Third Campaign Started: Sun Jian

[Didz]

https://youtu.be/z1ARRMUobNU
Just starting my third campaign having gone from playing Cao Cao with his political scheming, to Liu Bei with his army of eager militia inspired by his silver tongue.

Now I have armies of mercenaries determined to support the power that wields the Jade Seal. For the Destiny of China.

[Yellowdragon]

He died so fast by random arrow lol.

[Lain]

Sun Jian gotta be one of my favs in 3K Lore :)

Talking history, not the Novel tho.

[E.R.L.]

Originally posted by Lain:

Sun Jian gotta be one of my favs in 3K Lore :)

Talking history, not the Novel tho.

He was pretty epic in the novel too - burned brightly, and then flickered out quickly. Sure, he lost against Hua Xiong whereas in history he won, but Luo Guanzhong (LGZ) gave him plenty of other awesome and heroic descriptions and scenes to make sure the reader knew Sun Jian was a hero of the times. Just like in history, for example, Sun Jian's zeal as the vanguard allows him to be the first to break Dong Zhuo's defenses around Luoyang and secure it.

When thinking about which characters are elevated and which characters are diminished in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, we have to take things in context. Between the fall of the Han and the writing of ROTK, there were over 1000 years that have passed. During those times, folk stories spread among the people and literary figures also got in on it, popularizing it especially in the Yuan Dynasty with the "Yuan Drama" zaju style of performance. LGZ personally lived at the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.

There was a really popular book already written about the Three Kingdoms period called "Records of the Three Kingdoms in Plain Language". You can still purchase this book today. It covers the same historical events, but it completely shifts many of the characters, inventing more heroic deeds for some while greatly diminishing others. This should not be surprising: if you read the intro to this older novel, the framing device is that the historian Sima Qian goes to the underworld and sees the spirit of Liu Bang, first emperor of Han, who is to be reborn as the helpless Liu Xie (Emperor Xian). Liu Bang's generals Han Xin, Peng Yue, and Ying Bu, who Liu Bang eventually turned on in life, are to be reincarnated as Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan who will determine the fate of the Han while Liu Bang as Emperor Xian can only watch as the empire collapses. An interesting framing device but immediately you know the premise of the novel is fiction, not historicity.

When writing Romance of the Three Kingdoms, LGZ actually returns to the historical records a lot more and more accurately portrays the characters as they would have been seen during their lifetimes. He relies on historical records instead of folklore, while still borrowing from folklore for particularly exciting parts. I think this is pretty remarkable - that LGZ was able to fight against narrative drift that had already been cemented over the last millennium. In this way, ROTK is a much more useful representation of the real Three Kingdoms period than anything that came before it, while still being part of the long tradition of Three Kingdoms narratives that gave rise to it. Most people describe ROTK as 70% fact, 30% fiction. I personally believe this is an accurate assessment.

[Yellowdragon]

Actually most people don't care about him, they care more about Sun quan...well because he lived the longest.

Tbh Sun family was the most boring among the major families, they were just there to be a side show while lu bei and cow cow fought each other.

[Didz]

Completely different playing strategy from Cao Cao and Liu Bei, which is the main thing. Currently boosting reforms to redeployment costs and recruitment rank so that I can make the most of the full strength mercenary recruitment strategy.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2900665765
It's going quite well so far.

• I've eliminated Cai Mao
  
• Defeated and killed Liu Biao in an ambush battle.
  
• Captured Huang Zu's capital

Just need to finish off Huang Zu to comple the 'Plot A Dynasty' Mission. Then I can march north and annex Liu Biao's land before starting my southerly expansion.

[panderusw]

Originally posted by Didz:

Completely different playing strategy from Cao Cao and Liu Bei, which is the main thing. Currently boosting reforms to redeployment costs and recruitment rank so that I can make the most of the full strength mercenary recruitment strategy.

If you want really OP Sun clan, go north, and beat Cao Cao until he has no land, sell his land to Liu chong or Yuan Shu to fund you own land development. Let someone else eliminate Cao Cao, and if he show up at your recruitment pool, hire him and make him PM,

If you go deep into the red tree, you have -40% redeployment cost.
Cao Cao as PM with flexibility give another -40% (20% from his background, 20% for flexibility)
Sun Ce as your heir with flexibility give another -20%.

That make up -100% redeployment cost. Then you just buy full merc retinue for your administrator, eat that one time cost. Whenever someone attack your weak side, you just summon 3 admin, and instant full stack with 0 cost. Beat down the attacker, and recall those admin, 0 redeployment cost and 0 upkeep.

[Didz]

Nice! Thanks for the advice.

If you go deep into the red tree, you have -40% redeployment cost.

I've been focusing mainly on the Red reforms and selecting the ones that reduce Redeployment Costs. Its early days yet, but yes, that's the plan.

Cao Cao as PM with flexibility give another -40% (20% from his background, 20% for flexibility)

I haven't even seen Cao Cao yet and this seems a bit of a long shot, but its worth remembering once I unlock the PM position and if I have to deal with Cao Cao.

....buy full merc retinue for your administrator, eat that one time cost. Whenever someone attack your weak side, you just summon 3 admin, and instant full stack with 0 cost. Beat down the attacker, and recall those admin, 0 redeployment cost and 0 upkeep.

I must admit I hadn't thought of that, but its a good idea.

i already have two Adminstrators but I've set them up as Garrison Generals with full retinues of high quality troops using the same trick I learned in my Cao Cao and Liu Bei campaigns to get a powerful garrison for free.

But your suggestion makes a lot more sense. Normally i don't use Administrators as field generals but with the Full strength Mercenary Deployment that actually make a lot more sense. I'm going to have to do some adjustments to my garrisons.