Shu Warrior
Zhao Yun, the Dragon of Changshan
趙雲died 2295 star
In short
Zhao Yun (died 229) was a cavalry commander who served Gongsun Zan and then Liu Bei. At Changban in 208, with Cao Cao's horsemen riding down Liu Bei's column, he carried the infant heir Liu Shan to safety and protected the child's mother. In 219, on the Han River, he opened his camp gates to a larger army and drove it off. Liu Bei said his whole body was courage.
| Lived | died 229 |
|---|---|
| Name in Chinese | 趙雲 |
| Courtesy name | Zilong |
| Served | Gongsun Zan, then Liu Bei and Liu Shan |
The history
Zhao Yun was from Zhending in Changshan. He led local volunteers to Gongsun Zan, the warlord of the northeast, and met Liu Bei in his camp. When Liu Bei was with Yuan Shao around 200, Zhao Yun came to him and stayed.
In 208 Cao Cao’s light cavalry caught Liu Bei’s column at Changban, slowed by tens of thousands of civilians. Liu Bei fled with a few dozen riders and left his family. Someone said Zhao Yun had gone over to the north. Liu Bei threw a hand axe at the man and said Zilong would not leave him. Zhao Yun came back carrying the baby Liu Shan and guarding Lady Gan, the child’s mother.
Much of what else is known comes from a separate biography quoted in the annotations. It shows a careful man. After Chengdu fell in 214 he argued against handing its houses and fields to the officers, and said they should go back to the people. In 219, by the Han River, he rode out to look for Huang Zhong, met Cao Cao’s main force, fought his way back to camp, and then opened the gates and silenced the drums. The enemy suspected an ambush and turned, and his crossbows broke them as they went. Liu Bei toured the ground the next day and said Zilong’s whole body was courage.
He advised against the war on Wu in 221 and was left behind. In 228 he led the decoy army of the first northern campaign, lost, and brought his men out in order. He died in 229.
The novel
Romance of the Three Kingdoms makes him the perfect knight: young, handsome, in white armor, never beaten. It promotes him to the Five Tiger Generals and gives him seven charges at Changban and a last victory at seventy.
Zhao Yun in the game
In Warlords of the Three Kingdoms Zhao Yun is the Dragon of Changshan: a 5 star warriorof Shu. The game's line for him: “At Changban he carried Liu Bei's infant son through Cao Cao's whole army and out the other side.”
| Kingdom | Shu |
|---|---|
| Role | Warrior |
| Rarity | 5 star |
| Base attack and defense | 54 and 48 |
| Where from | Summoned at the Imperial Summon, for Jade. The odds are shown before every summon. |
A warlord sworn to Shu fields him 10% stronger, as every General of their own Kingdom. Wei, Shu or Wu has what the choice changes.
Five star is where he starts. Duplicates become shards, shards add stars, and each star adds a tenth to both numbers.
Questions
What is Zhao Yun famous for?
Saving Liu Bei's infant son at Changban in 208. In the novel he rides through Cao Cao's army seven times with the child bound to his chest. The history has the rescue, without the count.
Was Zhao Yun one of the Five Tiger Generals?
The title is the novel's. Chen Shou put the biographies of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun in one chapter, and that grouping became the Five Tiger Generals. In life Zhao Yun held a lower rank than the other four.
How did Zhao Yun die?
Of old age or illness in 229, in Shu. He is one of the few great names of the period who did not die in battle or by execution.
How do you get Zhao Yun in Warlords of the Three Kingdoms?
Summoned at the Imperial Summon, for Jade. The odds are shown before every summon.
Sources
The history follows Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms, written in the third century, with Pei Songzhi's annotations of the fifth, and Fan Ye's Book of the Later Han for the years before the Han court fell apart. What the page calls the novel is Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, of the fourteenth century. Where the two disagree, the page says which is speaking. For more on him, see Zhao Yun on Wikipedia.
Written by Gitkonek Studio, .
Keep reading
- Guan Yu, the Saint of WarHe cut down Yan Liang amid ten thousand men at Baima, and later ages raised temples to him as a god of war.
- Zhuge Liang, the Sleeping DragonLiu Bei called at his cottage three times, and was given the Longzhong Plan and the next twenty-seven years.
- Huang Zhong, the Veteran of DingjunPast sixty when he cut down Xiahou Yuan at Dingjun Mountain, he took it as proof that he was not yet old.
- Liu Bei, the Imperial UncleA sandal seller of royal descent who lost nearly every battle he fought and still founded an empire.
- Ma Chao, the SplendidAt Tong Pass he chased Cao Cao so hard that the chancellor cut off his own beard to pass unrecognized.