The majority of us first come into contact with Luo Guanzhong's SGYY (Sanguo Yanyi) since it is available in english which is understandable by the masses. As widespread as SGYY is which most of us are accustomed to, there is SGZ (Sanguozhi) which is compiled by Chen Shou who was once an officer of Shu. Although Chen Shou is born toward the ending years of the Three Kingdoms era, his SGZ biography is veered more towards history than Luo Guanzhong's novel. SGZ is not known much among the masses since it is in chinese and further compounding the fact is that among the people who understands chinese most of them only come into contact with SGYY. Hence SGZ is obscure among the majority.

If you have read the posts in the Rtk forum in the discussion board, you may have heard of the lively discussion and differences written by people and gotten kinda confused. Through reading the biography on this page you'll have another level of understanding and perspective. Before you proceed to read the biography i suggest you read Mingde aka Shu-Han Zhao Lie Di's SGZ Introduction and Translation Notes for a brief idea on how he went about doing the translation.

SGZ Introduction & Translation Notes - Written by Su Mingde

Shu Chronicle

Something Interesting - Zhuge Liang Holds Off 5 Armies
Shortly after the death of Liu Bei and the ascension of the young and inexperienced Liu Shan, Sima Yi suggested an attack on Shu during their transition period on four sides with five armies. Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu repulsed all the armies thrown towards his kingdom using minimal resources along with Guan Xing and Zhang Bao having 30,000 troops each to reinforce whatever critical points.

Aggressor	Invading Force & Location	Inducement Method	Initial Target	Countermeasures	Defensive Reinforcements
Cao Zhen	100,000 from Wei	Direct order to Cao Zhen	By way of Yangping Pass	Zhao YunSent Zhao Yun to hold on to Yangping Pass and other strategic positions and not engage in any battles to force Cao Zhen to abort the invasion.	Guan Xing Zhang Bao
Meng Huo	100,000 from south of Shu	Persuasion	Shu’s four southern prefectures of Yizhou, Yongchang, Zangge & Yuesui	Wei YanOrdered Wei Yan to manoeuvre his troops so as to make Meng Huo suspicious of ambushes.
Meng Da	100,000 from Shangyong	Direct order to Meng Da	Hanzhong	Li YanGot Li Yan who is a good friend of Meng Da to write a letter to dissuade Meng Da from moving his army. Meng Da then pretended to fall sick to excuse himself from battle.
Ke Bineng	100,000 from Qiang	Gold & Silks	By way of Xiping Pass	Ma ChaoMa Chao to hold Xiping Pass and lay out ambushes in certain places.
Sun Quan	100,000 from East Wu	Fair promise of an increase in territory	By way of The Three Gorges	Deng ZhiDespatched Deng Zhi who is the Secretary of the Agricultural Tax Department as envoy to forge an alliance with East Wu.