Zhuge Liang

Timeline

1. 181–207Longzhong · XiangyangZhuge Liang was born in Yangdu, Langya. He lost his father young and moved with his uncle to Jingzhou. He lived in reclusion at Longzhong, farming and studying, and became renowned for his wisdom; contemporaries called him the Crouching Dragon. He befriended Pang Tong, Xu Shu, and others, quietly observing the trends of the world.
2. 207–221Jingzhou · HubeiLiu Bei visited his thatched cottage three times; Zhuge Liang presented the Longzhong Plan, devising a strategy of allying with Wu against Cao, holding Jing and Yi, and dividing the realm in three. Thereafter he assisted Liu Bei in seizing Jingzhou, entering Shu to establish Han, directing strategy around the time of the Battle of Red Cliffs; he was the core strategist of Shu Han's founding.
3. 223–227Chengdu · ChengduAt Baidicheng Liu Bei entrusted his orphan to Zhuge Liang, charging him to assist Liu Shan. Zhuge Liang held sole military and civil power, internally repairing governance, pacifying the Yi and Yue peoples of the south, renewing the alliance with Eastern Wu, and submitting the Memorial on Dispatching the Troops to express his determination to campaign north, stabilizing Shu Han's political situation.
4. 228–234Wuzhangyuan · BaojiZhuge Liang launched six northern expeditions through Qishan against Cao Wei, using offense as defense to tie down Wei's main forces. On his final northern expedition in 234 CE he camped at Wuzhangyuan facing Sima Yi; worn out by overwork he fell ill and died in the army at the age of fifty-four.