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Zhao Zhong is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhao.


Zhao Zhong is a unique legendary Strategist hero in Total War: Three Kingdoms. He is a member of Liu Hong in 182. He is a court noble and cannot be deployed on the campaign map or on the battlefield.


General Information[]

Attributes[]

Main Article: Attributes (Total War: Three Kingdoms)

TW3K ICO expertise
Expertise
TW3K ICO resolve
Resolve
TW3K ICO cunning
Cunning
TW3K ICO instinct
Instinct
TW3K ICO authority
Authority
52 77 105 54 48
-7% construction cost (administered commandery)
+3k population growth (administered commandery)
+2 satisfaction (faction-wide, if leader, heir or prime minister)


Background[]

Main Article: Background (Total War: Three Kingdoms)

Imperial Mother


Traits[]

Main Article: Traits (Total War: Three Kingdoms)


Skills[]

Main Article: Skill (Total War: Three Kingdoms)


Ancillaries[]


Guanxi[]

Main Article: Guanxi

Zhao Zhong doesn't have any relationships with other characters.


Biography[]

Zhao Zhong was a eunuch and one of the more prominent members of the Ten Attendants. His rise to prominence predates the rule of Emperor Ling (Liu Hong), though he certainly became more important under Ling. Together with another eunuch, Zhang Rang, he was considered to be a parental figure to the emperor, with Zhao Zhong being his "mother" and Zhang Rang his "father". Certainly, he was one of the closest advisors to the emperor and made sure to keep it that way through the use of force. Those officials, including other eunuchs, who spoke out against Zhao Zhong often found themselves dead or sidelined.

One of the richer eunuchs, Zhao Zhong was prone to spending great amounts of wealth on luxury extravagancies despite the economic woes of China at the time. He became especially unpopular when he levied further taxes on the already struggling peasantry to repair and renovate the Southern Palace of Luoyang after it had caught fire. He made further enemies both at the court with Empress He and with the military, after General Huangfu Song seized his extravagant mansion during the Liang Rebellion, which resulted in Zhao Zhong having Song removed from command and shamed.

Zhao Zhong was perhaps one of if not the most notorious and corrupt members of the Ten Attendants, yet he was protected thanks to the favour he enjoyed from the emperor. However, when Emperor Ling died in 189 AD, that protection was gone. In the wake of his death, Liu Bian became the new child emperor, controlled largely by his mother, Empress Dowager He, and her half-brother, the General-in-Chief of the Han Empire: He Jin. He Jin, in particular, began ridding the court of eunuchs, though he retained the positions of the more important ones, including Zhao Zhong. Still, finding themselves sidelined, the enraged eunuchs had He Jin assassinated.

What followed was Yuan Shao, who had previously pressed He Jin to purge the Ten Attendants as well, storming Luoyang and slaughtering every eunuch he could get his hands on, including Zhao Zhong. His luxurious tomb which he had most likely funded through his embezzlement remained unused, and it is unsure what happened to Zhao Zhong's body. Instead, it came to house the child emperor Liu Bian when he was killed by Dong Zhuo a year later. Somewhat ironically, when Emperor Xian briefly returned to Luoyang in 196 after escaping the custody of Li Jue and Guo Si in Chang'an, he took up residence in Zhao Zhong's former manor in the city, indicating that the eunuch's over-the-top luxury was so great that it was fit for the lifestyle of an emperor.


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