Ravages of Time

"Frenzy depicts this era."

The Ravages of Time (火鳳燎原, 'Huo Feng Liao Yuan' lit. 'The Fire Phoenix scorches the plains') is a Manhua series, created by Chinese artist and writer Chen Mou (陳某), retelling the same events as Romance of the Three Kingdoms. As in most modern retellings, the characters are drawn larger than life, but without fantastic magic or explicit superpowers. They probably include more Chess Masters than any other adaption, since the plot puts a good deal of focus on the politics and warfare of the Three Kingdoms period, and some of the main attractions of the series are the associated mind games, military strategies and battlefield tactics. Naturally this leads to chapter after chapter of ploys and deceptions, using almost every trope possible from Xanatos Planned This Index.

While the strategists plot, one-man-armies kill their way wantonly through lots and lots of soldiers, and the plot regularly zooms in on the personal development of the main protagonists, detailing their dynamic responses and attitudes to the events unfolding around them.

The story, at the beginning at least, mainly revolves around Sima Yi. He is the head of the Sima Clan, a rich merchant family, and the leader of the Crippled Legion, a bunch of Handicapped Badasses who assassinate people on his behalf. Soon, events conspire to sweep him up in almost every major conflict as narrated in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The Ravages of Time is currently serialised in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, with compiled volumes published in China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. It is one of the few manhua of its format to reach such an extensive foreign market.


 * Adaptation Expansion: The series goes into more detail on pretty much everyone who appears in the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms. While it seems that Chen Mou made some of it up on the spot, other characters are well-researched, based on their biographies. One example is Gao Shun; in the manhua he thrashed Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, which matches the historical record. Of course, the details are embellished.
 * A Father to His Men: Almost every notable generals. Subverted with Lu Bu, who is a good boss enough to talents like Zhang Liao, Gao Shun or Chen Gong, but thinks of his mooks as little more than disposable pawns.
 * Alternate Character Interpretation: In-Universe, Up to Eleven. For some examples,  For more, see below.
 * Alas, Poor Villain: Chen Mou really loves doing this In-Universe. Every dead villain gets at least a chapter for an eulogy,
 * The Archer: This is ancient China, so there are many deadly archers:
 * Xiao Meng. In the early chapters he could shoot an arrow with a secret message from the palace in Luoyang to Liaoyuan Huo's hideout in the city.
 * Gan Ning. His halberd has a bowstring attached to it. Claimed to have kill Sun Jian.
 * Cao Xing. Minor character in the novel but is promoted to Badass in the series (for just one volume though). He led an unit of mounted archers which devastate Xiahou Dun and almost shot out his eyes..
 * Huang Zhong. Ultimate archer in the series so far, in one second he disabled three of Sun Ce's generals and almost killed Huang Gai.
 * Attack Pattern Alpha: Those inevitably comes up when two big forces face off with each other. There has even been a 'clash of formations' certain cases. Some of those formations are not strict arrangement of troops, but rather principles for the troops to stick to (how aggressive they are supposed to be and whether they should be holding ground).
 * Lu Meng has peculiar one which deals with "leaving a dump for the enemy". It is unnamed, though.
 * Jia Xu is reputedly the "King of Formations". However, besides the mention of a "Night Travel Formation" which speeds up troop mobilisation in darkness, he wasn't showed using any other named ones.
 * In the battle between Guo Jia and Yuan Shao, a few more surface - Sun Tzu's Encirclement Formation, Laozi's Formation, Army Organization and Guan Zhong. The author pointed out those were named in ancient Chinese texts.
 * There is even supposedly a 'lost formation'.
 * During the battle of Guandu, one of Yuan Shao's generals remarked that though Cao Cao has less soldiers, everyone of them are drilled in at least eight or more formation, making them adaptable in battle.
 * Author Tract: Chan Mou's Word of God has it that "history" is an artificial construct, a work of fiction Written by the Winners, so merging the fables and novels with history books could be more credible than official history, and justifies Alternate Character Interpretation. This view is expressed more than once by the characters:
 * While Lu Bu was fighting off Yuan Shu, a historian from Cao Cao arrived to observe the battle. He was writing up to the part of how Dong Zhuo was killed and said whether to credit Lu Bu for it depends on his performance in the battle with Yuan Shao.
 * Then slightly subverted when the historian sees Lü Bu fighting and concedes that he could never write about him as anything but a great warrior.
 * Liu Bei scoffed at the idea that the last emperors of any dynasty were corrupt or useless, saying that the winners chose to portray them that way to justify their claiming power for themselves.
 * Badass: Pretty much every main character.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses:
 * Liaoyuan Huo and Lu Bu teamed up to kill Dong Zhuo, who was one step ahead and ambushed them with a izable force, plus two skilled assassins. By the time reinforcements arrive, all the ambushers are dead.
 * Liaoyun Huo and Sun Ce faced off an entire army back to back..
 * Gan Ning and Huang Zhong against about 5 very pissed off elite generals of Sun clan. And Huang Zhong gets them both out of it with some helps from the sideline and the spirit of camaraderie.
 * Badass Army: The series feature various groups of elite troops that are a cut above the rest.
 * Cao Cao's troops are so badass that a couple thousands of them managed to beat Li Jue's tens of thousands through Divide and Conquer.
 * Gao Shun's elite troops defeated Xiahou Dun, drove off Xiahou Yuan for second helping, and then proceed to attack Cao Cao's main camp during the battle of Xuzhou.
 * Badass Beard: Guan Yu, given his fame in Ro TK, but really he holds no candle to Huang Zhong.
 * Badass Boast: Zhang Liao - "No one has ever passed the range of my swords".
 * Avert with several minor characters (Ji Ling) who got chopped off immediately after. If you are minor character and said (or being praised) like "I'm better than Lu Bu." or "He's a heavenly warrior.", prepare to be dissected in three pages.
 * Badass Cape
 * Badass Family: The Cao clan and Sun clan.
 * Badass in Charge: Lu Bu, Sun Ce, Liaoyuan Huo, Zhang Liao,..
 * Badass Long Hair
 * Break the Badass: Lu Bu and Sun Ce, who invoke this against almost every badass they meet.
 * Four-Star Badass
 * Big Screwed-Up Family: Most notably, the Liu clan with a powerless teenage Emperor and way too many royal relatives with too much powers on their hands who only look out for their own selfish interests. The Yuan clan is also a prime example, due to the constant in-fightings between the three Yuan brothers
 * Book Ends: The series begins with the death of Sima Yi, then at the heights of power as the de facto leader of Cao Wei and lording over Cao Cao's grandson. If you look closely, the narrations in those black pages inserted at the end of every chapter, which foretells many major events and gives comments on the going-ons in the chapters in a memoir style, are implied to be written from the POV of either Sima Yi or.
 * The Chessmaster: The whole series is full of them. Apart from the main characters, it is a recognised profession, and there are at least two organizations of strategists selling their services to the various warlords.
 * There is the Water Mirror's Eight Geniuses, consisting of various famous advisers in the era.  Each of them is enough to change a no-good warlord into a soaring dragon.
 * Entering the show late in the series are the Eight Freaks, who used superstitions and medical knowledge to fool gullible commoners into believing that they know magic.
 * Adding to the mix are a strange breed of warriors who have the reputation of "Having courage but lacking in wits". However they turn out to be not just one-man-armies, but capable schemers in their own right (See Author Tract avobe)..
 * There are also your usual mix of advisers who are capable, but will never out-shine the Eight Geniuses. Examples: Chen Gong, Lu Xun, Cheng Yu.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Ravages of Time sleeps with this trope and makes it its bitch. And if you think for once that you've counted all of them, think again: another might be waiting for you somewhere for another re-reading. Remember: "Eons of Cultivation For Use in a Single Moment" is pretty much the motto of any genius-level strategist when it comes to armies, resources, and even relationships.
 * Chekhov's Army: Guo Jia is crazily prepared (see below) but Xun Yu takes the prize for being able to think long term by fielding two Chekhov's Armies on different occasions.
 * Chekhov's Boomerang: None takes the cake other than that scene in volume 1, where Sima Yi suggested that his family should invest in rebuilding Luoyang, which was bound to be burnt down by Dong Zhuo, whom Sima Yi correctly surmised to be preparing to leave Luoyang because he didn't have the funds to camp there. It becomes a key point in his next plan of rescuing his brother, then turns up again as a key point that leads to another chessmaster's plan for hostage rescue in volume 3. Fourty-four volumes later, we finally see for ourself what has become of that reconstruction project.
 * Chekhov's Classroom: Pang Tong's hilarious as hell teaching session in volume 20.
 * Chekhov's Gag: Cao Cao's generals don't find his idea of training troops funny.
 * Chekhov's Gunman:.
 * Chekhov's News: In volume 16: "Looks like our lord [Yuan Shu] has found another investor..."
 * Chekhov's Skill: Yu Jin's famous in the Cao army for being the general who is always tardy because of his cautiousness, and the one whose troops always place first in Cao Cao's training sessions.
 * Forbidden Chekhov's Gun: A warlord's rebellious act of capturing the Emperor and installing himself as the regent chancellor.
 * Meaningful Echo: A damn lot. See the character page for more details.
 * Shan Wu Ling's passing line in volume 17: "After lord Sun Jian’s unfortunate death, his descendents came to the Shan clan to avoid their enemies", Sima Yi's dream in volume 1, which turns up in volume 13, can also be counted as one.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Lots of examples, undestandably, but Lu Bu is once again on the top of the pile, topping his feats of backstabbing in the original Romance Of The Three Kingdoms by far.
 * None of the warlord alliances in this series lasts longer than a few volume, and being engaged in one never stops any of these guys from trying to one-up the other.
 * Cool Mask: All of the Eight Geniuses must wear masks to prevent their identity from being revealed until they have 'graduated'. The rationale for this is because they are the best strategists of the time and every warlords want them to lead their armies.
 * Crapsack World: The author goes out of his way to mention this. For example you would be lucky to live up to 30 during this time and betrayal runs rampant.
 * Crazy Prepared: Guo Jia is supposed to have a back-up plan for every situation.
 * And Sima Yi, who is such a crazily prepared chessmaster that people can never, ever, know exactly how many back-up moves he has up his sleeves. No less than three Geniuses (Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Jia Xu) and one Cao Cao has lampshaded it at several points.
 * Cultured Warrior: Again, this is ancient China where aristocratic warriors were expected to be cultured (if often Wicked Cultured) WarriorPoets:
 * Believe it or not,  is an accomplished artist, skilled at painting landscape and imitating anyone's handwriting.
 * Cao Cao and his sons were renowned poets, and founded one of the major styles of poetry of the time.
 * Ji Ling loves to quote the sages and from history books. Zhang Liao called him "a good student" on a battlefield once when Ji Ling was lecturing all of them.
 * Notable subversion in Lu Meng, who's fond of shitting on everything under the sun. Knowing the source material, however, it's only a matter of time before he turns into one.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Usually happens when it is Lu Bu vs. anyone.
 * During the Battle of Puyang, Lu Bu fight Dian Wei, Xu Zhu, Han Hao, Cao Hong and Yu Jin all the same time, and thrashed them.
 * Then there's Sun Ce, who kicks Zhang Liao's ass, then the legion of foot soldiers between him and Cao Cao, then Cao Cao's entire prized Tiger and Leopard Cavalry..
 * Derivative Works: The novel series penned by Wang Yi Xing, which so far has featured Liaoyuan Huo ("Crippled Legion"), Xiao Meng ("Xiao Meng"), Lu Bu ("Feng Xian"), Zhang Fei ("Yi De"), Sun Ce ("Bo Fu") and Yuan Fang ("Yuan Fang"), each with their respective side stories with the contents approved by the author. Whether the series is considered canon remains to be seen, what with its addition of details not included in the main story (which fuels much fan rage to the possibility of Recursive Adaptation), its changes of some plot points and its take on the character's inner turmoils bordering on Flanderization.
 * Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Whenever The Mole, Reverse Mole, and Double Agent get used, it sometimes turns into this.
 * Discussed Trope: Chen Mou loves to do this. Sometimes, the tropes in discussion might even be shown to be invoked, averted or subverted at the same times.
 * Because Destiny Says So: As put by Xu Lin in the beginning chapters and echoed several times by other characters, once even by the author himself in an interview - "Those who are fated to die will die. Those who are fated to live will live."
 * Cruel to Be Kind: How Cao Cao, Guo Jia and Jia Xu see their brutal methods as - they're willing to tell anyone who would listen that they're for the sake of wiping out the villains who corrupt the country and bring peace to the people. And given the setting, these arguments actually make a lot of sense.
 * Genius Bruiser: Chen Gong, as do many other wise strategists, believe - and tell others to convince themselves to believe - that every warrior who is in a command positition of an army is one. They are.
 * Honor Before Reason and Face Death with Dignity: Discussed and defied by several characters, most notably Lu Bu, who value their lives more than superficial pride since they believe there's always a chance for comebacks as long as they're alive.
 * Undying Loyalty: Discussed as a powerful and much despised means of literati and conquerors to subjugate their servants.
 * Written by the Winners: See Author Tract above.
 * Faking the Dead: Often employed to lull an enemy into a false sense of security.
 * Lu Bu faked death numerous times by sacrificing substitutes. He even once asked his subordinates, "So, how many times I have 'died'?"
 * Cao Cao, in the battle of Puyang, faked his death to draw Lu Bu out.
 * Sun Ce faked death numerous times..
 * Foreshadowing: Ravages of Time is practically married to this trope and has dropped hints, both obvious and subtle, for the ending of many characters since chapter one, but it will take a long time for a lot of them to make sense to readers since they predict events very far into the future, while the manhua's plot barely covers a third of the novel at the moment. A few spectacular examples would be:
 * Sima Yi's dream in the 1st chapter, which foreshadows his death in a fashion markedly different from historical records and the novel.
 * In volume 21, when Ling Tong calls Sun Ce out, Sun Ce admits he knows what he does is wrong, and that if there's divine justice, he "will die in extreme agony".
 * In volume 27, upon discovering Pang Tong is traveling across a river, Liaoyuan Huo prepares to shoot him with an arrow, but eventually doesn't . Chen Mou's brilliance will hit you in the face if you remember that
 * In volume 41, upon learning that Liu Bei treasures his sworn brothers, Guan Yu laments that "[Liu Bei's] sentiment over brotherhood will ruin their ideal".
 * In volume 43, during his extermination of Yuan Fang's moles in the courts, Xun Yu once again swears his loyalty to Emperor, and that the Emperor will be safe on his throne "as long as he remains".
 * See also Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism below, for Sima Yi's prediction of, and Zhuge Liang's prediction of
 * Gambit Pileup: Happens in almost every major arc. Usually, the case is: a warlord sets up a Xanatos Gambit to fulfill his agenda, which happens to clash with another warlord's Xanatos Gambit pursuing a different goal because hey, the world is a small place for a series full of chessmasters. And let's not count the third parties, who want to see them up against each other to gain some benefits from it, and utilize other Xanatos Gambit(s) of their own.
 * The hostage rescue arc in volume 1-5, in which Yuan Fang and Dong Zhuo exchange blows, the former with the purpose of taking over Luoyang and rescuing the Guandong hostages and the latter with the purpose of using the hostages and Luoyang as bait to kill Yuan Shao. Meanwhile, the Crippled Legion members infiltrate both side to carry out a rescue mission of their own. In the end, neither nor  achieve their desired goals, and the ultimate winner is, who.
 * Cao Cao's first Xuzhou campaign. At first it looks like one of his attempt to gain control of a big territory, which is then thwarted by repeated counter Xanatos Gambit from Liaoyuan Huo, Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang. But then it turns out that Lu Bu has been eyeing Xuzhou and Cao Cao's homebase as well and chooses this moment to step into the scene, and Guo Jia reveals that baiting Lu Bu is what he's been aiming at ever since the beginning of this campaign. This arc culminates in an all-out battle between Cao Cao and Lu Bu, and.
 * The Rise of Sun Ce arc. The main players are Yuan Shu, who wants to obtain the Imperial seal the Sun clan has been hiding, and Sun Ce, who wants to gain military supports from Yuan Shu to return to the Eastern region. Behind the scene is Cao Cao, who has instructed the Shan clan and Sima clan to help Sun Ce, so that Yuan Shu's force will be diminished and thus eliminates another threat on his side.
 * A minor one is Lu Bu's takeover of Xuzhou. Zhang Fei and Lu Bu duke it out in a ferocious battle of wits, and . But it's only because . Then it's revealed that  has been funding them both in the hope that they will kill each other and save him a big load of trouble, and that's why . Yuan Shu is no mere spectator to this play either,.
 * The Sun Ce vs. Taiping cult arc. At first it's only between Sun Ce and Yu Ji, then gets involved to help Sun Ce by orders of his teacher who hates Yu Ji's guts, then  gets involved to help Yu Ji because he thinks Sun Ce's getting out of control. Zhou Yu even solicits the aids of  to prepare for a surprise attack on Cao Cao's force. The outcome of this battle is a bitter victory for both sides: Sun Ce defeats Yu Ji and his Taiping army, while the Taiping cult  but loses Yu Ji, meaning their whole plan to take over the Eastern region is doomed.
 * Genre Shift: The series originally started with more combat, feats of exaggerated prowess (such as Zhang Fei hurling a man over a city wall), and Wuxia elements, such as SignatureMoves and Calling Your Attacks. However, over time the author found fans more receptive to the mind games, and the action of the series toned down after the fourth volume.
 * Gray and Grey Morality: There are no real "good guys". Even the best characters have plenty of I Did What I Had to Do moments. Every single warlord of the era has their own rationalisation for plunging into war against the others.
 * Yuan Shu believes by declaring his own kingdom he can protect the commoners within his domain from more warfare.
 * Yuan Shao wants to root out the other 'corrupted' dukes so that the Han Dynasty will be strong.
 * Cao Cao claims by seizing power for himself, he's helping the Emperor to rule the kingdom.
 * Liu Bei wants to set to an example to discourage others from overthrowing rulers through warfare and armed rebellion.
 * Well, Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu pretty much wanted to take over China because they liked power, so make it Grey and Black Morality.
 * Handicapped Badass: There is the Crippled Legion, a group of assassins who are all handicapped in one way or another. People tend to over-look them when assessing threats.
 * Ho Yay: Most of the men who lust after the beautiful eunuch Xiao Meng do so while he is disguised as a woman, but Liaoyuan Huo  knows that he is a man, and seems pretty clearly in love with him anyway.
 * So does Lu Bu.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Partly an artifact of cultural and language translation, but for example:
 * "Three Legs, One Knife".
 * "Repugnant Insects And The Empire".
 * "The Golden Oriole From Behind".
 * I Know You Know I Know: The series is full of those. One strategist would lay out a plan, and in the end would say, "Of course, if the enemy strategist is any good, he would know that I will be planning this, so...".
 * Chapter 177 plays this straight. Zhang Fei and Chen Gong were scheming against each other; the former was trying to lure Lu Bu to Xiapi to kill him while the latter wish to drive out Zhang Fei to take Xiapi. Both of them outlines their plans, and the narrative switch back and forth between them anticipating each other.
 * According to Pang Tong, the ultimate strategy is to "Let your opponent know your next step. Even more brilliant is to let your opponent know your next two steps."
 * Kansas City Shuffle: Guo Jia played this one straight beautifully in the battle to take Xiapi.
 * Killed Off for Real: This manhua does not shrink from killing off characters.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Considering the source material, this is to be expected, and the author throws in new characters, some of whom play significant roles, such as Yuan Fang,.
 * Long Runner: The series is already up to Chapter 309, and the Battle of Guandu isn't over yet. Consider that Guandu finished in the first quarter of the door-stopping original. There only have been two chapters of fillers so far.
 * Chen Mou apparently once said that at the rate he's going, his son will end up writing the Battle of Chi Bi, while his grandson will be in time for the Battle of Wu Zhang Plains.
 * The Messiah: Liu Bei.
 * No One Could Survive That: Liaoyuan Huo and Dian Wei has been stabbed through, cut, smashed and generally endured enough abuse to kill any other man ten times over. Helps that the former does not feel pain. The latter's just a berserker.
 * Crosses over into You Fail Biology Forever at times though. Not feeling pain doesn't change the fact that a certain fatal blow is fatal. At times, I wonder if Liaoyuan is gonna get his head cut off then sewed back on because he doesn't take damage because he can't feel pain, right?
 * Obfuscating Stupidity:
 * Listed with the character above are also, and.
 * One-Man Army: Plenty of these too.
 * Lu Bu single-handedly tried to break through the siege of Xiapi with his daughter strapped to his back. Mooks swarmed him, and he was outnumbered at least 100 to 1. He still managed to take out all of Cao Cao's generals, and was only beaten by Zhang Fei when he was exhausted.
 * Liaoyuan Huo and Zhang Liao tore through Yuan Tan's elite forces like hot knife through butter.
 * Sun Ce was trapped behind enemy lines, got all his troops killed and still survived.
 * Basically any fighter worth anything could take on at least 20 or more regular soldiers. Top fighters could charge into armies and slaughter them with ease.
 * Only Six Faces: The female characters in this series have very similar designs with only different hairstyles, a fact many fans are not happy about.
 * Pen Name: Chen Mou (陳某) is a pseudonym meaning Mr. Chen. Given how common the surname Chen is in China, it is roughly the equivalent of calling himself Mr. Smith.
 * The Power of Friendship - The Peach Garden Trio (Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei) are the most famous, but quite a few groups of people are also bound to their friendship to each other. (However, the former classmates that are the Eight Geniuses consider each other rivals and pretty much go their own way to serve different lords.)
 * Guan Yu surrendered to Cao Cao in exchange for safety for his elder brother's family . Liu Bei's reply: "If my son is dead, I can beget another. If my brother leaves, how can I replace a missing arm?"
 * Rain of Arrows. Expect to see some of these whenever 2 large forces fight.
 * Redshirt Army. Huge armies clash, but most of the common soldiers seem to exist only to die under the blades of the heroic characters.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: In-story, political viewpoints of Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi are (as usual for Rot 3 K adaptations) positioned on the opposing ends of the scale. Zhuge Liang belives at using his talents to raise a morally upstanding leader to the throne, while Sima Yi's plan from the very beginning of civil wars is to support whatever warlord is most capable, to end the chaos quickly, and then to take over the resulting regime. What is unusual, both are portrayed as having valid points. Sima Yi's plan was the one that succeeded in the end and led to unification of China. However, Zhuge Liang pointed out that a ruler sets an example for their subjects, so a regime established by a machiavellian schemer, whose decisions are based solely on political expediency, will be inherently corrupt and unstable. And indeed, historically the rule of Sima clan was neither prosperous nor long.
 * Tear Jerker: Pretty much any major character's death is this. See the Tear Jerker page for more info.
 * Undying Loyalty: If the lord is even remotely decent or charismatic, expect his followers to show a lot of this. In-universe Lu Bu eyes this with frustration, and his defiance of this trope highlights another aspect of his "unhuman" characteristics as regarded by the common men.
 * Thanatos Gambit: Several times. Notably, two of Dong Zhuo's underlings sacrifice themselves within a short period of time to set traps for Lu Bu in revenge for their lord's death.
 * Took a Level In Badass. Happens to many, during the course of the story. Take note that many of those people were Badass to begin with, so it is more properly titled as "took another level in badass".
 * Liu Bei. After Lu Bu took Xiapi from him, Liu Bei became more pragmatic and less idealistic..
 * Liaoyuan Huo..
 * Zhang Liao, after being defeated by Sun Ce.
 * Xanatos Gambit: With nearly every significant character getting upgraded to strategists on top of the actual strategists in the source material, this is unavoidable.
 * You Shall Not Pass: When an one-man army turns their mind away from offense to defence, this happens. (Usually coupled with some Badass Boast.)
 * Zhang Liao: "No one yet has passed the reach of my sword." He repeated this feat at least four times.
 * Guan Yu: "Those who dare to step through this circle of blood, will suffer the same fate."
 * Liaoyuan Huo: "I'm in a bad mood today. Scram!"
 * Viewers Are Geniuses: This manhua is fairly no-holds-barred in assuming familiarity with Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Confucian philosophy, the writings of Mencius, and so on. Understanding the plot requires considerable concentration and re-reading too.
 * The Worf Effect. The best way establish you are somebody within the Three Kingdoms era? Beat up one of these guys.
 * Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan (and their squad) have been thrashed rather consistently to establish how Badass Cao Cao's various enemies are, though Dun at least would recover somewhat as a "tunnel rat" during Battle of Guandu.
 * Lampshaded when Zhang Fei and Guan Yu 'cheated' to help Liu Bei win in a duel against Lu Bu. Liu Bei's fame immediately skyrocketed -- just as Zhang Fei and Guan Yu had intended.
 * If a named character who hadn't appeared is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is presented as smart or powerful, you can be fairly certain, that he will be used by one of the original/historical characters as a stepping stone. Handicapped Warriors seem to be a major exception to that, until we learn that Liaoyuan Huo.
 * On the advisor front, you know that the shit has gotten real when your Water-Mirror Geniuses get outwitted routinely by a single guy.