-
Zhao
Yun was born in
the Zhending (
真定
)
county of Changshan
(
常山
) province
(now
Zhengding, Hebei)
around the year 168 AD. He joined the warlord
Gongsun Zan around
the
end
of
191
or
the
beginning
of
192
as
commander
of
a
small
group
of
county
volunteers. In 192 he was placed under
the authority of Liu Bei, who at the time held
only
the rank of a major under Gongsun
Zan, as a commander of Liu
Bei
’
s cavalry forces. Liu
Bei
had
a
contingent
of
several
thousand
Wuhuan
cavalry
and
Zhao
Yun
was
put
in
charge of this force. Zhao Yun left
Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei to attend his elder
brother
’
s
funeral
soon after.
He rejoined Liu
Bei in 200, when Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao
and fled to Yuan Shao.
Evidently
Zhao
Yun
had
an
extremely
close
friendship
with
Liu
Bei.
Records
of
Three
Kingdoms says that they slept in the
same bed during the time the two were together in
the city of Ye. Around the same time,
Liu Bei sent Zhao Yun to secretly recruit more men
to reinforce Liu
Bei
’
s then small army under
Yuan Shao. From then on, Zhao Yun followed
Liu Bei in his sojourns throughout
northern China.
In Jing province
In
202,
Zhao
Yun
participated
in
the
Battle
of
Bowang
against
Xiahou
Dun,
a
general
serving under Cao
Cao. During the battle, Zhao captured Xiahou Lan
(
夏侯兰
). Zhao Yun
and Xiahou Lan were from the same
hometown, and they had known each other since
childhood. Zhao Yun went to Liu Bei and
pleaded for Xiahou Lan
’
s
life. He suggested to
Liu Bei since
Xiahou Lan was an expert in law, he could be
appointed as an army judge.
Liu Bei
gave him the consent. However, Zhao Yun never kept
Xiahou Lan close to him, so
as to
separate personal relations from official matters.
Palace in Beijing, China.
Zhao Yun is the rider in white.
Palace in Beijing, China.
Zhao Yun is the rider in white.
In
208,
Zhao
Yun
distinguished
himself
at
the
Battle
of
Changban.
When
Liu
Bei
was
fleeing in the chaos, he left his
family behind. Then Zhao Yun disappeared to the
north,
prompting
suspicion
that
Zhao
Yun
had
surrendered
to
Cao
Cao.
When
someone
reported
that to
Liu Bei, Liu Bei angrily threw a
handaxe
and
said
desert me
arms,
also bringing back his wife Lady Gan. With this,
Zhao Yun was promoted to General
of the
Standard (
牙门将军
).
After the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhao
Yun
played a major role in conquering
territories of
Jiangnan
for
Liu
Bei.
He
was
named
a
major-general
(
偏将军
)
and
was
appointed
the
Grand
Administrator
of
Guiyang
(
桂阳太守
),
replacing
Zhao
Fan.
Zhao
Fan
had
a
widowed
sister in-law, Lady Fan
(
樊氏
), whose tremendous
beauty supposedly could ruin
countries
and cities. He proposed her to Zhao Yun. However,
Zhao Yun politely turned
Zhao Fan down,
“
I share the same surname as
you. Therefore I consider your brother my
brother.
”
Many
people thought it would be a great match and
suggested to Zhao Yun that
he should
take Lady Fan as his wife. Zhao Yun explained to
them,
“
Zhao Fan surrendered
only recently. His intentions are not
yet clear. Besides, there are plenty of women in
this
world.
”
In
the end, he did not marry Lady Fan. His worries
turned out to be true; Zhao Fan
later
fled from Guiyang.
When Liu
Bei entered the Yi province
(
益州
), he appointed Zhao Yun
as the main officer to
oversee
his
base
(Liuying
Sima,
留营司马
)
in
Gong'an
(
公安
).
Liu
Bei
’
s
wife
then
was
Lady Sun, Sun
Quan
’
s sister. Emboldened by
her brother
’
s power and
influence, she and
her militia often
ran wild, breaking many laws. Liu Bei considered
since Zhao Yun was
serious,
firm
and
unwavering,
he
must
be
able
to
bring
everything
under
control
and
maintain
order.
Therefore,
Liu
Bei
gave
Zhao
Yun
the
special
authority
to
oversee
the
internal affairs of Gongan (to keep an
eye on Lady Sun and her followers at the same
time). Soon after Liu Bei left the Jing
province, Sun Quan secretly summoned his sister
back. Lady Sun decided to bring Liu
Shan along with her, but Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei
managed to stop her in time on the
Yangtze River and rescued the young lord.
Later
in
214,
Zhao
Yun
accompanied
Zhang
Fei
and
Zhuge
Liang
into
Shu.
He
held
separate
command,
marching
from
Jiangzhou
(
江
州
;
modern-day
Chongqing)
via
Jiangyang
(
江阳
;
modern-day
Luzhou)
and
Jianwei
(
犍为
)
to
Chengdu.
Zhao
Yun
was
named
General Yijun (
翊军将军
) after
Liu Bei claimed Chengdu. Around that time some
people
made
suggestions
to
Liu
Bei
that
all
the
generals
should
be
awarded
estates/plantations around Chengdu so
they could settle in. Zhao Yun argued that it was
more suitable to return these
properties to the local people. Liu Bei accepted
his advice.
Battle of Hanshui
In 219, Liu Bei and Cao Cao were
battling over the control of Hanzhong. Cao Cao had
huge supplies of rice stocked up near
the North Mountain. Zhao Yun sent his soldiers
with
Huang Zhong, one of Liu
Bei
’
s great generals, to
attack Cao Cao
’
s army and to
take the
supplies. Huang Zhong did not
return on time. Zhao Yun along with a dozen men,
went
out of camp to look for Huang
Zhong. Cao Cao
’
s main force
was marching at that time;
Zhao Yun ran
into Cao
’
s vanguards. Not
soon after the two sides commenced to engage
in battle, Cao
Cao
’
s main force arrived.
The situation became very perilous for Zhao Yun,
as he and his men were greatly
outnumbered. He decided to attack the frontline of
Cao
Cao
’
s
army.
Cao
Cao
’
s men
were
surprised
by
the
attack
and
momentarily
dispersed.
However, they soon regrouped and
surrounded Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun fought his way out
toward his own camp. When he found out
his lieutenant general Zhang Zhu
(
张著
) was
wounded
and fell behind, he went back to rescue him.
Cao
Cao's
army
pursued
Zhao
Yun
to
his
camp.
At
that
time,
the
Administrator
of
Mianyang (
沔阳
),
Zhang Yi, was at Zhao Yun
’
s
camp. Zhang Yi thought it best to have all
the gates closed in order to defend the
camp. However, upon entering the camp, Zhao
Yun ordered all banners to be dropped
and hidden, all drums to be silenced, and the
gates
to
be
left
open
completely.
Suspicious
of
an
ambush,
Cao
Cao
and
his
army
hastily
retreated. Zhao Yun
ordered his drummers to beat drums as loudly as
they could, and his
archers to rain
down arrows on Cao
’
s men.
The stunned Wei army was completely routed.
Attempting to escape, Wei soldiers
rushed toward the Han River, and in confusion and
panic many were pushed into the river
and drowned.
The day after
the battle, Liu Bei arrived to inspect the
battlefield. He exclaimed,
“
Zilong
has valor
through and through.
”
He
ordered a celebration, complete with wines and
music
until late that night, in honor
of Zhao Yun. From then on, Liu
Bei
’
s army called Zhao Yun
“
The General with the Might
of a Tiger
”
(
虎威将军
).
Later life
In 221 Liu Bei proclaimed to be the
Emperor of Shu Han. At the same time he declared
war on Sun Quan out of revenge for the
death of Guan Yu and loss of Jing province. Zhao
Yun made an attempt to dissuade Liu Bei
from entering the war, and to attack Cao Wei
first. Liu Bei refused to heed the
advice and subsequently waged war against Eastern
Wu.
He left Zhao Yun behind to be in
command of Jiangzhou. After Liu Bei was defeated
in the
Battle of Yiling, Zhao
Yun
’
s troops advanced to
Yong'an. At that time, the Wu army had
already retreated.
Liu Bei died in 223, and his son Liu
Shan succeeded the throne. That year, Zhao Yun was
named General who Conquers the South
(
征南将军
), and Central Military
Commander (
中
护军
).
He was also bestowed the title Marquis of
Yongchang Ting (
永昌亭侯
). Soon
after,
he was promoted to General who
Guards the East (
镇东将军
). In
227, Zhao Yun followed
Zhuge Liang into
Hanzhong to prepare for the first of the Northern
Expeditions. The next
year, Zhuge Liang
sent Zhao Yun to Jigu (
箕谷
)
as a decoy against the main force of Wei
led
by Cao Zhen. Zhuge
Liang
’
s main
force suffered
a
decisive
defeat at the
Battle
of
Jieting. At the same time and against a
far superior force, Zhao Yun was also unable to
muster a victory. However, he was able
to limit the loss to the minimum by gathering his
men immediately and defending his
positions steadfastly. He was demoted to the
General
Who Maintains Peace in the Army
(
镇军将军
).
In 229 AD, Zhao Yun died at Hanzhong
and this was much grieved in the Shu army. He
received the posthumous appellation of
Shunping Marquis (
顺平侯
) from
Liu Shan in 261.
Liu
Shan
’
s order to have Zhao
Yun honored said,
“
When Zhao
Yun was serving the late
Emperor Liu
Bei, his contributions were already remarkable.
When I was young, I relied
on his
loyalty to save me from great danger.
That
’
s why I am bestowing
him the honour.
”