Zhao Yun

Description
Zhao Yun is a character that appears on the Chaos of the Three Kingdoms series, he is a courageous young warrior who fought alongside Liu Bei to fight the Wei army led Dark Lord Cao Cao and he vows to help bring peace to ancient China, he is the main hero of the game.

Historical Information
Early life and career 

Zhao Yun was born in Zhending, Changshan (south of present-day Zhengding, Hebei). He joined the warlord Gongsun Zan around late 191 or early 192 as a commander of a small group of county volunteers. In 192, he became a subordinate of Liu Bei, who was serving as a major under Gongsun Zan then. Zhao commanded a contingent of several thousand Wuhuan cavalry under Liu Bei. He left Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei to attend his older brother's funeral later.

Zhao Yun rejoined Liu Bei in 200, when Liu was defeated by Cao Cao and was seeking shelter under Yuan Shao. Zhao Yun had a close friendship with Liu Bei, as they shared the same bed while they were living in Ye then. Around the same time, Liu Bei sent Zhao Yun to secretly recruit more men to join his army, while they were both still under Yuan Shao. Zhao Yun succeeded in recruiting a few hundred men, when asked, they all claimed to be Liu Bei's personal militia, and Yuan Shao was unable to know if his men deserted him for Liu. From then on, Zhao Yun followed Liu Bei in his sojourns throughout northern China In 208, Zhao Yun distinguished himself at the Battle of Changban against Cao Cao's forces. Liu Bei left his family behind while fleeing during the chaos. At the same time, Zhao Yun disappeared to the north, incurring suspicion that he had surrendered to Cao Cao. When someone reported that to Liu Bei, Liu angrily threw a handaxe and said, "Zilong (Zhao Yun's style name) would never desert me". As expected, Zhao Yun returned with Liu Bei's infant son Liu Shan and wife Lady Gan. For his success, Zhao Yun was promoted to "General of the Standard" (牙門將軍).

[edit] Efforts in establishing Shu Han

After the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhao Yun played a major role in conquering territories in Jiangnan for Liu Bei. He was promoted to Major-General (偏將軍) and appointed Grand Administrator of Guiyang, replacing Zhao Fan, who surrendered the area to Liu Bei's forces.

When Liu Bei entered Yi Province (covering the Sichuan Basin) with his major advisor, Pang Tong, he appointed Zhao Yun as the main officer overseeing his base in Gong'an. Liu Bei's wife, Lady Sun, was the younger sister of the warlord Sun Quan, who was Liu's patron and chief ally. Emboldened by her brother's power and influence, Lady Sun and her militia often ran wild and broke the law. Liu Bei considered Zhao Yun to be serious, firm and unwavering, so he granted Zhao special authority to oversee internal affairs in Gong'an, as well to keep close watch on Lady Sun and her followers. Not long after Liu Bei left Jing Province, Sun Quan secretly summoned his sister back to Jiangdong. Lady Sun wanted to bring the young Liu Shan along with her, but Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei stopped her on the Yangtze River and retrieved their lord's son.

In 214, Liu Bei's invasion of Yi Province, governed by Liu Zhang, faced desperate resistance when he reached the city of Luo (雒; northwest of Chengdu). There, rival generals Liu Xun, Zhang Ren, and Ling Bao played a staunch defense, and Pang Tong was killed in action. Zhao Yun accompanied Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang to Yi Province to assist in the war.[3] Zhao Yun held a separate command, with his army marching from Jiangzhou (present-day Chongqing), through Jiangyang (present-day Luzhou) and Jianwei, to enter the region. The arrival of Zhao Yun replenished the tired soldiers who were worn by the three-year campaign, and together they surrounded Chengdu, forcing Liu Zhang to yield. Liu Bei appointed Zhao Yun as "General of the Flying Army" after occupying Chengdu. At that time, many suggested to Liu Bei to grant estates and plantations around Chengdu to his generals for them to settle in. Zhao Yun argued that it was more suitable to return the lands to the locals, and Liu Bei accepted his advice.

[edit] Battle of Han 'River' Main article: Battle of Han River 

In 219, Liu Bei and Cao Cao battled for control over Hanzhong in the Hanzhong Campaign. Cao Cao had huge amounts of food supplies stocked up near the north mountain. Zhao Yun sent his soldiers to follow Huang Zhong to attack Cao Cao's army and seize the supplies. When Huang Zhong did not return on time, Zhao Yun brought a dozen men with him to find Huang. They ran into Cao Cao's vanguard army and were preparing for engagement when Cao's main force arrived. The situation became perilous for Zhao Yun as he was vastly outnumbered. Zhao Yun attacked the frontline of Cao Cao's army, surprising the enemy and causing them to momentarily disperse. However, Cao Cao's troops soon regrouped and surrounded Zhao Yun, so Zhao fought his way towards his own camp. When Zhao Yun saw that his subordinate Zhang Zhu was injured and had fallen behind, he turned back to rescue him. Cao Cao's army pursued Zhao Yun back to his camp. Zhang Yi, Administrator of Mianyang, who was stationed in Zhao Yun's camp, thought it would be best to close all the gates. However, upon entering the camp, Zhao Yun ordered all flags and banners to be hidden, all drumming to be stopped, and the gates left completely open. Cao Cao's force feared an ambush in the camp and hastily retreated. Just then, Zhao Yun ordered his drummers to beat the drums loudly and his archers to fire arrows at the enemy. Cao Cao's army was taken by surprise and disintegrated into chaos. Many of Cao Cao's soldiers drowned as they tried to flee towards the Han River to escape.

The following day after the battle, Liu Bei arrived to inspect the battle situation. He praised Zhao Yun for the victory, "Zilong has valor through and through", and threw a feast in honor of Zhao. From then on, Zhao Yun became known as "General of Tiger's Might" (虎威將軍) in Liu Bei's army.

In 221, Liu Bei proclaimed himself Emperor of Shu Han, and declared war on Eastern Wu to avenge the death of Guan Yu and the loss of Jing Province. Zhao Yun attempted to dissuade Liu Bei from waging war on Wu, and advised him to attack Wei first, but Liu Bei ignored his advice. Liu Bei then left Zhao Yun in charge of Jiangzhou, while he personally led an army to attack Wu, but was defeated at the Battle of Xiaoting.

[edit] Later life 

Liu Bei died in 223 and was succeeded by his son, Liu Shan. In the same year, Zhao Yun was named "South Conquering General" (征南將軍) and "Central-Protector-of-Army" (中護軍), and received the title of "Marquis of Yongchang" (永昌亭侯). He was promoted to "East Guarding General" (鎮東將軍) subsequently. In 227, Zhao Yun followed Zhuge Liang to Hanzhong to prepare for the first Northern Expedition.

[edit] Zhao Yun's last battle 

During the first expedition, as opposed to what was mentioned in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the honor of being the vanguard did not go to Zhao Yun. Instead, Zhao Yun was sent as a decoy against the main Wei force in Ji Valley, led by Cao Zhen. With Cao Zhen's men mostly tied up by Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang's army marched without much opposition at first. Upon learning that the Wei emperor Cao Rui dispatched Zhang He as reinforcement, Zhuge Liang promoted Ma Su over more experienced generals such as Wei Yan and Wu Yi (吳懿) to the commander of the vanguard in order to fend off Zhang He at Jieting. Ma Su was defeated by Zhang He and the Shu forces were forced to retreat. Later, Zhuge Liang lamented on his loss in the first Northern Expedition, he pointed out "his huge army at Mount Qi and Zhao Yun's army in Ji Valley, were larger than that of the enemies."[4] However, his defeat by a smaller force was largely a result of Zhuge Liang's allocation of resources. A log in Records of Three Kingdoms explains why Zhao Yun was defeated—the entry says " (Zhao) Yun and (Deng) Zhi's troops were weak, while the enemy was strong, so they lost at Ji Valley (雲、芝兵弱敵強，失利於箕谷)." From the record, Zhuge Liang had reserved the elite troops for his favorite, Ma Su, and himself; Zhao Yun was given only weaker soldiers.[5] In the aforementioned dialogue of Zhuge Liang, Zhuge presumed that numbers alone would help him prevail over his rival, without considering giving more power to veteran generals like Zhao Yun, Wei Yan and others; it was only after his failure did Zhuge realize army size alone did not determine the outcome of a battle(今欲減兵省將，明罰思過，校變通之道於將來；若不能然者，雖兵多何益！).

Unable to muster a victory, Zhao Yun managed to minimize his losses by rallying his surviving men to firmly defend their positions, he then personally went to the rear to prevent enemy pursuit, and did not hurry his retreat, so supplies were not lost, and no one was left behind. When he safely returned to Hanzhong, Zhuge Liang was surprised by Zhao Yun's smooth retreat and told Zhao to distribute the excess silk fabrics to his soldiers as a consolation. However, Zhao Yun rebuked his supervisor, and said to the latter, "How can rewards be given when our campaign failed? Please store the silk in a warehouse, and distribute them in October."[6] Zhuge Liang was delighted when he heard what Zhao Yun said. Zhao Yun was demoted to "General of Peace Maintenance" (鎮軍將軍) as an overall campaign failure, despite his role as a decoy.

[edit] Death 

Zhao Yun died in 229 in Hanzhong and was granted the posthumous title of "Marquis of Shunping" (順平侯) by Liu Shan in 261.[7] Liu Shan's order for Zhao Yun to be honoured read, "When Zhao Yun was serving the late emperor (Liu Bei), his contributions were already remarkable. When I was young, I relied on his loyalty to save me from great danger. That is why I am bestowing upon him the honour." Zhao Yun was one of 12 Shu subjects to be granted posthumous titles of nobility.[citation needed]

Zhao Yun had two sons, Zhao Tong (趙統) and Zhao Guang. The latter followed Jiang Wei on the campaigns against Wei, and was killed in action in Tazhong.

Skills
Advent White Dragon
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms
 * Description: Zhao Yun will dash forward and spin his spear which causes a tornado to appear to juggle enemies in the air. Wind Elemental.

Soaring Dragon's Eye
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms
 * Description: Zhao Yun unleashes several of tornadoes to send his enemies flying in the air. Wind Elemental

White Dragon's Flight
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms
 * Description: Zhao Yun jumps in air and drills his enemies in a cyclone like fashion.

Valor Attack: Courage of the White Dragon Rampaging White Dragon  Empty Monsoon of Nine Dragons Seasonal Dragon Spiral Valor Attack: Heavenly Dragon Storm
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms
 * Description: Zhao Yun's most powerful special attack, he dashes forward and delivers a series of spear slashes and thrusts until he summons forth a dragon created from wind energy and hurls it at his foes. Wind Elemental.
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms 2
 * Description: Zhao Yun surrounds himself in a cyclone and performs a powerful upward thrust toward his enemies. Wind Elemental.
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms 2
 * Description: Zhao Yun twirls his spear multiple times which unleashes multiple blades of wind energy that cuts through enemies, killing them. Wind Elemental
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms 2
 * Description: Zhao Yun dashes forward and performs a 10 hit combo towards his enemies before finishing them off with powerful upward kicks that send them flying.
 * First Appearance: Chaos of the Three Kingdoms 2
 * Description: A much more powerful version of the Dragon Storm, except Zhao Yun will unleash four huge wind energy blades that will devastate his enemies and then finishes them off by unleashing a powerful hurricane that rip apart and slaughter all enemies on screen, killing them. Wind Elemental.