By the early 260s CE, Shu Han was in decline. Its wise statesmen – Jiang Wan and Fei Yi – were dead. Jiang Wei, now Grand General, inherited Zhuge Liang’s legacy and launched eleven northern expeditions against Cao Wei. Though he won tactical victories, Shu’s limited resources made strategic success impossible.
In 227 AD, following the successful pacification of the Nanzhong rebellion, Zhuge Liang returned to Chengdu to prepare for his long-planned Northern Expeditions against Cao Wei. With the death of Emperor Cao Pi and the ascension of the young Cao Rui (Emperor Ming of Wei), Zhuge Liang saw a strategic opening.
Though Romance of the Three Kingdoms introduces Liao Hua in Chapter 27 as a former Yellow Turban bandit, historical records paint a starkly different—and far more distinguished—portrait.