趙雲

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Famed for cradling Liu Bei’s infant son through the enemy at Changban, alone on horseback. At the Han River he flung open the gates of an empty camp and turned back the pursuit, earning Liu Bei’s verdict: "Zilong is courage from head to foot." He had judgment to match — opposing land confiscations in Yi Province, cautioning against the Yiling campaign. Longest-lived of the Five Tiger Generals, serving into the northern campaigns: the emblem of the unbeaten.

Key events

1. 208

   Battle of Changban

   Cao Cao’s pursuit nearly annihilates Liu Bei’s column. Zhao Yun rides alone to rescue Liu Bei’s infant son; Zhang Fei halts the pursuers single-handed at the bridge.

   Liu BeiCao CaoZhang Fei

2. 209

   Liu Bei Takes the Four Southern Commanderies

   Riding Red Cliffs’ momentum, Liu Bei gathers the four commanderies south of the Yangtze — his first real territory. Huang Zhong and Wei Yan joined around this time.

   Liu BeiHuang ZhongWei Yan

3. 209

   The Sun–Liu Marriage Alliance

   Sun Quan weds his sister to Liu Bei to cement the alliance — the episode the novel restages as Zhou Yu’s honey trap and the brocade-bag stratagems.

   Liu BeiSun QuanZhou YuZhuge Liang

4. 214

   Liu Bei Takes Yi Province

   With Fa Zheng’s defection and reinforcements under Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, Liu Bei enters Chengdu — at the cost of his strategist Pang Tong at Luocheng.

   Liu BeiFa ZhengPang TongZhuge LiangZhang FeiMa Chao

5. 219

   Battle of Mount Dingjun

   Under Fa Zheng’s direction, the veteran Huang Zhong cuts down Xiahou Yuan, Wei’s western commander — the stroke that won Hanzhong for Liu Bei.

   Huang ZhongXiahou YuanFa ZhengLiu BeiZhang He

History vs. the novelHistoryvsNovel

The novel’s "through half a million men" is inflation, but the rescue of the infant heir is history. The real Zhao Yun reads less as flashy vanguard than as the steady, upright guardian who told his lord hard truths.