Zhou Gan (Zhou Yu)

Zhou Gan is character that first appeared on the first Chaos of the Three Kingdoms game, he is a Wu Tai monk that act as a strategist and tactician for the Wu Army to combat the Wei army at battles such as He Fei and Ru Xu Kou. In reality, he is actually Sun Ji (Sun Ce)'s presumed-to-be-dead sworn best friend Zhou Yu.

Description
Zhou Gan is a calm and reserved Shaolin Wu Tai monk that assists the Wu Army along with his wife He Mei Qi (a fictional female version of the Wu officer He Qi in actual history). He is able to utilize various of strategies to combat the Wei army at both He Fei and Ru Xu Kou, he also helps Sun Quan fight Liu Bei at the battle of Yi Ling. But what's mysterious about Zhou Gan is that he is actually Zhou Yu, the sworn best friend of the deceased young conqueror Sun Ce and tactician of the Wu army that is presumed to be dead due to frustration caused by Zhuge Liang.

Historical Information
Early life and career

Zhou Yu was born in Lujiang Commandery in an influential family with many members who served in high ranking positions in the government. Zhou Yu's grandfather, Zhou Jing, and Zhou Jing's son both took the post of Grand Commandant in the Han imperial court. Zhou Yu's father, Zhou Yi, was the Chief of Luoyang, the capital city.[3] When the coalition against Dong Zhuo was formed, Zhou Yi led his family to migrate to Lujiang. There, Sun Jian's son Sun Ce and Zhou Yu studied together and became lifelong friends. Zhou Yu's uncle later became the governor of Danyang under the warlord Yuan Shu, Zhou went visit his uncle and stayed there, while his best friend, Sun Ce, was planning to establish independence over the soil of Jiangdong.

Sun Ce, under a commission from Yuan Shu, entered Yang Province to aid his relatives, Wu Jing and Sun Ben, who were attacked by Liu Yao. When Sun was about to cross the Yangtze River to begin his Jiangdong campaign, he sent a letter to Zhou Yu, stating his ambition. In response, Zhou Yu led his troops to Liyang (歷陽, present-day He County, Anhui, China) to catch up with Sun Ce, who exclaimed upon Zhou's arrival, "with you, greatness can be attained!"[4]

[edit] Service under Sun Ce
Zhou Yu was involved in the first half of Sun Ce's campaign to unify Yang Province, wherein the focus was to defeat the warlords in the area. He was credited with the capture of Hengjiang (橫江; southeast of present-day He County, Anhui, on the northern shore of the Chang River) and Dangli (當利; east of present-day He County, Anhui). After this, Zhou Yu followed Sun Ce across the Yangtze River and conquered Huji (湖孰; present-day Husu, Jiangning, Jiangsu), Jiangcheng (江乘; near present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), and Qu'e (曲阿; present-day Situ Town, Jiangsu). The area's strongest opponent, the Inspector of Yang Province, Liu Yao, fled from Moling (秣陵; near present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu) because Sun Ce's forces had been bolstered by by local peasant forces numbering several tens of thousands. Thinking that he could complete his objective with these troops, Sun Ce ordered Zhou Yu back to defend Dangyang.[5]

Fed by Sun Ce's victories, Yuan Shu's became more ambitious, to a point that he wanted to declare himself emperor. Sun Ce sent a letter to Yuan Shu trying to dissuade him from doing so, declaring his loyalty to the Han Emperor Xian, but his counsel fell on deaf ears. Yuan Shu sent his cousin to replace Zhou Shang as Administer of Dangyang and kept him and Zhou Yu in Shouchun (present-day Shou County, Anhui). In order to control Sun Ce, Yuan Shu had Sun Ce and Zhou Yu's families imprisoned. As a result, Zhou persuaded Yuan to grant him the position of Chief of Juchao, with the intention of escaping and returning to Sun Ce via Juchao (present-day Chaohu City, Anhui).

Upon knowledge of this plan, Sun Ce sent Lü Fan to secretly retrieve the families and take them to the southern side of the Yangtze River.[6] Sun Ce severed ties with Yuan Shu and allied with Lü Bu, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei to oppose him. It was during Zhou Yu's journey to Wu that he encountered a a wealthy merchant called Lu Su, whom he took to Sun Ce. This merchant would later become a prominent advisor to the Sun family.

[edit] Marriage
It was around this time that Zhou Yu and Sun Ce married the Qiao sisters, with Sun Ce marrying the elder Qiao and Zhou Yu the younger. Very soon afterwards, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu pacified most of Yang Province on the south of the Yangtze River and extended their power into the Wu region and north into the Huai River region, defeating Liu Xun and the remnant forces of Yuan Shu in the north as well as Huang Zu and the forces of Liu Biao to the west.

[edit] Serving Sun Quan
See also: Battle of Jiangxia, Battle of Red Cliffs, and Battle of JianglingIn 200, Sun Ce was assassinated and was succeeded by his younger brother, Sun Quan. Zhou Yu took control of military affairs while Zhang Zhao was in charge of domestic affairs. Around this time, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao and demanded that Sun Quan send a family member hostage. Zhou Yu advised against sending a hostage. This raised Zhou Yu's prestige within the Sun family, and he was treated as an older brother by Sun Quan. In 206, Zhou Yu attacked the local bandits and captured over 10,000 people and resettled them. When he was stationed on the border, he repelled an attack by Liu Biao's general, Deng Long, who was captured in the battle.

In 208, Sun Quan ordered an attack on Jiangxia, which was controlled by Huang Zu. Zhou Yu was assigned the Grand Commander, Lü Meng the navy commander, and Ling Tong the vanguard commander for the campaign. Even the battles were harder than expected, Huang Zu was ultimately captured and executed.

Not long later, Cao Cao started a campaign aimed at wiping out all opposition in southern China. As his army conquered Jing Province (covering present-day Hubei and Hunan) and was closing in on Sun Quan, the latter's court was divided upon the issue of whether to surrender or resist. Sun Quan consulted Zhou Yu, who replied: "Although Cao Cao pretends to be a minister of the Han Dynasty, he is actually a thief who is attempting to steal the empire from Han. My lord, 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 soldiers are well trained, brilliant advisors of great talents are at your disposal. It is the time to get rid of Cao Cao and restore the Han Dynasty. Cao Cao has come down south and presented himself as an opportunity for you, my lord. 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 cavalry is useless 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 30,000 men, I can easily defeat him." Greatly relieved, Sun Quan decided to resist Cao Cao's invasion.

The Battle of Red Cliffs ensued. Contrary 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 stratagems were employed by Zhou Yu to destroy Cao Cao's naval fleet. Huang Gai proposed a plan in which he pretended to surrender to Cao Cao and infiltrated the enemy camp. There, he set his own ships on fire and rammed them into Cao Cao's ships before jumping into the river. Many of Cao Cao's ships were set ablaze and he was forced to flee back to Xuchang.

Afterwards, Zhou Yu led his army in pursuit of Cao Cao's army and laid siege to Nan Commandery. While on the front lines, Zhou Yu was seriously wounded by a stray arrow and forced to withdraw from the direct command of troops. Cao Ren, the defending general, heard of Zhou Yu's injury and ordered his soldiers to yell insults outside Zhou's camp in an attempt to dishearten his army. Zhou Yu personally inspected his troops to raise their morale. Seeing that the advantages he had hoped to gain were lost, Cao Ren retreated. After a year of siege, Nan Commandery was taken and Zhou Yu was appointed governor of the commandery.

[edit] Death
In 210, Zhou Yu proposed to Sun Quan his plan to attack Liu Zhang of Yi Province (covering the Sichuan Basin) and unify all of southern China under Sun Quan to resist Cao Cao in northern China. In addition, he proposed an alliance with Zhang Lu of Hanzhong and Ma Chao of Liang Province (covering present-day Gansu), whom Zhou Yu correctly predicted would soon oppose Cao Cao (Ma Chao rebelled a year later, and Zhang Lu supported him). While preparing for the long campaign, he died at age 35 in Baqiu (present-day Yueyang, Hunan).

Zhou Yu was buried in his ancestral home in Lujiang. Lu Su succeeded him as commander-in-chief of Sun Quan's military, while his oldest son Zhou Xun inherited his title of nobility.

[edit] Family

 * Great-grandfather: Zhou Rong (周榮), served as Imperial Secretary during the reigns of Emperor Zhang and Emperor He
 * Grandfather: Zhou Jing (周景), served as Inspector of Yu Province, Imperial Secretary, and Grand Commandant
 * Father: Zhou Yi (周異), served as Prefect of Luoyang
 * Uncles:
 * Zhou Shang (周尚), served as Grand Commandant
 * Zhou Zhong (周忠), served as Administrator of Danyang
 * Spouse: Xiao Qiao
 * Children:
 * Zhou Xun, oldest son, married Sun Quan's daughter Sun Luban, served as Cavalry Commandant, died at a young age
 * Zhou Yin (周胤), second son, served as Commandant of Xingye, married a woman of the Sun clan, granted title of Marquis of Duxiang, later exiled to Luling Commandery for committing a crime, died of illness
 * Lady Zhou (周氏), personal name unknown, married Sun Quan's oldest son Sun Deng
 * Nephew: Zhou Jun (周峻), son of Zhou Yu's older brother, appointed Lieutenant-General

Skills
Azure Clouds
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms
 * Description: Zhou Gan leaps into the air and delivers a series of lightning fast thrusts from his bo staff which electrocutes enemy soldiers. Lightning Elemental.

Unmatched Brilliance
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms
 * Description: Zhou Gan will rapidly spin his bo staff in a graceful motion, unleashing a deadly 15 hit combo that electrocute all enemy soldiers on screen. Lightning Elemental.

Swallowtail Revival
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms
 * Description: Zhou Gan flies forward and spins in drilling motion which causes him to crash into enemy soldiers with a surge of electrical energy, killing them. Lightning Elemental.

Valor Attack: Decisive Intellect Never Falters
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms
 * Description: Zhou Gan's unique special attack, he will perform a 25 hit combo at the enemy soldiers and then will violently swing his bo staff and stab the ground, causing torrents of lightning bolts to strike down and incenterating the enemy soldiers, killing them. Lightning Elemental.

Insightful Sapphire
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms 2
 * Description: Zhou Gan runs forward twirling his bo staff on both sides before ending the attack with an vertical uppercut-like kick towards enemy soldiers.

All-Encompassing Truth
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms 2
 * Description: Zhou Gan swings downward with his bo staff to stun an enemy peon, then he connects by jumping over his dazed victim and smacks him hard with a 360 turning swing, knocking the peon or any of his allies nearby out.

A Stormy Intervention
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms 2
 * Description: Zhou Gan pulls out a scroll and reads it while being surrounded by enemy soldiers. Once he has been hit, the scroll will be transformed back into his staff which will rapidly spin vertically in the air juggling the targets in place, before he finishes the counter move by unleashing a jump-rising swing that knocks the enemy soldiers forward. Lightning Elemental.

Valor Attack: Strategy and Fervor of Eastern Wu Comes Together
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms 2
 * Description: