The Sanguozhi 三國志 "Records of the Three Kingdoms" is one of the official dynastic histories (zhengshi 正史). Together with its predecessors Shiji 史記, Hanshu 漢書 and Houhanshu 後漢書 it is one of the "four great histories" (sishi 四史) of ancient China. It describes separately the history of each of the so-called Three Kingdoms (Sanguo 三國, 220-280 AD) in a biographic-thematic style (jizhuanti 紀傳體). The author was Chen Shou 陳壽 from the Jin period 晉 (265-420), the first commentator was Pei Songzhi 裴松之 from the southern dynasty of Liu-Song 劉宋 (420-479). The Weishu 魏書 "Book of Wei (sometimes also called Weizhi 魏志 “Records of Wei”) contains the imperial and normal biographies of the kingdom (better: empire) of Wei, which was ruled by the family of Cao 曹, in 30 chapters (juan scrolls), the Shushu 蜀書 “Book of Shu” (Shuzhi 蜀志) that of the empire of Shu, ruled by the family of Liu 劉 who claimed to be the righteous successors of the Han dynasty 漢 (206 BC-220 AD), in 15 juan, and the Wushu 吳書 "Book of Wu" (Wuzhi 吳志) that of the southestern empire of Wu, which was ruled by the family of Sun 孫, in 20 juan, which makes for a total amount of 65 juan. Chen Shou was originally a high official at the court of Shu before he entred into the service of the Jin dynasty. It is not known when he completed his history of the Three Kingdoms period. For the Liu-Shu dynasty it was the first history written, but for the other two kingdoms there were already two histories on which Chen certainly relied. This was Wang Chen’s 王沈 Weishu 魏書 “The book of Wei”, and Yu Huan’s 魚豢 Weilüe 魏略 “A concise [history] of Wei”. The concurrent existence of three empires on Chinese soil posed a problem for a historian: Which one was the righteous dynasty to which Heaven had bestowed the so-called Heavenly mandate? The answer to this question was of far-reaching consequences for the calendar and and the claim of legitimation for the subsequent dynasties. In the eyes of the Jin dynasty the Cao-Wei family was accepted as the righteous rulers. The lords of the two other empires, therefore, could not be called "emperor" (di 帝) but were only given the title of "ruler" (zhu 主). Chen Shou therefore speaks of "emperor" Wei Wudi 魏武帝, but only of the "Former" and the "Later Ruler" (xianzhu 先主, houzhu 後主) of Shu and the "Ruler" of Wu. The last ruler of Wu submitted to the Jin dynasty and could therefore not be called "emperor": Sun Hao 孫皓 (r. 264-280) is only called sizhu 嗣主 "the succeeding ruler" instead. Similarly, the wives of the rulers of Wei are called houfei "empresses and consorts", while that of the others are called feizi 妃子 resp. feibin 妃嬪 "consorts". The events in the states of Shu and Wu are not dated with their own calendar but with the calendar of Wei, using the reign mottos of Wei. In the Jinshu 晉書, the history of the Jin dynasty, the problem of parallel empires was solved in another way. There were unsubstantiated criticism against Chen Shou to have omitted a biography for Ding Yi 丁儀 and his son Ding Yi (2) 丁廙 from Shu, and to have written only a very short biography for Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮, prime minister of Shu. The latter is indeed true but the biography (liezhuan 35) contains a lot of praise for Zhuge Liang. Yet what is surely not appropriate is Chen’s overt praise for the founders of the Jin dynasty, the family of Sima 司馬. Compared to the other three of the "Four histories" the Sanguozhi is rather short and lacks substance, especially in those matters going beyond the purely biographical accounts. Treatises, for example, are totally missing. The commentary of Pei Songzhi tried to solve some of the problems. He added missing information from more than 140 other books of which far the largest part is lost today, and corrected errors. One chapter that often attracted attention is the earliest extant description of Japan (liezhuan 41, sometimes called Woren zhuan 倭人傳). The Republican period scholar Lu Bi 盧弼 collected all surviving commentaries to the Sanguozhi, added his own remarks and published it was Sanguozhi jijie 三國志集解. The collection Ershiwushi bubian 二十五史補編, vol. 2 and 3, contain a few supplementary chapters to the Sanguozhi, mainly tables, imperial genealogies, and treatises (geography and literature). Source: Zhongguo da baike quanshu, Zhongguo lishi, vol. 2, p. 874. Content 魏書 Weishu The book of Wei 1. 武帝曹操 Wudi Cao Cao (ruled as king of Wei 215-220) 2. 文帝曹丕 Wendi Cao Pi (emperor r. 220-226) 3. 明帝曹叡 Mingdi Cao Rui (r. 226-239) 4. 三少帝 The three Minor Emperors (Cao Fang, Prince of Qi 齊王曹芳 [r. 239-253], Cao Mao, Duke of Gaoguixiang 高貴鄉公曹髦 [r. 254-259], Cao Huan Prince of Chenliu 陳留王曹奐 [r. 260-265]) 5. 后妃 Imperial consorts 6. Dong Zhuo 董卓, Yuan Shao 袁紹, Yuan Shu 袁術, Liu Biao 劉表 7. Lü Bu 呂布, Zang Hong 臧洪 8. Gongsun Zan 公孫瓚, Tao Qian 陶謙, Zhang Yang 張楊, Gongsun Du 公孫度, Zhang Yan 張燕, Zhang Xiao, 張繡, Zhang Lu 張魯 9. Xiahou Chun 夏侯惇, Xiahou Yuan 夏侯淵, Cao Ren 曹仁, Cao Hong 曹洪, Cao Xiu 曹休, Cao Zhen 曹真, Xiahou Shang 夏侯尚 10. Xun Yu 荀彧, Xun You 荀攸, Jia Xu 賈詡 11. Xuan Huan 袁渙, Zhang Fan 張範, Liang Mao 涼茂, Guo Yuan 國淵, Tian Chou 田疇, Wang You 王脩, Bin Yuan 邴原, Guan Ning 管寧, Hu Zhao 胡昭 12. Cao Yan 崔琰, Mao Jie 毛玠, Xu Yi 徐奕, He Kui 何夔, Xing Yu 邢顒, Bao Xun 鮑勛, Sima Zhi 司馬芝 13. Zhong Yao 鍾繇, Hua Xin 華歆, Wang Lang 王朗 14. Cheng Yu 程昱, Guo Jia 郭嘉, Dong Zhao 董昭, Liu Ye 劉曄, Jiang Ji 蔣濟, Liu Fang 劉放 15. Liu Fu 劉馥, Sima Lang 司馬朗, Liang Xi 梁習, Zhang Ji 張既, Wen Hui 溫恢, Jia Kui 賈逵 16. Ren Jun 任峻, Su Ze 蘇則, Du Ji 杜畿, Zheng Hun 鄭渾, Cang Ci 倉慈 17. Zhang Liao 張遼, Le Jin 樂進, Yu Jin 于禁, Zhang He 張郃, Xu Huang 徐晃 18. Li Dian 李典, Li Tong 李通, Zang Ba 臧霸, Wen Pin 文聘, Lü Qian 呂虔, Xu Chu 許褚, Dian Wei 典韋, Pang De 龐德, Pang Yu 龐淯, Yan Wen 閻溫 19. Cao Zhang, Prince Wei of Rencheng 任城威王曹彰, Cao Zhi, Prince Si of Chen 陳思王曹植, Cao Xiong, Prince Huai of Xiao 蕭懷王曹熊 20. 武文世王公 The princes and dukes (i.e. the sons) of the emperors Wu and Wen 21. Wang Can 王粲, Wei Ji 衛覬, Liu Yi 劉廙, Liu Shao 劉劭, Fu Gu 傅嘏 22. Huan Jie 桓階, Chen Qun 陳群, Chen Jiao 陳矯, Xu Xuan 徐宣, Wei Zhen 衛臻, Lu Yu 盧毓 23. He Qia 和洽, Chang Lin 常林, Yang Jun 楊俊, Du Xi 杜襲, Zhao Yan 趙儼, Pei Qian 裴潛 24. Han Ji 韓暨, Cui Lin 崔林, Gao Rou 高柔, Sun Li 孫禮, Wang Guan 王觀 25. Xin Pi 辛毗, Yang Fu 楊阜, Gao Tanglong 高堂隆 26. Man Chong 滿寵, Tian Yu 田豫, Qian Zhao 牽招, Guo Zhun 郭淮 27. Xu Miao 徐邈, Hu Zhi 胡質, Wang Chang 王昶, Wang Ji 王基 28. Wang Ling 王淩, Wuqiu Jian 毌丘儉, Zhuge Dan 諸葛誕, Deng Ai 鄧艾, Zhong Hui 鍾會 29. 方技 Diviners and magicians 30. The Wuwan 烏丸, Xianbei 鮮卑, and the eastern barbarians 東夷 (Fuyu/Puyŏ 夫餘, Gaogouli/Goguryŏ 高句麗 [northern Korea], the Eastern Woju 東沃沮, Yilou 挹婁, Hui 濊, Han 韓 [southern Korea] and Wo 倭 [Japan]) 蜀書 The book of Shu 31. The "pastors" (i.e. provincial governors) 牧 Liu Yan 劉焉 and Liu Zhang 劉璋 32. 先主劉備 The Former Ruler Liu Bei (r. 221-222) 33. 後主劉禪 The Later Ruler Liu Shan (sic!, r. 223-263) 34. 二主妃子 Consorts and sons of the two rulers 35. Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮 36. Guan Yu 關羽, Zhang Fei 張飛, Ma Chao 馬超, Huang Zhong 黃忠, Zhao Yun 趙雲 37. Pang Tong 龐統, Fa Zheng 法正 38. Xu Jing 許靖, Mi Zhu 麋竺, Sun Qian 孫乾, Jian Yong 簡雍, Yi Ji 伊籍, Qin Mi 秦宓 39. Dong He 董和, Liu Ba 劉巴, Ma Liang 馬良, Chen Zhen 陳震, Dong Yun 董允, Lü Yi 呂乂 40. Liu Feng 劉封, Peng Yang 彭羕, Liao Li 廖立, Li Yan 李嚴, Liu Yan 劉琰, Wei Yan 魏延, Yang Yi 楊儀 41. Huo Jun 霍峻, Wang Lian 王蓮, Xiang Lang 向朗, Zhang Yi 張裔, Yang Hong 楊洪, Fei Shi 費詩 42. Du Wei 杜微, Zhou Qun 周群, Du Qiong 杜瓊, Xu Ci 許慈, Meng Guang 孟光, Lai Min 來敏, Yin Mo 尹默, Li Zhuan 李譔, Qiao Zhou 譙周, Que Zheng 郤正 43. Huang Quan 黃權, Li Hui 李恢, Lü Kai 呂凱, Ma Zhong 馬忠, Wang Ping 王平, Zhang Ni 張嶷 44. Zhang Wan 蔣琬, Fei Yi 費禕, Jiang Wei 姜維 45. Deng Zhi 鄧芝, Zhang Yi 張翼, Zong Yu 宗預, Yang Xi 楊戲 吳書 The book of Wu 46. Sun Jian 孫堅, Sun Ce 孫策 47. 吳主孫權 Sun Quan, the ruler of Wu (r. 222-252) 48. 三嗣主 The three succeeding rulers (Sun Liang 孫亮 [r. 252-257], Sun Xiu 孫休 [r. 257-263] and Sun Hao 孫皓 [263-280]) 49. Liu Yao 劉繇, Taishi Ci 太史慈, Shi Xie 士燮 50. 妃嬪 Consorts 51. 宗室 The ruling house 52. Zhang Zhao 張昭, Gu Yong 顧雍, Zhuge Jin 諸葛瑾, Bu Zhi 步騭 53. Zhang Hong 張紘, Yan Jun 嚴峻, Cheng Bing 程秉, Kan Ze 闞澤, Xue Zong 薛綜 54. Zhou Yu 周瑜, Lu Su 魯肅, Lü Meng 呂蒙 55. Cheng Pu 程普, Huang Gai 黃蓋, Han Dang 韓當, Jiang Qin 蔣欽, Zhou Tai 周泰, Chen Wu 陳武, Huang Xi 黃襲, Gan Ning 甘寧, Ling Tong 淩統, Xu Sheng 徐盛, Pan Zhang 潘璋, Ding Feng 丁奉 56. Zhu Zhi 朱治, Zhu Ran 朱然, Lü Fan 呂範, Zhu Huan 朱桓 57. Yu Fan 虞翻, Lu Ji 陸績, Zhang Wen 張溫, Luo Tong 駱統, Lu Mao 陸瑁, Wu Can 吾粲, Zhu Ju 朱據 58. Lu Xun 陸遜 59. 吳主五子 The five sons of the ruler of Wu (Sun Quan) 60. He Qi 賀齊, Quan Cong 全琮, Lü Dai 呂岱, Zhou Fang 周魴, Zhongli Mu 鍾離牧 61. Pan Jun 潘濬, Lu Kai 陸凱 62. Shi Yi 是儀, Hu Zong 胡綜 63. Wu Fan 吳範, Liu Dun 劉惇, Zhao Da 趙達 64. Zhuge Ke 諸葛恪, Teng Yin 滕胤, Sun Jun 孫峻, Sun Lin 孫綝, Puyang Xing 濮陽興 65. Wang Fan 王蕃, Lou Xuan 樓玄, He Shao 賀邵, Wei Yao 韋曜, Hua He 華覈

Exemplarious translation: 1. 魏書一: 武帝紀第一 十二月，孫權為備攻合肥。公自江陵征備，至巴丘，遣張救合肥。權聞至，乃走。公至赤壁，與備戰，不利。於是大疫，吏士多死者，乃引軍還。備遂有荊州、江南諸郡。 Book of Wei: 1, Emperor Wei Wudi: (Emperor Wudi, Cao Cao, thirteenth year of the era Xingping ) In the 12th month, Sunquan conquered Hefei to help LIU BEI. Duke CAO CAO attacked LIU BEI from Jiangling and could advance to Baqiu, from where he sent ZHANG XXX to liberate Hefei. When SUN QUAN heard of this, he left Hefei. The Duke advanced to Red Cliff where he suffered a bad defeat. A pestilence came over his troops, and many people died. The army withdraw, and from this time on, the area of Jingzhou and all prefectures south of the Yangtse belonged to LIU BEI's territories. 32. 蜀書二: 先主傳第二 先主遣諸葛亮自結於孫權，權遣周瑜、程普等水軍數萬，與先主并力，與曹公戰於赤壁，大破之，焚其舟船。先主與吳軍水陸並進，追到南郡，時又疾疫，北軍多死，曹公引歸。 Book of Shu: 31, The Governors Liu: The First Ruler, LIU BEI, sent ZHUGE LIANG to join an allicance with SUN QUAN. SUN sent ZHOU YU and CHENG JIN with a naval army of several ten thousand men, to unite their forces with the First Ruler. Fighting with Duke CAO at the Red cliff, they could achieve a great victory by burning CAO's ships. Toghether, the forces of the two victorious ruler advanced to the southern prefectures. At the same time was a bad pestilence, and many people of CAO's northern army died. Duke CAO could not but withdraw his troops. 35. 蜀書五: 諸葛亮傳第五 亮曰：「豫州軍雖敗於長阪，今戰士還者及關羽水軍精甲萬人，劉琦合江夏戰士亦不下萬人。曹操之眾，遠來疲弊，聞追豫州，輕騎一日一夜行三百餘里，此所謂『彊弩之末，勢不能穿魯縞』者也。故兵法忌之，曰『必蹶上將軍』。且北方之人，不習水戰；又荊州之民附操者，偪兵勢耳，非心服也。今將軍誠能命猛將統兵數萬，與豫州協規同力，破操軍必矣。操軍破，必北還，如此則荊、吳之勢彊，鼎足之形成矣。成敗之機，在於今日。」權大悅，即遣周瑜、程普、魯肅等水軍三萬，隨亮詣先主，并力拒曹公。曹公敗於赤壁，引軍歸鄴。先主遂收江南，以亮為軍師中郎將，使督零陵、桂陽、長沙三郡，調其賦稅，以充軍實。 35, Biography of Zhuge Liang: ZHUGE LIANG said: "Although our armies of Yuzhou have been defeated at Changbang, the people returning together with GUAN YU's naval army are ten thousand well equipped man, and there are not less than ten thousand soldiers who fought at Jiangxia under LIU QI. On the other side, CAO CAO's men are tired and exhausted, pursuing the Yuzhou army, their light cavalry did not have a rest for one day and one night on a distance of more than 300 miles. [...] And, the northern people are not accustomed with water ways. CAO CAO's followers in the area of Jingzhou do not serve him with their heart and feelings. Uniting the armies of the fierce generals, counting several ten thousand men, and join their forces with our Yuzhou army, we will definitely beat CAO CAO. He cannout but withdraw to the north, and the areas of Jingzhou and Wu will be strong, shaping China to a three legged pot - symbolizing three kingdoms. The chance to beat CAO CAO has come!" SUN QUAN was very pleased and sent out ZHOU YU, CHENG PU, and LU SU with a naval army of thirty thousand men. ZHUGE LIANG reported this event to the First Ruler, and the armies joined their forces. CAO CAO was defeated at the Red Cliff, and withdrew to Ye. 47. 吳書二: 吳主傳第二 備進住夏口，使諸葛亮詣權，權遣周瑜、程普等行。是時曹公新得表眾，形勢甚盛，諸議者皆望風畏懼，多勸權迎之。惟瑜、肅執拒之議，意與權同。瑜、普為左右督，各領萬人，與備俱進，遇於赤壁，大破曹公軍。公燒其餘船引退，士卒飢疫，死者大半。備、瑜等復追至南郡，曹公遂北還，留曹仁、徐晃於江陵，使樂進守襄陽。時甘寧在夷陵，為仁黨所圍，用呂蒙計，留淩統以拒仁，以其半救寧，軍以勝反。權自率眾圍合肥，使張昭攻九江之當塗。昭兵不利，權攻城踰月不能下。曹公自荊州還，遣張喜將騎赴合肥。未至，權退。 Book of Wu: 47, Rulers of Wu: (In the 13th year, ) LIU BEI advanced to Xiakou and sent ZHUGE LIANG to make a proposal to SUN QUAN, who had marched off ZHOU YU and CHENG PU. At the same time, Duke CAO had newly recruited troops, and his army was strong and overwhelming. All ministers looked fearful at the rising wind and told SUN QUAN to submit to CAO CAO. But the will of ZHOU and CHENG was upright and stood at the side of SUN QUAN. Both of them acted as generals and commanded ten thousand men. The army advanced together with the troops of LIU BEI, and they met at the Red Cliff, where they defeated CAO CAO. Duke CAO burned the rest of his ships and withdrew to the north. More than half of his army had died from pestilence and starvation. LIU BEI and ZHOU YU pursued his troops and advanced to the area south of the Yangtse. 54. 吳書九: 周瑜、魯肅、呂蒙傳第九 時劉備為曹公所破，欲引南渡江，與魯肅遇於當陽，遂共圖計，因進住夏口，遣諸葛亮詣權，權遂遣瑜及程普等與備并力逆曹公，遇於赤壁。時曹公軍眾已有疾病，初一交戰，公軍敗退，引次江北。瑜等在南岸。瑜部將黃蓋曰：「今寇眾我寡，難與持久。然觀操軍船艦首尾相接，可燒而走也。」乃取蒙衝鬥艦數十艘，實以薪草，膏油灌其中，裹以帷幕，上建牙旗，先書報曹公，欺以欲降。又豫備走舸，各繫大船後，因引次俱前。曹公軍吏士皆延頸觀望，指言蓋降。蓋放諸船，同時發火。時風盛猛，悉延燒岸上營落。頃之，煙炎張天，人馬燒溺死者甚眾，軍遂敗退，還保南郡。備與瑜等復共追。曹公留曹仁等守江陵城，徑自北歸。 54, Biography of Zhou Yu At that time, LIU BEI has been defeated by Duke CAO and wanted to withdraw by crossing the Yangtse southwards. He met with LU SU in Dangyang and invented a plot together with him. They marched to Xiakou from where they sent ZHUGE LIANG to SUN QUAN. QUAN set into march the army of ZHOU YU and CHENG PU to unite their forces with the troops of LIU BEI to fight against Duke CAO. The armies met at the Red Cliff. At this time, the army of CAO CAO was very numerous, but the soldiers were already weakened by a pestilence, and during the first clashes, CAO CAO suffered a defeat and withdrew his troops to the north bank of the Yangtse. ZHOU YU and the others camped at the southern bank. YU's division general HUANG GAI said, "The troops of the thieves (of CAO CAO) are numerous, but we are left alone; it would be difficult to hold our position for longer time. But if we have a look at CAO CAO 's war ships we see that he has tied the ships together at bow and stern. It is easy to burn all the ships and make him run away." HUANG made use of ten big war-ships, filled them with fire wood and dry reeds, soaked with oil and stuffed with fabrics. On the top he erected flags with indentations. He had written a letter to CAO CAO, pretending to go over to him. He also had prepared propelling ships that were bound at the stern of the burning ships to push them forward. The soldiers of CAO CAO's army all left the camp to gaze at the ships and expected HUANG GAI to desert, like he had promised. HUANG GAI commanded all ships and incended all of them at the same time. In a fierce wind, the fire spread to the river bank and burned down CAO CAO's camp where the flames reached high up to the sky. Masses of people and horses died in the flames. Being thus defeated, CAO CAO's army withdrew, turned and sought a sure place in the commandery Nanjun. LIU BEI and ZHOU Yu together persecuted the fleeing army. 55 吳書十: 程、黃、韓、蔣、周、陳、董、甘、淩、徐、潘、丁傳第十 蓋姿貌嚴毅，善於養眾，每所征討，士卒皆爭為先。建安中，隨周瑜拒曹公於赤壁，建策火攻，語在瑜傳。 55. Biography of Huang Gai ... During the reign era Jian'an Huang Gai was a follower of Zhou Yu and together with him withstood Duke Cao (Cao) at the Red Cliff, carrying out the plot with the fire attack. This story is told in Zhou Yu's biography. Translated by Ulrich Theobald.