Chinese Lore Podcast

With a few strokes of his brush, Cao Cao sows dissent in Ma Chao’s inner circle.

Cao Cao’s opening rounds against Ma Chao get a little hairy.

Another week, another conspiracy against Cao Cao, and another evil-woman trope.

A look at the most legendary battle of the novel and how the fictional account differs from the real showdown.

Zhuge Liang delivers a heartfelt eulogy for a dearly departed friend, while Pang Tong shows how to advance your career by not doing your job.

Zhou Yu devises yet again scheme to take Jing Province, because he’s a glutton for punishment.

Liu Bei and his new wife try to flee from the murderously angry clutches of Sun Quan and Zhou Yu.

Sun Quan and Liu Bei are now brothers-in-law as the fake wedding becomes real.

ROTK goes in search of higher TV ratings: Several role players get killed off, and we have a surprise marriage proposal.

After seeing his colleagues each conquer a county, Guan Yu wants in on the action, but an “old pawn” stands in his way.

While Dongwu and Cao Cao are busy fighting each other, Liu Bei expands his sphere of influence.

Zhou Yu fools Cao Ren; Cao Ren fools Zhou Yu; Zhou Yu fools Cao Ren again; Zhuge Liang fools everyone; Zhou Yu bursts a blood vessel.

Routed and trapped, Cao Cao and his haggard troops throw themselves at the mercy of the man blocking their path.

A little Christmas morning stocking stuffer: A look at some of the guys that Zhuge Liang keeps getting compared to.

The Battle of Red Cliffs goes badly for Cao Cao, but he still finds reasons to feel smug, much to his men’s chagrin.

After Zhuge Liang moves heaven and earth, Zhou Yu and Liu Bei move their troops into position for the coming battle.

Delighted by his invincible fleet and moved by the scenery, Cao Cao shows off his literary chops … until someone decided to play critic.

Zhou Yu and a couple other wise men of Dongwu spin an elaborate ruse for Cao Cao to faceplant into.

Zhou Yu presents Zhuge Liang with an invented problem. Zhuge Liang delivers an outside-the-box answer.

Zhou Yu gets visits from Liu Bei and an old school chum, and he cannot not be happier to see them.

Sun Quan formally declares war on Cao Cao, while his commander Zhou Yu secretly declares war on their supposed allies.

Zhuge Liang has a little homonymical fun with Zhou Yu as they discuss whether the Southlands should fight or submit to Cao Cao.

When Zhuge Liang finds himself in the same room as the Southlands’ foremost academics, the gloves come off and jabs fly. Verbal jabs, of course.

Zhang Fei’s cunning is the only things standing between Liu Bei and Cao Cao’s army. Well, that and his really loud, really deadly voice.

All hell breaks loose as Cao Cao’s troops catch up to Liu Bei. Out of this hell rides his general Zhao Yun, with a precious package strapped to his chest.

Zhuge Liang burns another detachment of Cao Cao’s troops, but there are plenty more where that came from.

Zhuge Liang blazes to victory in his first battle, but Cao Cao turns up the heat on Jing Province.

While Sun Quan prepares for a retaliatory strike from Liu Biao, Liu Biao and Liu Bei brace for an invasion by Cao Cao.

We leave Liu Bei with his new sage and check in on what the Sun clan has been up to.

We bid goodbye to the once-mighty warlord of the North and delve into the story of a determined assassin.

Liu Bei’s strategy for finding Zhuge Liang: Go up to anyone in Nanyang who can rub two words together and ask, “Are you Sleeping Dragon?”

Liu Bei gets really broken up about Xu Shu’s departure, until he learns there’s someone much smarter.

Approach Liu Bei on the street, sing a song, get invited to his office, advise him to give his horse to an enemy, get C-suite job.

Liu Bei gets invited to a feast, but Lady Cai and her brother ruin the fun when they try to kill him.

The surviving Yuan brothers get a cold reception from their host up north, and Liu Bei commits a dinner-table faux pas down south.

Riding a wave of inevitability, Cao Cao sweeps the Yuan brothers out of their territories.

The eldest and youngest sons of Yuan Shao take on their most hated foe — each other.

Yuan Shao finally has enough of Cao Cao, and now it’s his sons’ turn to get stomped.

Cao Cao puts a couple more smackdowns on Yuan Shao, but then gets distracted by a pesky old foe.

Night raids, catapults, tunnels, fires. All these and more in a CG-packed episode and one of the most important clashes in the novel.

Sun Ce starts seeing his favorite Daoist priest here, there, and everywhere.

Liu Bei and his gang of loyal followers meet up for a reunion tour, with a few new faces in the mix.

Guan Yu unexpectedly discovers a lost brother, who gives him a surprising welcome.

Guan Yu leaves Xuchang with Cao Cao’s blessings. If only Cao Cao had bothered to tell the men guarding the checkpoints along the way ….

Guan Yu does a couple huge favors for Cao Cao and then discovers Liu Bei’s whereabouts.

As Guan Yu prepares to fight to the death against Cao Cao, an old friend gives him three reasons why that is a bad idea and three reasons for surrendering instead. Guan Yu responds with three conditions.

We take a look at the history of the more-trouble-than-it’s-worth imperial hereditary seal that everyone wants and everyone seems to regret getting.

Dong Cheng and company demonstrate how not to run a conspiracy.

While one of Cao Cao’s old enemies submit, he gets trolled by a new thorn in his side who just won’t shut up.

We saw Lü Bu exit stage left a couple episodes back. In this supplemental episode, we take a look at the historical Lü Bu versus his fictional counterpart.