The Advisors Alliance 大军师司马懿之军师联盟 is a 2017 two-part Chinese TV series depicting the life of Sima Yi, a government official and military strategist who lived during the late Eastern Han Dynasty 东汉 (25 CE - 220 CE) and the Three Kingdoms Period 三国時代 (220 CE - 280 CE). [Wikipedia of the show’s first season]

The second part is titled Growling Tiger Roaring Dragon 虎啸龙吟 and keeps following Sima Yi’s life as he matures and becomes wiser [Link to the show’s second season’s MyDramaList page].

The Weibo account [Link] of the show made a series of posts in the style of small encyclopedias explaining different historical and cultural facts that where included in the series. The user @moononmyfloor compiled the 50 posts and asked me to translate them. This will be an ongoing series where I will do just that. Although I tried to stay as close as possible to the original text, I had to take some liberties in some posts to get the meaning across better. On the side, I have included extra information from personal research that explains certain things better.

The posts are not in order of the episodes but I will provide the episode and season number to avoid confusion. If there are any mistakes in translation, do let me know in the comments or privately message me and I will do my best to fix them.

If it is difficult to read the letters, tap or click on the image to expand it. Without more preamble, here you go.

Extra information

Below is a handy map to picture the conflict better:

Map showcasing the states involved in the Revolt of the Seven States (154 BCE) created by Wikipedia user Seasonsinthesun. Posted July 8, 2017. I added the black arrows and names of the historical figures involved for readers’ convenience [image source].

Let me clarify something. 王 is “king” in Chinese. However, that title only applies to a ruler in ancient China before it became an empire and the title “emperor” 皇帝 was created. Thus, when we are talking about pre-imperial China, in English, the title 王 is translated as “king”. Once China unified and became an empire, to appease regional lords of states, the emperors allowed them to keep the title of “王” while the emperors took the title of 皇帝. However, in English, we, for the most part, do not translate the rulers of states after China unified as “kings”. Instead, we translate them as “princes”. It’s important to note that the phrase “大王” Great King (His Majesty) was used by emperors in ancient China despite containing 王. The further back we go, the blurrier it gets between 皇帝 and 王 and, sometimes, some 皇帝 preferred to go by 王 instead.

When Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, ascended to the imperial throne, he took the title of 皇帝 and gave his allies land (states) that would operate as their own (mostly) independent kingdoms and granted them the title of “王” (Prince). Nevertheless, he had them all killed and replaced by his own kin, the Liu clan. That’s why, in the post above, you see so many princes with the names “Liu”. This was a terrible miscalculation because, in consolidating more power for his family, Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu of Han) created a fractured empire with kingdoms that were independent and even minted their own coins (created their own currency). This independence made these states unwilling to follow the orders and laws of the central government (the imperial court).

By the reign of emperor Jing of Han, the personal relationship between him and several vassal princes was gravely strained thanks, in no small part, to Jing (then crown prince Qi) killing the vassal Prince of Wu, Liu Pi’s heir apparent, Liu Xian. Crown prince Qi and Liu Xian, while drunk, disagreed over the rules of the board game they were playing called Liubo 六博, a chess-like game tied to divination. Seeing as how Liu Xian, who was from a lower rank as the son of a vassal prince, dared to staunchly disagree with the crown prince, Qi, in what could only be described as a fit of drunken derangement, grabbed the hefty wood board, scattering the pieces to the ground, and proceeded to violently bludgeon Liu Xian in the head, eventually killing him. That act, along with the Vassal Domain Reduction Policy, triggered Liu Pi to start a revolt against centralized power. Below is what a Liubo set looks like:

Lacquered Liubo chess set excavated from Han Tomb No.3 (believed to have been of the son of the Marquis of Dai), Mawangdui, Changsha city, Hunan. Early Western Han (206 BCE – 25 CE), 12th year of Emperor Han Wendi (168 BCE). This Liubo set was around the time period of Crown Prince Qi and is likely to resemble the actual set he used to kill Liu Pi’s son, Liu Xian. This set is currently at the Hunan Provicial Museum.

A close up of a pair of Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE) ceramic tomb figurines of two gentlemen playing Liubo. Earthenware figures displayed at the Met Museum [image source].

Note: The two Liu Xian mentioned here aren’t the same. They are both called Liu Xian and both names are written as 刘贤 (Trad. 劉賢) but one is the Prince of Zichuan and the other is the son of Liu Pi.

Note: Another name that repeats is Liu Wu. There are two different Liu Wu. The first is Liu Wu 刘戊 (Trad. 劉戊) Prince of Chu, ally to Liu Pi, and the other is 刘武 (Trad. 劉武), Prince of Liang, ally to Emperor Jing.

The “good judgement” on the part of Zhou Yafu in the text refers to him purposely disobeying Emperor Jing’s orders to save Prince of Liang, Liu Wu. Instead, Zhou, opted to cut off the supply lines of the states Chu and Wu creating a decisive defeat for those two states and a victory for the emperor and Zhao.

Catalogue (Find the rest of the posts)

NANCHANG -- Chinese archaeologists have examined a batch of bamboo slips unearthed from a Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD) tomb and found they recorded the long-lost rules of "liubo", an ancient Chinese board game.

More than 5,200 bamboo slips were excavated from the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun near Nanchang in eastern China's Jiangxi Province. Over 1,000 of them were recently confirmed to be inscribed with the rules of liubo, according to the institute of excavated text research at Peking University, which is in charge of examining the items.

China discovers bamboo slips recording rules of ancient board game

NANCHANG, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese archaeologists have examined a batch of bamboo slips unearthed from a Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD) tomb and found they recorded the long-lost rules of "liubo", an ancient Chinese board game.

More than 5,200 bamboo slips were excavated from the tomb of the Marquis of Haihun near Nanchang in eastern China's Jiangxi Province. Over 1,000 of them were recently confirmed to be inscribed with the rules of liubo, according to the institute of excavated text research at Peking University, which is in charge of examining the items.

A 1,500-year-old board game has been unearthed in a Chinese tomb

When one thinks of the tombs plundered by videogame heroine Lara Croft, or even legendary adventure film archaeologist Indiana Jones, untold treasures and riches typically await them. During a 2004 excavation in China of first emperor of the Qin dynasty Qin Shi Huangdi’s self-constructed, terracotta warrior guarded, 2,300-year-old tomb, various artifacts were uncovered. Though not entirely…