledge of the period and also have watched many expert documentaries about 3K, it's time to do some justice here. First of all, congratulations to K&G for their awesome video and presentation. We deserve more 3K history videos. Secondly, Zhuge Liang was a very talented administrator (he governed the Shu lands justly and most efficiently and was responsible for all the micromanagement of Liu Bei's empire along with editing the laws of the state with the welfare of the people in mind. Because of his wisdom and benevolence, the people of Shu honored Zhuge Liang for ages and built shrines in his honour next to the ones for Liu Bei). Cao Cao instead ruled as a pure legalist. Thirdly, Liu Bei was not only kind, virtuous and wise and a brilliant leader who overcame many setbacks but also fought heroically for the people and to restore the Han emperor, who after all was the legitimate ruler of the empire and a hostage of Cao Cao. Lastly, Zhuge Liang may not be 200IQ all the time, but he was certainly the most skilled scholar, strategist and administrator of his time. Despite this, most of the credit for the outcome of Chibi battle goes indeed to Zhou Yu, as his shrewd estimations, persuasion of Sun Quan to fight Cao Cao and his heroic efforts during the battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Sun-Liu alliance that ensured the survival of both Sun Quan and Liu Bei. Liu Bei still contributed much during the campaign but that was mostly during the 209 AD battle of Jiangling where his forces cut the supplies of the Cao army.
The Thumbnail: Three Kingdoms Stratagems Me: I wonder if they used a "Dragon" Airstrike or Orbital Bombardment. The Video: Really great stratagems. Learning about Diaochan was fascinating, in particular.
Saw this video just as I left a poorly defended castle I suspected of being bait for an ambush. I now realize that I was fooled. Thanks kings and generals for allowing me to vanquish my enemies
when I saw the chapters I was like oh no he's gone talk about romance of the three kingdom, where zhugeliang uses the empty fort, then when he starts it's caocao doing it in sanguozhi, which is the historically actuate text instead of the novel based on it. kudos.
I was expecting actual battlefield tactics...like pike and crossbow warfare (resembling pike and shot), using armored wagons/armored chariots to defend against Xiongnu cavalry charges (similar to Jan Zizka's wagon forts), heavy cavalry charges like those used by Gongsun Zan at the Battle of Jieqiao, crossbow cavalry and horse archery cavalry skirmishing tactics, etc. Most of these aren't even tactics in the traditional sense and a lot of them are misattributed or exaggerated.
@@sir1197 No, this video is about ancient China, so I expect them to actually focus on battlefield tactics about ancient China (Warring States, Qin, Han Dynasty, etc). The Ming Dynasty is 14th+ century late medieval/Rennisance era and is outside the scope of the timeperiod. This Kings and Generals channel too often does a poor job when it comes to covering East Asian, specifically Chinese subjects.
In "Red Cliff 2" there's the scene with the boats and the straw soldiers that I believed was fictional. I didn't know it was real (sort of). The film is available on YT and is not too bad.
Borrowing arrows is also a story from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was based on Sun Quan touring inside Cao Cao's army camp. It was super epic so romance copied it.
In the 4000 year history of China, there have been many dynasties, and each dynasty's military armor is different. Therefore, it is difficult for Chinese people to choose a armor as a representative of the military culture of ancient Chinese dynasties. On the contrary, the armor of Japanese samurai is very single in shape, so samurai armor is easy to promote as a symbol. This makes it easy for people to think of samurai when they hear about East Asian armies
one of the best one is when Cao cao attacked by Dong Zhuo, Chao chao serve a table in the middle of area with his army behind, Invited Dong Zhuo to drink a tea before they fight between each other. Because Caocao and Dong Zhuo once a friend, Dong Zhuo accepted. In Dong Zhuo perspective, Caocao desperate to ask his mercy with his move. And Dong Zhuo cannot hold to shows his might to his old friend, and of course refuse if caocao asking for mercy. But after a while drinking a tea, finally Dong Zhuo back to his army and started to advance to cao cao army. But poor and stupid Dong Zhuo, Caocao asked him to drink a tea and having a chat with him before a fight was only to buying sometimes. Caocao buying times to make the sun positioned right at the back of his army. So the charge from DongZhuo's horde failed, because they cannot see clearly bcz of the sun. Caocao was so genius
Thanks Kings and Generals for this great video on ancient Chinese strategy. Parts had me laughing at how funny and clever these tactics were. I Also enjoy your World War II stuff manly the Pacific War series and the North African series, but can you do some World War I.❤👍👍🫡🫡🫡🫡
"Empty Fort" is actually reverse-reverse-reverse psychology. Both strategist knew that they cannot kill each other, because Cao Pi won't need the influential Sima Yi anymore and likely kill him if Zhuge Liang their arch enemy is gone. Sima cannot allow Zhuge to die, and Zhuge knew that Sima won't kill him, and just go ahead with the stratagem. Think about it, is it really that difficult to check whether a fort is Empty? Just throw a few poor scouts in.
Loved the outro .. and every minute of the content of course. While we are Chinese terrain, if you may get a chance, some more works of Sun Tzu in greater depths and details; if at all time allows.
"B!tch please" sums up a lot of the stratagems in this video! I want to read the Romance at some point. I assume the book is filled with a good number of failed attempts as well as these successful ones.
Can we get some videos on the conquest of China by the Qin? I've been watching the Kingdom anime and I'd love to learn more about what REALLY happened and what's fiction
Time to test my knowledge from watching a bunch of Total War: Three Kingdoms playthroughs, having done several playthroughs myself, and having watched several documentaries on that period.
Much of the game footage in this video is from Total War: Three Kingdoms. It's an excellent game and if you're interested in the time period I'd definitely recommend checking it out.
Download Infinite Borders: g10naad.onelink.me/PEOm/tpd9ykpk
Take the Three Kingdoms Personality Test: act.neteasegames.com/activity/3sEWai?lang=en
The next time you see an empty fort on the outside,there are probably enemy troops in the inside or nearby areas of the fort,so keep in mind this
-A tip from Kings and Generals probably
Boring game promotion video, nothing of value. By the way,Alexander the Great couldn't win against the Qin army.
Boring game promotion video.
BTW，Alexander the Great couldn't win against the Qin army.
Boring game promotion video, nothing of value. The tactics and strategies used by the ancient Chinese were very complex and subtle.
Even Alexander the Great couldn't win against the Qin army.
I was expecting actual battlefield tactics...like pike and crossbow warfare (resembling pike and shot), using armored wagons/armored chariots to defend against Xiongnu cavalry charges (similar to Jan Zizka's wagon forts), heavy cavalry charges like those used by Gongsun Zan at the Battle of Jieqiao, crossbow cavalry and horse archery cavalry skirmishing tactics, etc.
"Kings and Generals are ultimately humans"
He said the line!
Roll credits!
I didn't follow.
I did a double take when I heard that line 🤩
KAABER. ::-. ALMIGHTY. -:-. GOD. ::-. ❤:❤
“You’re too late. We are the Kings and Generals now.”
I would have added Sima Yi's pretending to be crippled in an attempt to avoid having to serve as an advisor etc for Cao Cao and then later pretending to have dementia in order to get his rival regent to let his guard down.
ssuma I tricking kuan yu :(
I think his wife killing a woman in order to keep the cripple act up is probably why she's became playable in Dynasty Warriors if not the scary woman she is in it.
@@jamiemartin1434 I was unaware of that story.
@@jamiemartin1434 Dang I need to try the newer dynasty warrior hvn't played one since the PS-3 era
PS: avoid the C.H Brewitt-Taylor translation if u plan on reading the book
@@KroDuK-oo7 You probably gonna want number eight more than number nine I mean I like nine but I have autism and most people complain about it way more than number eight . They we're not the best act informant in open world in dynasty warriors. Also in a tongue and cheek way.They basically The community said they were going to make the dynasty warriors Company says they are going to announce 10 this year near end of Last year.
"If anyone want to see the implementation of my strategy, read romance of the three kingdoms and watch Kings & Generals videos." - Sun Tzu, the Art of War.
Cringe 😂
Sunzi would rather become Confucian than advertise his state military thought manual
@@shinsenshogun900No, probably Sun prefer being Daoist because both they are come from the same clan, namely 'Tzu' 😂😂.
"I didn't say that"
-Sun Tzu, the Art of War.
@@roihanfadhil2879Going with that logic, Confucius would’ve been Kon Tzu since that’s how you say Confucius in Mandarin, but in the end “Tzu” is really just a title given to those famous philosophers anyway
That "Borrowing Arrows With Straw Boats" strategy is some straight-up Bart Simpson shenanigans and I love it.
It's fictional.
*archer class is really made out of archers!*
@@glen7k621 Sun Quan verifiably got to do it best
@@glen7k621It isn't, and that's the sad part. The fictional part is the attribution to Zhuge Liang. The borrowing arrows stratagem was something actually done by a not-so-famous warlord during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, but at a much smaller scale (nothing like 100k arrows). This historical event was then fictionally attributed to various more famous people in novels and plays. Interestingly, in the 3K setting, it was first attributed to Sun Quan, not Zhuge Liang. Luo Guanzhong then switched out Sun Quan for his favorite character and that's the version that stuck.
Similarly, the real-life inspiration for Zhuge Liang's empty city stratagem was something a Tang general did during the An Lushan rebellion when An Lushan himself appeared to siege the city he was defending. However, IRL this didn't end that well for him. Although he managed to trick the rebels into retreating the first time, he then used the time he bought to fortify the city and hold it against their second attack, and this one resulted in a long siege that wiped out most of the city's population through starvation.
The Battle of Red Cliffs itself (the version in Romance) was inspired by a real battle in the Yangtze between the rebel forces of Zhu Yuanzhang (founder of the Ming Dynasty) against another rebel warlord. The depiction of fortress ships, tying ships together with chains, and the fire ships that ended the battle all came from this real Yuan-era battle.
Romance was written in the Yuan-Ming transition, so the author had plenty of real historical events between the actual 3K era and his own to borrow from.
It happened. It’s just that Kongming didn’t do it. Zhuo Yu did
Just wanted to comment to say that the art for this video was exceptionally beautiful. Hats off to your artists and animators.
Mengzi once wrote:
"If someone stops where they should not, they’ll stop anywhere. If someone slights a person they should treat generously, they’ll slight anyone. And if someone races ahead, they retreat in a hurry"
One of Cao Cao's stratagems (probably apocryphal) that always struck with me for both its efficacy and cruelty is when he's besieging Yuan Shu's city of Shouchun and his army is running short on supplies. Cao Cao's subordinate in charge of distributing grain, Wang Hou, brings this to Cao's attention, to which Cao Cao replies, "Serve out with a smaller measure. I shall have another device in the future." Wang Hou does so, and predicably, Cao Cao's army begins to complain. When the situation becomes critical, Cao Cao summons Wang Hou and says, "I have a means of pacifying the army, but I need to borrow something from you." Wang Hou asks what this is, and Cao Cao replies, "I need to borrow your head to appease the soldiers." Wang Hou protests that he's done nothing wrong, to which Cao Cao says, "I know, but if I don't execute you, the army will mutiny. Don't worry, your wife and children will be in my care after your death." He then has Wang Hou publicly beheaded and places the blame for the grain shortage on him, mollifying the troops and encouraging them to fight harder. Shouchun falls to Cao Cao shortly afterwards.
That's been proven to be Luo's bs to make Liu Bei look better. In actual history, that never happened. Neither did Cao killing his family friend with Chen Gong.
@@TheRisingEagle93 I know, I'm speaking purely within the context of the novel.
@disappearingone11 yup. You know you're stuff.
Luo also excluded nearly 100 female warlords, Knights, officials, and soldiers from Three Kingdom since Han's gender equality level did not fit Ming society
@disappearingone11 for example, Sun Shangxiang had been warrior through and through. Shangxiang also did duels and stuff. Also she never fked Liu Bei. She fked Liu Bei's adopted son, Liu Feng, who she invited to defect with her while kidnapping Liu Shan, but Liu Feng snitched to Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei.
But in Romance thus was never mentioned.
@TheRisingEagle93 Yep. I like how the actual historical records of/around the Three Kingdoms era goes into more details about the other conflicts/wars with other kingdoms too - such as the wars against Gogureyo in Korea, conflict against the Wuhuan and Xianbei, rebellions of the Yue peoples (such as rebellions by Lady Trieu) in the Han's Jiaozhi province/now North Vietnam, Qiang rebellion, etc. But the Ming era Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel skips most of this.
If you watch the tv series and read other stories, there are many other tactics and strategies that cao cao used.
When facing off with Liu Bei early on, he used his raw recruits to assault the walls and let them rout in disarray to create a disorganised illusion of his army. But laid an ambush outside the city when the defenders sallied out to chase.
He is cunning and ruthless to spend the lives of men to get the objective. And he also used the correct type of troops to fit the bill because no one would fall for it if he used the crack troops to assault the walls
The most ironic part is that his faction gobbled up the biggest territory out of the three, but ended up being the first to be kicked out of the race (by coup d'état).
9:10 "borrowing" the enemy arrows, then returning them to'em 😅
Zhuge Liang also used fire against armies. He used againt Cao Cao armies.
this was made up by luo guanzhong. It didnt actually happen.
@@yigon5412 🤓 and wrong. Luo Guanzhong didn't make it up. The story was originally a folk tale with no historical evidence. Luo Guanzhong simply collected it into his novel and attributed it to Zhuge Liang instead of Zhou Yu to make their rivalry more fun.
You can watch film named "Red Cliff II" it would be more perfect~
@@yigon5412 This is a very common trick used by defenders, as you can hang planks on the walls of the city to collect the attacker's arrows
Zhuge liang: imma about to ruin this man's whole career
Repeat for 30 years
Zhuge Liang is given credit for alot of stuff that other generals accomplished IRL. I do believe he was a badass, but not 200IQ badass. There is one account in history and in the fictionalized book that I'm glad they included that showed he wasn't 200IQ all the time. He failed to conquer a fortified city called Chencang commanded by a general named Hao Zhao and had to withdraw. Zhuge Liang tried a number of tactics but Hao Zhao countered them all.
Admittedly I haven't read too much about the period, but the more I read the less I think about people like Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei and the more I think of people like Wei Yan.
Zhuge Liang was not as good of a military strategist as his rival Sima Yi, but he was a statesman without equal and the main reason Shu for a time, could afford to launch several attacks on the larger and stronger Wei.
@@bvbxiong5791 there was a limit to what they could do no matter what. Fortified cities in China are no joke, most of the most decisive sieges revolved tricking the enemy to sally out and engage because the sieging force showed signs of weakness, or they just try to piss off the defenders and make them come out. When it doesn't work, they siege the city for months non stop and it becomes a matter of whether the provincial leader surrenders to keep their position instead of losing everything or they remain loyal and it comes down to whether the king can come save the besieged city.
a lot of ways Sima Yi used to fend off Zhuge Liang came down to literally just making sure there are no weaknesses in our army, hold our position until they run out of supplies, and punish them if they make a blunder. Most of the time Zhuge Liang had less time to waste so it almost always forced him to commit to a risky battle, and of course, leads to Sima Yi winning it easier.
To clarify here to the general audience/viewers. The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms (The Warring States of Three Kingdoms era/period) did not started with this 3 kingdoms. There were at least a dozen more kingdoms to begin with, it’s just that eventually the ultimate trio remained/survived/left to balance out the power and territory in middle earth. This 3 kingdoms era/period was already like the 3rd installment of the trilogy movie franchise. Hope the public gets a glimpse of the picture here.
To add up to you, actually, those a dozen more kingdoms are not real "kingdoms", they could be described as warlords but they all hold official positions, and titles given by the Han Dynasty (or claimed to be). Until 220AD Cao Pi replaced Han Dynasty as the new emperor, it could be described as the beginning of the Wei Dynasty. And after that Liu Bei and Sun Quan claimed themselves all are official emperors of China.
For example during the earlier stages, even in the battle of Red Cliff, Cao Cao was Si Kong of Han Dynasty, a position bit close to the prime minister. And Liu Bei was officially the General Left of Han Dynasty. Sun Quan was holding an even lower position. That's why Cao Cao could use the Han Emperor as puppet and claimed Liu Bei and Sun Quan were "open rebellion".
@@lukaima5147 well said. Hope the public learn and know more about this stuff😎
@@gabriellin1352 Cheers mate, glad to do it. As 3 Kingdoms were my favorite since childhood 😁
@@lukaima5147well in a sense like those dozen states during the Warring States until the Zhou dynasty was officially ended by the Kingdom of Qin when there were only seven states left.
For 36 stratagem,
you gotta mention the Mongol army favorite "make them believe there is a path out"
My favorite is the first stratagem "run".
@@426mak not the first, that's the best.
Or my favorite: the false retreat.
The Crusaders were particularly gullible to that one!
@@426mak "when they approach us, we run away"
@@426mak that's actually the last
I simply love the Three Kingdoms so much, this content brought a smile to my face.
I will just go as : 布飘零半生，只恨未逢明主
I want to said"大丈夫生于天地之间，岂能郁郁久居人下！"
You are one of the best TH-cam channels who tell us about history. I would like you to make a series on mughals because the way you present history is just undoubtedly amazing.
Just imagine a badass collaboration involving Epic History Tv, Kings & Generals, History Marche & House Of History like omg hoping one day 😁🤞🏼
I am sincerely appaled that no one ever tried to make a time period called 3^2 Kingdoms, imagine the possibilities
The war of the eight princes of jin is quite close
Sixteen Kingdoms comes to some cultured minds of civil war erudites
Well, there was 8 princes, 16 kingdoms, and 10 kingdoms
@@TOTCTY 26 Kingdoms?
@@juncheok8579 Very close indeed
I love the three kingdoms period. Cao Cao in reality was more likeable than his romance countepart. He was such a good administrator that among the three kingdoms Wei was the most stable and strongest. Sima Yi descendants unified China thanks to Cao Cao.
This comment has plenty of poetic irony here
The Sima family usurped the kingdom that the Cao family established with the Sima’s guidance. They definitely needed each other to make the Sima’s Jin Dynasty happen.
@@BlamBird Cao Cao never trusted completely in Sima Yi, he knew how ambitious he was and although he was useful he kept him at arm's length. Cao Pi followed his father's advice and kept him in check. His sucessors unfortunately understimated the old man.
@@vitorpereira9515 Yeah, there's a lot of irony in this whole thread. Starting with Cao Cao being "more likeable," which is subjective.
To a casual Western reader learning about his exploits thru a historical lens, sure he's a lot more appreciable than what Mao Zhangong's version. To a Chinese city-dweller living in the central plains or northern Jing as the Han dynasty collapsed, you'd think he was the spawn of Hell.
The irony of all of the cycles of reevaluation of ROT3K is that it still ends up in a half-closed loop. Cao Wei forces generally were forgiving to nobles and officials who surrendered, and genocidal towards peasants and commoners for the slightest hint of resistance even if they had no choice. Liu Bei backstabbed and brutalized nobles and officials - including his own clan - but actually had a following among the lower classes ostensibly because of genuine altruism he showed to them. The only character who was really screwed over by Chen, Luo and Mao in their retellings was Sun Jian, who was every bit the hero of the Yellow Turban Rebellions and siege of Hu Lato Gate. Less so for his sons, since Sun Ce hired quite a few former pirates and Quan was effectively an independent warlord who worked towards his own goals.
Point is, ironically there were some valid historical reasons why they assigned the roles they did to each kingdom and its founder, including Sima Yi, since Western Jin is reviled in Chinese history for the rampant fraticide and laying out the red carpet for the nomadic hordes
@@kongming66 Ah shut up Zhuge Liang! And we both know that Red Cliff was Zhou Yu magnum opus, not yours.
Zhu Ge Liang did not trick Sima Yi but he knows Sima Yi’s biggest enemy is not Shu Empire but Cao Family which was viewing Sima family as a major threat especially if Sima defeats Shu empire. 兔死狗烹，鸟尽弓藏。 Sima Yi was not just a military strategist but also a shrewd politician who understands the bigger picture and Zhu Ge also knew. So a grand Strategen of plot within a plot
Basically, the Chinese armies during this time period undergoing the same changes as the Roman counterparts. Cavalry plays a much bigger role and Infantry adopted the more protective equipment of the cavalry. Instead of vast numbers of troops covered vast distances of the Empire, "Mobile field armies" combined with cunning tactics are favoured in late Eastern Han Era/Three Kingdoms Era. You could argue that historically, Aurelian, Stilicho, Aetius and Majorian relied more on deception to win battles.
The reforms towards much more cavalry happened at least 300 years before this era - around the time of the middle of the Western Han Dynasty (200s BC to 2 AD). During this era around the 100s BC, Han infantry armies that were based around pike and shot tactics (except with crossbows instead of guns) had trouble chasing down and dealing with Xiongnu cavalry armies. So the Han army had to reform their army into a mostly mounted army of cavalry + mounted infantry that rode horses and dismounted to fight. The Western Han era armies had armored wagons/armored chariots that were used to defend against Xiongnu cavalry charges, crossbow cavalry, a lot of horse archers, and several thousand sets of horse armor for heavy cavalry. Around the Three Kingdoms era (late 1st century AD to 2nd century AD), they returned to more infantry tactics of pike-and-crossbow while increasing the number of armored heavy cavalry since they were mostly dealing with armies from other settled agrarian kingdoms.
This happened prior to Han dynasty as China's history is much longer than Roman Empire. The Zhao kingdom of the Zhou dynasty were bordering the nomads to the north, the predecessors to Mongols. The constant warfare taught them to adopt horse archery and cavalry fighting and tactics. This forced Qin kingdom to do the same atleast for a big portion of the army and eventually Qin kingdom conquered the nation. Han dynasty adopted a lot of the Zhou dynasty and Qin dynasty learnings, so their army was heavily cavalry and horse archery. It also helps that Han dynasty has access to regions where they can gain horses from. They had defeated the Xiongnu and they had access to bactria
If the Roman army and the Han army fought, Rome would easily win.
3:46 Pretty hilarious Lu Bu would call someone else treacherous.
Let's be fair, Lü Bu ESPECIALLY irl AND outside of Dynasty Warriors is basically an overpowered Oblivion NPC XD
Lu Bu is just on another Level of treachery
The depth of research and the clarity of presentation make this video a valuable resource for anyone interested in ancient warfare and strategy. Kudos to the creators for shedding light on this pivotal period in Chinese history!
During the Three Kingdom period, Chinese generals were each commanding armies with 100K+ men. The entire Roman Empire was only 160k.
Yes, and today made in china also means low quality.
@@Panicscroll69your phone and lot of gadget probably make by them. They dont care if its low quality as long they get rich
I mean if you believe their reports sure. Roman’s also claimed to be fighting hundreds of thousands of people as well which is unlikely
Sounds dubious, estimates on the Roman army were upwards 500k. We're literally talking about death tolls of 60k at battles like Canae.
@@Panicscroll69 Ha, say what you want, but Chinese armies were armed and train in manners which would not be replicated in Europe for centuries to come. I don't see Europeans ever replicating javelin, shield and sword or the maniples. But instead used pikes, helberds and crossbows, with mixed formations, and eventually adopting state reforms to allow mass mobilization. Moreover the first professional army in Europe post Roman collapse, the gendarmerie are organized in units of 5, which is similar to the Chinese smallest unit of 5 in a "wu".
Another theory for Sima Yi falling for Zhuge Liang's empty fort strategy wasnt because he was cautious of Zhuge Liangs ambush but he was more concern of what will happen if he did capture Zhuge Liang if it wasnt an ambush? What will happen to Sima Yi in the Cao court? They will surely get rid of him after his use against Zhuge Liang was no longer needed. Sima Yi was thinking long term.
The problem is that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a book wrote more than a thousand years after the period it make Zhuge Liang Kongming appear as way more powerful and talented than he was.
According to "the chroniques of the three kingdoms" which is an accurate historical chronique writed by the Hans officials during this period, the real deal was Zhou Yu Gongjin, the stratego of Wu, he is the carftmen behind Chi Bi, the red cliff and the only one who is better than Cao Cao Mengde.
Thing is, the historian writing the Records, Chen Shou, had a huge bias towards Jin and Shu (where he had served earlier), but had a huge bias against Zhuge Liang, since he probably had his father Chen Ji executed.
不，三国演义虽然是之后很久写的，但诸葛亮在真正历史里面，依旧被将军，丞相认为是自己的榜样，这点从距离晋朝很近的，隋朝，唐朝史书里面就能看出来，当时的人们就认为诸葛亮是个聪明，忠心，为了人民，国家刻苦的人
@@sanzhang-tx1zm Sorry to ask that, the translator doesn't work so I'm not able to read your message the only thing I understand is "No, the Sān guó" could you please write in english?
@@Puget55 No, although the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written a long time later, Zhuge Liang was still regarded as his own example by generals and prime ministers in the real history, which was very close to the Jin Dynasty. It can be seen from the history books of the Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty. People at that time thought that Zhuge Liang was smart and loyal, and spread out for the people
Zhuge Liang and Xie An of the Jin Dynasty are the politicians who were most delayed by ancient emperors. In addition to ability, loyalty, appearance, temperament, and talent are also important. Zhou Yu's military talent is indeed outstanding, but his historical status is a comprehensive score.
Glad to see content about this! I'm 3/4 of the way through the novel.
Great video! Would love to see more on Chinese military history like how equipment, army composition and tactics evolved over the centuries
Fantastic episode! The content was incredibly rich and unique, and I really appreciated the artistic flair of the video. Keep producing such amazing content, Kings and Generals!😃
We must remember that the Romance was wrriten over a thousand years later, by a court official not a soldier. The empty fort tactics described could easily be unravelled by sending a small calvary scout force (thats their purpose!). Likewise for the "borrowing arrows", which commander would deplete his arrows firing into an unseen enemy who doesnt return a single shot (if they dont shoot back then they are not in range and we are wasting arrows).
Both stratagems were real and they really worked. They just weren't executed in the same way and not in the 3K.
The empty city stratagem actually happened several times and in most cases worked by sheer luck. As you said, the easy way to beat it was to send in a cavalry force. The one that matched best the story in Romance is something that happened in the An Lushan rebellion when a Tang general opened the gates of his city and sat on top of the ramparts playing a lute. He did this because he knew that An Lushan himself was leading the rebel force heading towards him. Both men had served the empire together for a long time and knew each other well, so when An showed up, he found the guy who he knew to be one of the empire's most loyal generals sitting up there offering up his city to the rebels. An Lushan rode up to the general, held a brief conversation, was convinced by his old friend's seeming congeniality that the whole damn thing was a giant trap, and pulled his forces back. The city took the window presented by this retreat to fortify itself, then held off the enraged An Lushan's rebel force for a very long time. While the city technically won the siege eventually (An Lushan left the siege to pursue more important matters, got himself killed, and the rebellion fizzled under his usurper Shi Siming), they lost most of their population through starvation.
The borrowing arrows stratagem was something that happened in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era. A minor warlord did this over several nights to steal arrows from his opponent. In his case, he initiated the arrow exchange by launching first. The enemy commander was apparently a firm believer in the dakka strategy and kept his men shooting even when no arrows were being shot back. However, the purpose of the real-life stratagem wasn't to steal enemy arrows but to lure them into depleting their arrows before the real attack. Most of the arrows fell into the river, after all. Those caught in the straw men were just a bonus. Presumably some of those were then used the following nights to reinitiate the arrow exchanges.
@andrewsuryali8540 thanks for sharing! Nice to read how real life actually works, more exciting I feel than make up tactics
Cao Cao wrote a letter to 1 of 2 leaders in a combined forces, but he “deliberately” some sentences and words. The other one (Ma Chao) heard of this letter and demanded that he should have a look, but found out the letter was already “unreadable” and the rest of content were just casual chats. He became suspicious that his ally might already sell him out.
Good summary! The Romance of the Three kingdoms is epic! Well worth the read or listen to the podcast
"Kings and generals are only human"
Ah! He said the thing!
pressed like because dynasty warriors and romance of the 3 kingdoms.
Also Dynasty Tactics : in an alternate story you can recruit Lu Bu as one of the strongest general/officer (at the cost of losing one of Cao Cao's strategist Guo Jia). And recruit Gongsun Zan to make Zhao Yun joined Wei.
Same feeling.
Console games, PC games, webpage games, Online games, apps games, and endless versions of Romance of Three Kingdoms.
The era of the 3 kingdoms really is fascinating and full of stories, taking advantage of this, I could talk about guan yu and how the cult of his personality began and also talk about the period from spring and autumn to the warring kingdoms.
The Fall of the Han is where peak Chinese history is at
@@shinsenshogun900还有个唐呢
AWESOME KEEP IT UP 😊
Finally this series is back.
At 6.38, Zhuge Liang was never in the castle playing the guzheng musical instrument. He was leading the army somewhere else. The writer of The Three Kingdoms "changed" the story to romanticize history but Sima Yi was conned into believing it was an ambush and retreated. Years later, Sima Yi lamented it as the 'greatest humiliation' in his entire life.
Sun Bin (supposedly Sun Wu aka Sun Tzu's descendent) had one heck of a life story and fabled stories (such as Tian Ji's horse race) and victories against his callous foe Pang Juan.
lu bu: "cao cao is treacherous, and we must not fall into his trap."
*proceeds, testicles first, into a woodchipper*
So I’m coming back after a while away from Kings and Generals. Compared to 2 years ago, how much more accurate and better is this channel in y’all opinion? I found his pronunciations wayyy better ❤
Great video
This documentary reminds me of Total War: Three Kingdoms and now I'm sad
I was really looking forward to the Northern Expansion, I had all the DLC and they just pulled the plug out of nowhere for a sequel they reportedly canceled smh
I loved that game and idk why they stopped working on it. Maybe 3 Kingdoms 2 will expand into Korea and even further north to the tribes? Idk I'll take whatever they wanna make cause Three Kingdoms was so good
@DomainExpansion95 yeah agreed
It's still a fantastic game though, so I can take solace in that.
Grand Cathay with emotional support balloon
I’d like to see a few videos on the Warring States Period. (Yes I have been reading Kingdom Manga)
The 'Borrowing Arrows' sequence is portrayed very well in the John Woo's historical action films 'Red Cliff/Red Cliff II' ! 👌👍
Some say Sima knows Zhuge was pulling an empty fort trick, but he pretended he was tricked, he needs Shu to stay Wei king's main enemy, as long as Shu exists, the Wei king needs Sima house to stay strong and wouldn't mind Sima having so much power, eventually the house of Sima got so powerful and took the kingdom from Wei and killed the Wei king.
what's not mentioned in the video is "三十六计，走为上计“。Translates to "of the 36 stratagems, go away/flee is the highest strategy". It means, when you have no ability to defeat the enemy, run away is the best/only option. Of course, you can't make a video out of this stratagem. :)
Wished you included Huang Gai's feigned defect after being "beat up" by Zhou Yu (yeah its perfect meme material, of a guy "beating up" another guy)
The first and second battles of Hefei still remain my favorites.
During the first battle, Cao Cao's forces, after their defeat the Red Cliffs and at Nanjun, pulled back towards Yang Province, which was split in half by both Cao Cao and Sun Quan and hotly contested. Sun Quan brought a larger force but was defeated in the opening skirmish by Cao Cao's forces. When Sun Quan's forces slipped a spy into the enemy camp to sow chaos, the conspiracy was instantly crushed by Zhang Liao. After interrogating and executing the spies, Zhang Liao intentionally ordered for the watch tower's brazier to be lit and for the front gates to be opened. Sun Quan's top general took his men and charged into the camp where they were destroyed by a hail of arrows almost immediately.
Following the exchange of the southern cities of the fertile and strategic Jing province from Liu Bei to Sun Quan, the pair launched a simultaneous attack north with Liu Bei attacking the newly-conquered Hanzhong region west and Sun Quan attacking Hefei to the east. To make sure that there would not be attrition, Sun Quan's forces took the nearby county of Wan which held a significant amount of supplies for Cao Cao's troops in the province before sieging Hefei.
In response, Zhang Liao split his significantly smaller army between himself and co-commanders, Yue Jin and Li Dian. When Sun Quan's vanguard arrived, Yue Jin provoked them into heading straight for Hefei while Li Dian destroyed the bridges that Sun Quan's forces used only after Sun Quan's regiment crosses the ford. After allowing Sun Quan to move further deeper, Zhang Liao launches the ambush with Li Dian from behind on Sun Quan's isolated forces. With the vanguard too far out to arrive in time, Sun Quan manages to miraculously vault over the destroyed bridge, but his remaining men are decimated as they've been cut off from each other. When the vanguard learns that their lord is in danger, they try to turn back, but Yue Jin exits Hefei and routs them instead.
The irl doesn't even shy too far back either as Zhang Liao leading 800 men with help from Li Dian charged straight into the Wu camp when they were ready to siege Hefei. Several officers and soldiers by this sudden assault. When Sun Quan finally managed to encircle Zhang's forces, the general punched his way out. Before returning Zhang Liao learned that some men were still trapped inside the encirclement, so he proceeds to reenter the encirclement before punching a second hole out to rescue the stranded men. Sun Quan would not be able to take the city after this crushing skirmish, and Zhang Liao held out until a plague forced the Wu forces back. It would be at this time that the three commanders of Cao Cao's forces would burst out of the castle while Sun Quan's unit was about to retreat after everyone else that they would nearly slay the enemy commander before he vaulted over the destroyed bridge.
I have studied Three Kingdoms history for five years now and completed all worthy campaigns of Total War: Three Kingdoms with the best mods activated on legendary difficulty. Since i have a deep knowledge of the period and also have watched many expert documentaries about 3K, it's time to do some justice here. First of all, congratulations to K&G for their awesome video and presentation. We deserve more 3K history videos. Secondly, Zhuge Liang was a very talented administrator (he governed the Shu lands justly and most efficiently and was responsible for all the micromanagement of Liu Bei's empire along with editing the laws of the state with the welfare of the people in mind. Because of his wisdom and benevolence, the people of Shu honored Zhuge Liang for ages and built shrines in his honour next to the ones for Liu Bei). Cao Cao instead ruled as a pure legalist. Thirdly, Liu Bei was not only kind, virtuous and wise and a brilliant leader who overcame many setbacks but also fought heroically for the people and to restore the Han emperor, who after all was the legitimate ruler of the empire and a hostage of Cao Cao. Lastly, Zhuge Liang may not be 200IQ all the time, but he was certainly the most skilled scholar, strategist and administrator of his time. Despite this, most of the credit for the outcome of Chibi battle goes indeed to Zhou Yu, as his shrewd estimations, persuasion of Sun Quan to fight Cao Cao and his heroic efforts during the battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Sun-Liu alliance that ensured the survival of both Sun Quan and Liu Bei. Liu Bei still contributed much during the campaign but that was mostly during the 209 AD battle of Jiangling where his forces cut the supplies of the Cao army.
The Thumbnail: Three Kingdoms Stratagems
Me: I wonder if they used a "Dragon" Airstrike or Orbital Bombardment.
The Video: Really great stratagems. Learning about Diaochan was fascinating, in particular.
Please make a video on Java War and Diponegoro. There are not much English content available on the topic on TH-cam.
Saw this video just as I left a poorly defended castle I suspected of being bait for an ambush. I now realize that I was fooled. Thanks kings and generals for allowing me to vanquish my enemies
when I saw the chapters I was like oh no he's gone talk about romance of the three kingdom, where zhugeliang uses the empty fort, then when he starts it's caocao doing it in sanguozhi, which is the historically actuate text instead of the novel based on it. kudos.
More three kingdoms again! Yay!
9:45 fun fact, Guan Yu fought with Cao Cao in the past before and spared his life once.
Oooooh... we're getting into the San Guo? YEEEEEEESSSSSSS
I was expecting actual battlefield tactics...like pike and crossbow warfare (resembling pike and shot), using armored wagons/armored chariots to defend against Xiongnu cavalry charges (similar to Jan Zizka's wagon forts), heavy cavalry charges like those used by Gongsun Zan at the Battle of Jieqiao, crossbow cavalry and horse archery cavalry skirmishing tactics, etc. Most of these aren't even tactics in the traditional sense and a lot of them are misattributed or exaggerated.
可以参考一下中国一千多年后的历史。蒙古人作战方法革新了游牧民族的战术，相应的明朝的北方边疆军队已经发展到类似车堡的战术了
@@sir1197 No, this video is about ancient China, so I expect them to actually focus on battlefield tactics about ancient China (Warring States, Qin, Han Dynasty, etc). The Ming Dynasty is 14th+ century late medieval/Rennisance era and is outside the scope of the timeperiod. This Kings and Generals channel too often does a poor job when it comes to covering East Asian, specifically Chinese subjects.
Zhuge Liang out here playing 4d chess 💀
damn this channel avoids the three kingdoms like the plague but then this drops! sweet!
I think the better question would be: If the Chinese of the classical era were to fight the Romans, who would win?
In "Red Cliff 2" there's the scene with the boats and the straw soldiers that I believed was fictional. I didn't know it was real (sort of). The film is available on YT and is not too bad.
This is my favorite era in Chinese history; the romance of the three kingdoms
Borrowing arrows is also a story from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it was based on Sun Quan touring inside Cao Cao's army camp. It was super epic so romance copied it.
More of that please👍👍👍
Thanks for the video 👍🏻
Zhuge Liang was also know by his courtesy name Kongming. He was also the inventor of the Chinese lantern by the same name.
In the 4000 year history of China, there have been many dynasties, and each dynasty's military armor is different. Therefore, it is difficult for Chinese people to choose a armor as a representative of the military culture of ancient Chinese dynasties. On the contrary, the armor of Japanese samurai is very single in shape, so samurai armor is easy to promote as a symbol. This makes it easy for people to think of samurai when they hear about East Asian armies
因为日本没有自己的文化，他们的一切都是从外国学来然后墨守成规的，说实话我看日本毫无文化活力
现代日本文化可比老中优秀太多了，老中生硬的一批
@粉红汤圆 梅毒文化？
@粉红汤圆 Syphilis culture？
To add salt to the borrowed arrows episode, Zhuge Liang made everyone shout "Thank you Prime-Minister Cao for the arrows!"
Total war three kingdoms, romance of the three kingdoms history, kings & generals content, what a trio
much more china history can be a content thanks for the video
Great video!
This was a great video, please do at least a part 2!
I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
one of the best one is when Cao cao attacked by Dong Zhuo, Chao chao serve a table in the middle of area with his army behind, Invited Dong Zhuo to drink a tea before they fight between each other. Because Caocao and Dong Zhuo once a friend, Dong Zhuo accepted. In Dong Zhuo perspective, Caocao desperate to ask his mercy with his move. And Dong Zhuo cannot hold to shows his might to his old friend, and of course refuse if caocao asking for mercy.
But after a while drinking a tea, finally Dong Zhuo back to his army and started to advance to cao cao army.
But poor and stupid Dong Zhuo, Caocao asked him to drink a tea and having a chat with him before a fight was only to buying sometimes. Caocao buying times to make the sun positioned right at the back of his army. So the charge from DongZhuo's horde failed, because they cannot see clearly bcz of the sun.
Caocao was so genius
I think that happened with Yuan Shao, not Dong Zhou. Still an awesome strategy, though.
Am I the only one who now has the urge to play Romance of the three Kingdoms (the original NES version not the SNES version), after watching this
Can we get more Three Kingdoms content? I would love a chronological breakdown of the era
Dynasty Warriors Fan !!!
🤟
Thanks Kings and Generals for this great video on ancient Chinese strategy. Parts had me laughing at how funny and clever these tactics were. I Also enjoy your World War II stuff manly the Pacific War series and the North African series, but can you do some World War I.❤👍👍🫡🫡🫡🫡
"Empty Fort" is actually reverse-reverse-reverse psychology. Both strategist knew that they cannot kill each other, because Cao Pi won't need the influential Sima Yi anymore and likely kill him if Zhuge Liang their arch enemy is gone. Sima cannot allow Zhuge to die, and Zhuge knew that Sima won't kill him, and just go ahead with the stratagem. Think about it, is it really that difficult to check whether a fort is Empty? Just throw a few poor scouts in.
聪明
Loved the outro .. and every minute of the content of course. While we are Chinese terrain, if you may get a chance, some more works of Sun Tzu in greater depths and details; if at all time allows.
Dear Kings and Generals,
Please do a series on the Sixteen Kingdoms.
Sincerely, a concerned Chinese history fan.
Red Cliff is one of the greatest movies of all time. You have to watch the full-length version and not the shorter one.
History 三国志and legends 三国演义are a giant mesh for 3 kingdoms period, where legends usually prevailed.
So bassicaly, this Cao Cao got served his own medicine. Irony.😅😅😅
"B!tch please" sums up a lot of the stratagems in this video! I want to read the Romance at some point. I assume the book is filled with a good number of failed attempts as well as these successful ones.
Thank you for this!!
One of the greatest era of Old China ❤
Zhuge Liang said after a successful "empty fort" scheme that it was terrible but he was desperate and had no choice.
As someone who turns tricks for a living, the Three Kingdoms period as always appealed to me
Best intro
Strange, I was recently rewatching the old Three Kingdoms videos.
Can we get some videos on the conquest of China by the Qin? I've been watching the Kingdom anime and I'd love to learn more about what REALLY happened and what's fiction
Ah, finally more on China.
Time to test my knowledge from watching a bunch of Total War: Three Kingdoms playthroughs, having done several playthroughs myself, and having watched several documentaries on that period.
wow im early amazing video
Wish CA would continue Three Kingdoms
Make a series for all of 36 stratagem
well done animated
Much of the game footage in this video is from Total War: Three Kingdoms. It's an excellent game and if you're interested in the time period I'd definitely recommend checking it out.
Hell yeah new 3k vids
“Down down, left left left” - Zhuge Liang
Based and Freedompilled.
A nice video on 3 kindgoms ...