Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is a supplemental episode.

If you are listening to this episode on the day that it was released, Merry Christmas!

I just want to say thank you for all your

support this past year in helping the show improve its quality and expand its audience. And thank

you to everyone who has written to tell me what the show means to you. It's always a treat to get

those messages.

Please accept this supplemental episode as a thank you gift and a Christmas stocking stuffer.

In this episode, I want to introduce you to a few of the legendary advisors in Chinese history.

I'm going to cover four guys, Jiang Ziya, Zhang Liang, Guangzheng, and Yue Yi.

So ever since we were introduced to Zhuge Liang in the novel,

we have been hearing a lot of comparisons to these guys,

so I think it would be helpful to give you some context about who they were.

First, let's talk about Jiang Zia, the earliest of the four. He lived at the end of the Shang Dynasty,

around the 1,100s BC. The Shang was considered the second Chinese dynasty, although it is the

first dynasty for which we have solid evidence of its

existence. The Shang was said to have lasted something like 700 years, but by the time of

Jiang Ziya, it was fading fast. According to some versions of his story, Jiang Ziaz

supposedly served in the court of the last king of the

Shang for a while, but left because of the king's wicked ways. From there, he was said to have

traveled near and far to the surrounding kingdoms, but none of their rulers really made much use

of him. Before you know it, Jiang Ziyah was an old man who had accomplished

...