Gradually, out of the chaos, three kingdoms take shape: the kingdom of Shu, led by the virtuous Liu Bei (a distant cousin of the Emperor) and his sworn brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei the kingdom of Wei, led by the scheming Cao Cao and the kingdom of Wu, led by the ambitious Sun family. The tale begins in the last days of the corrupt Han Dynasty, showing how the government and Emperor lost the 'Mandate of Heaven' (天命), and the land fell into anarchy, with various warlords carving out their own territories in a struggle for supremacy.
