Zhou Yu

"We must wait for the enemy to tire themselves out! Everybody, focus on defending our main camp until they do!"

- Zhou Yu

Zhou Yu (周瑜), style name: Gongjin (公瑾), is the strategist of the Wu Kingdom. He is one of the most famous generals of Sun Ce and later Sun Quan and one of the major protagonists in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Meeting the Sun Family
Zhou Yu was one of many united  by the early campaign against the tyrant Dong Zhuo in 191. Dong Zhuo had kidnapped the emperor and a campaign of warriors was assembled to put down the mad governor. Yu was just a youth at the time but recruited by the military commander, Sun Jian - the emperor's personal military organizer. During his recruitment Zhou Yu met Sun Jian's son, Sun Ce and the two became fast friends. Zhou Yu was only a conscripted inexperienced youth at the time but felt military service was his calling in life. Zhou Yu formally enrolled in the military for training by Sun Jian after the emperor was rescued.

Becoming a Strategist
In 200, Zhou Yu had more than cut his teeth, getting his training in the field, serving Sun Jian as he conquered other troublesome governors who either were allied with Dong Zhuo, or were showing the same signs as Dong Zhuo and needed to be reconquered to assert the emperor's strength. But tragedy struck for the Sun family that year as Sun Ce was assassinated by one of the governors. Govenor Xu Gong had hired an assassin to kill the Sun family before his removal from power. The assassin was only able to kill Sun Ce but in the assassin's success Zhou Yu had lost a dear friend. Though all parties involved were executed, Zhou Yu reportedly saw that the machinations of one man could shake an entire army, and began focusing on military tactics over field-work.

Wu
Cao Cao had been declared the imperial commander of the military after helping to save emperor Xian from Dong Zhuo. The Emperor had placed all his trust in his military commanders, but as it was Cao Cao who physically arrived in Dong Zhuo's castle and took the emperor home, it was Cao Cao who was made the high-commander of the military and given much autonomy from Xian. In his service to the emperor, Cao Cao began conquering and re-conquering many territories, much as Sun Jian was, though on a larger scale due to commands he was allowed to give. Eventually Cao Cao's ambitions turned his attentions inwards and he sought to remove his rivals as well. Sun Jian had to go into exile - heading east with his family and the men loyal to him, Zhou Yu among them. This alliance of commanders of the emperor's former military would come to be known as Wu. Officially Wu were barbarians and mercenaries but they consider themselves a military fiefdom.

Cao Cao had created many enemies in his bid for power, even going as far as to relocated an entire province and a beloved governor/military commander named Liu Bei, who went on to form Shu upon relocating his people to the Jing Provence. By 208 Liu Bei saw he must fight Cao Cao to escape being victimized by his forces and proposed an alliance with Wu. Sun Jian had died in battle, Sun Ce had been assassinated, and so Zhou Yu, notable for how young he was, was at that time, ironically the oldest living member of Sun Jian's inner-circle. Zhou Yu was recruited by Sun Jian's son, Sun Quan - leader of Wu, as his military advisor. When Liu Bei offered his alliance, Zhou Yu had advised they take it and join with Shu against Cao Cao's forces of Wei. Zhou Yu had consorted with Liu Bei's advisor, the philosopher, and former hermit, Zhuge Liang. Zhou Yu planned the naval forces based on Zhuge Liang input. Zhuge Liang was by some accounts a mage who could alter the very winds, by some accounts an early form of meteorologist, but either way Liang was confident he knew which way the winds would blow before the assault and so a surprise attack via boats would be the most devastating when the winds changed. Zhou Yu was convinced the plan would not succeed and was already planning for his naval troops to just get close enough to Cao Cao then to abandon ship and swim to land to re-group for the assault. To Zhou Yu's surprise, the wind took a sudden change just as Zhuge Liang had predicted and the Wu armada were carried all the way into Cao Cao's navy at Chibi. Wu's blow against Wei was devastating and crippled Wei's presence at sea for years. Shu used the victory to gain breathing room and organize their forces, Wu became a naval power to fill the void of Cao Cao's diminished sea- presence, Sun Quan going as far as to recruit pirates as commanders. Sun Jian had pledged his daughter, Sun Shangxiang to Liu Bei and Sun Quan, pleased with the victory the alliance had given them, formally sent his sister to marry Liu Bei to formalize the two.

Fall
Zhou Yu was lauded as a great hero and tactician. But though the battle at Chibi is considered Zhou Yu's greatest triumph, it was also his last. Sun Quan had actually intended to use the wedding to get close to Liu Bei and ambush him, holding him there until he agreed to let Sun Quan take over Shu's land while he retired as a figure-head, the plan never succeeded thanks once again to Zhuge Liang and the Shu commander Zhao Yun - Zhuge Liang seeing the potential danger, and Zhao Yun patrolling for Wu military units.

In 210, Zhou Yu was hit by a poisoned arrow while defending the province of Jing for Liu Bei. Wu still had ambitions to take Shu but was doing favors for Liu Bei for as long as their alliance was formal. The arrow caused Zhou Yu to be sick constantly and he needed to retire from the battle-field, forming tactics from the privacy of his own tent from that point on. Later that year Sun Quan and Zhou Yu made their play for formal military power over Shu. Zhou Yu's units went to cross Shu territory, Zhou Yu stating they were just passing through and had business in the provinces beyond, as Shu and Wu were allies Liu Bei was tempted at first to allow Wu to pass, but Zhuge Liang saw through the ruse and told his lord that Wu must not be allowed to cross directly. Zhou Yu, already in bad-health did not have time to turn back and so formally attacked Shu when he was ordered to turn around, he would die in the battle.

Zhou Yu was respected by Zhuge Liang and part of Wu's envoy to the alliance with Wu, so his body was sent home by Shu envoys, who though angry about the attempted play for power still considered him a great commander worthy of proper burial by his fellows.

Personality
Zhou Yu is seen as something of a prodigy. Zhou Yu had taken up military command in his mid-teens and become a tactician by his twenties, his nick-name was even "Zhou Lang" - (Zhou the young). Zhou Yu had a deep friendship with Sun Ce in their youth and was very upset when he died. His loyalty to Wu was predicated almost entirely on his kinship with Sun Ce but also recognition to Sun Jian as his military commander. By all accounts he was both impressed with Zhuge Liang's brilliance and also infuriated by it, that the sage Shu advisor seemed three steps ahead of nearly every tactical move he made.

Trivia

 * Historically known as the Beautiful Zhou Yu. At the Battle of Nanjun in 8, he gets irritated at Zhang He's insults and promptly states that he is known as "The Handsome Zhou Yu," though in other circumstances Zhang He actually compliments him for his looks when they meet.
 * Zhou Yu's nickname in Japan is "soy sauce" due to the similar pronunciation of his name and "shoyu". Fans also occasionally call him "lolicon" due to his spouse's stature and behavior.
 * Zhou Yu is compared to Liu Kang from the Mortal Kombat series.