The exploits and stories of men are countless and dominating in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Not to be forgotten, this page details about the few handful of women who have been mentioned during that period of chaos.
Diao Chan
A beautiful damsel, she agreed to Wang Yun ploy to turn the great general Lu Bu and the tyrant Dong Zhuo who seized court power against each other in order to get rid of both of them and restore order to the Han Dynasty. Wang Yun betrothed Diao Chan to Lu Bu but sent her to Dong Zhuo's residence. Both men were attracted to her and with this arrangement Wang Yun was able create jealousy and misunderstandings between these two men which eventually drove Lu Bu to kill Dong Zhuo.Madam Gan
Wife of Liu Bei and mother of Liu Shan who later succeeded Liu Bei as the ruler of Shu. Very little is mentioned about her. Her death led to the marriage proposal by Sun Quan with Lady Sun.Madam Mi
Also wife of Liu Bei. During the evacuation of Xinye's populace due to the coming onslaught of the Cao army she got lost together with Liu Bei's son Liu Shan in the midst of confusion and got hurt. Zhao Yun went in search of her and the little master Liu Shan in the disarrayed battleground and finally found both of them.Being hurt and not wanting to burden Zhao Yun anymore, she committed suicide by ditching into a well so that Zhao Yun will have an easier time breaking out of the enemy encirclement with the infant Liu Shan.
Madam Cai
Wife of the warlord Liu Biao. When Liu Bei was under the shelter of Liu Bei and stationed in the small city of Xinye, she sought to kill Liu Bei but was unsuccessful. Before long her husband Liu Biao passed away due to old age and together with her brother Cai Mao, they forged a will designating the fourteen year old second son of Liu Biao, Liu Cong as the governor of Jingzhou.When Cao Cao marched south with a great army, Liu Cong surrendered to Cao Cao without a fight and Cao Cao appointed him as the governor of Qingzhou. Madam Cai went along with her son but both were killed along the way by the general Yu Jin sent by Cao Cao.
Lady Sun
Sister of Sun Quan and third wife of Liu Bei. With a marriage proposal, she was initially used to get Liu Bei to Wu Kingdom to get killed but the plan was seen through by Zhuge Liang so the plan backfired instead. This led Zhou Yu to later change his plan to trap Liu Bei in Wu kingdom by building a luxurious palace for Liu Bei and Lady Sun to stay in the hope that the luxurious lifestyle would sap Liu Bei mind's into forgetting about Jingzhou as well as his men and ambition. It failed again and on the return trip to Jingzhou, Lady Sun and Liu was pursued by the Wu troops. With the help of Lady Sun reprimanding the pursuing generals, Liu Bei and her managed to make it back safety to Jingzhou.The plan did not stop there as later Lady Sun was tricked into going back to the Wu kingdom to meet her dying mother Madam Wu with Liu Bei's son Liu Shan. Halfway they were intercepted by Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei and both of them brought back Liu Shan and allowed Lady Sun to go back to Wu. The recovery of Liu Shan made the plan fell apart since the plan involves using Liu Bei's son Liu Shan as hostage in a bid to force Liu Bei to exchange for the return of his son with Jingzhou. From then onwards, Liu Bei and Lady Sun were separated.
When Liu Bei invaded East Wu with 750,000 troops to avenge his sworn brother Guan Yu's death, Sun Quan offered to return his sister along with Jingzhou as well as the surrendered officers to Liu Bei to make peace but was promptly rejected.
Madam Wu
Together with her sister, Madam Wu was married to Sun Jian thus the mother of Sun Quan. Kept in the dark about the plan to recover Jingzhou by luring Liu Bei to the Wu kingdom and kill him, she was furious at Sun Quan about it. Lord Qiao who is the father of the Qiao sisters advised her that if Liu Bei is killed Lady Sun would be a widow. With this a meeting with Liu was arranged at a temple. Sun Quan placed armed soldiers hidden in the temple in a bid to kill Liu Bei but Liu Bei was tipped off about them through Zhao Yun. At the meeting she liked Liu Bei and allowed her daughter Lady Sun to marry Liu Bei.The Qiao Sisters
The Qiao sisters were beautiful maidens married to prominent figures in the Wu Kingdom. The elder sister is the wife of Sun Ce while the younger sister is married to Zhou Yu. Zhuge Liang provokes Zhou Yu to declare war on Cao Cao by saying that part of the reason why Cao Cao is marching south with his great army is the possession of these two beauties.Madam Zhurong
Wife of the southern barbarian king Meng Huo, she is the only female character who has gone to the battlefield and engage the enemy alongside with her husband. Highly skilled, she captured the Shu generals Ma Zhong and Zhang Yi when Zhuge Liang personally led 500,000 troops with Zhao Yun and Wei Yan as his senior officers to suppress the southern rebellion raised by her husband. Later she was captured by Wei Yan and Ma Dai but Zhuge Liang spared her life and released her.