Romance of the Three Kingdoms III 201 AD Zhang Lu

Cao Cao's Power Expands - 201 A.D.

The illustrious Zhang Lu holds 38. Han Zhong, home of Zhang Wei, Yuan Pu, and the Yang family. They are all Military Officers other than Yuan Pu, who is a below-average Advisor. Zhang Lu himself, however, has over 70 for Army and possesses quality overall skills. Unfortunately, Han Zhong doesn't provide any other officers under than these, and that can be taxing after a while. Combine this with the fact that everyone in Chang An and Zi Tong (minus the irrelevant Gao Pei) is loyal to their respective masters and ultimately you won't be able to expand very easily.

First of all I appointed Yang Ren (best political of the Military Officers) as a Civil Officer and used him, Zhang Lu and Yuan Pu to develop economy for about six or seven years. By this time I was in the upper thousands with economy and had a relatively massive army. However I was still stuck in Han Zhong, and really not much had changed other than Cao Cao beginning to dominate the Yuan family. We have Yang Ping Guan from Liu Zhang, but have since allied with him and Cao Cao. Liu Bei is a bit hostile towards us, as we've stolen Zhang Yi (the first Zhang Yi, not the latter-Shu Zhang Yi), Shang Long and Guan Yu from him (along with some goombas like Zhang Da).

Acquiring Guan Yu and Shang Long allowed us to move into Xia Bian to build that up. Ma Teng is rather weak and is getting attacked by Cao Cao, so there are no worries about us being attacked. We have about 30,000 at Xia Bian and 70,000 at Han Zhong, along with controlling Wu Zhang Plains and Yang Ping Guan. Hou Xuan, Zhao Ang, and Xun Yun join us before we even attack, and Ma Dai of Tian Shui goes down pretty easily. We then attack Didao and Xi Liang for a swift victory, and then beging to reward the disloyal Ma family. Ma Chao, Ma Dai and Pang De are quality officers who must be rewarded until loyal.

Cao Cao got upset at us for taking Ma Teng's area as he was going for it also. Instead, he attacks Han Zhong, our capital. We send troops to Wu Zhang and turn Cao Cao back, but more importantly we snicker at Cao Cao betraying us. Zhang Lu is a Wei-based character; thus Cao Cao's generals (and governors) are more apt to join and are more loyal when they do join. Yang Mi and Guo Jia of An Ding and Chang An submit to our power. We ally with Liu Bei and move nearly everyone to either Han Zhong or Chang An. An Ding and Xia Bian are quality backdrops for our army, and Liu Zhang of Zi Tong and Liu Bei of Shang Yong are harmless in their current states. In fact, they're attacking eachother constantly at Shang Yong, so let's pay attention to Cao Cao. Xiahou Dun and Liu Ye are the next to give up at Hong Nong and Wan respectively. Cao Cao himself is all the way at Nan Pi so it'd be wise to make the push to take him over now, as he is obviously reeling. Sima Yi at Xu Chang, Hao Zhao at Luo Yang, and Zhang He at Jin Yang all join our side. Now, we're nearly equal to Cao Cao. The middle of his army (which we are penetrating) is pretty bleak, with only a general or two at each city. Most of the troops seem to either be at Nan Pi or near Sun Quan. However, Xiahou Ba and others re-take Xu Chang.

We decide to ally with Zhao Yun and Feng Ji (Yuan Shao), in hopes of not having to worry about them as we penetrate through Liu Bei and Cao Cao's land, respectively. Taking Shang Yong is difficult, as Liu Zhang sends over 40,000 to help Liu Bei. Fortunately, our generals are more skilled and win three duels, allowing us to get the upper hand. Xin Ye goes down without much resistance, and Liu Bei is dead, with Guan Xing taking over with about 5 officers in Jiang Xia. Since we're allied with Liu Zhang and Zhao Yun, it's best to keep Shang Yong, Xin Ye, and Han Zhong relatively guarded, in case of a betrayal. Meanwhile, rotate the majority of your officers east for one final push at Cao Cao's army.

As you can see, most of the territory has been covered except for the lands of Sun Quan and Liu Zhang. The cities listed above are the issue, as large armies will be needed near both at all time. Fortunately, both rulers are weak outside of these ridiculous monoliths. Ganging up on Sun Quan with Shou Chun AND Xia Pi is a must. Lots of duels are waged, and a detachment of reinforcements are used to surround Sun Quan and throw the Wu army into chaos.

38. Han Zhong Recruits: