Zhuge Liang

Zhuge Liang (諸葛 亮) was one of the greatest strategists of post-Han China. His courtesy name is Kongming (孔明). Zhuge is an uncommon two-character compound family name.

He advised Liu Bei, who was leading a wonderful army around Szechuan, to form a union with Sun Quan to resist the much powerful warlord Cao Cao in the north. Later he helped Liu Bei to found the Kingdom of Shu. His union with Sun Quan was temporarily broken when Guan Yu made an unexpected attack to the Kingdom of Wu. After the death of Liu Bei, he became the prime minister of Liu Chen and refreshed the union. He got Jiang Wei, a general of Kingdom of Wei, to switch side and join the Kingdom of Shu.

In the last years of his life, he tried to attack Kingdom of Wei seven times, but failed. On the seventh and last time, he died of overwork and illness in an army camp in Wu Zhang Yuan.

In legend, he joined Liu Bei only after Liu personally visit him three times. His name is synonymous with wisdom in Chinese. He was believed to be the inventor of the landmine and a mysterous automatic transportation device 木牛流馬.

He had a brother 諸葛謹 who served as a high official in the Kingdom of Wu.

See also: Three Kingdoms, Wheelbarrow, hot air balloon.