The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.

It was the final years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Son of Heaven, Emperor Ling, sat upon the Dragon Throne, but the true power lay in the hands of the Ten Eunuchs who whispered poison into his ears. Throughout the land, the Yellow Scarves Rebellion had erupted, led by the sorcerer Zhang Jiao and his brothers, threatening to consume the empire in flames.

In Zhuo County, a notice was posted calling for righteous men to join the imperial forces against the rebels. Among the crowd that gathered before it stood three men who would change the course of history.

The first was Liu Bei, twenty-eight years old, of humble origins though descended from the Han imperial line. Tall of stature, with arms that reached below his knees and ears so large they touched his shoulders, he possessed a gentle heart beneath an unremarkable exterior. He sold straw sandals for a living.

The second was Guan Yu, also twenty-eight, a man of magnificent bearing with a beard two feet long and a face the color of a ripe date. His eyes were like those of a phoenix, his eyebrows like silkworms. He had fled his home county after killing a corrupt official who abused the common people.

The third was Zhang Fei, a butcher and wine seller, younger than his companions but already famed for his ferocious temper and prodigious strength. His voice could scatter birds from the sky, and his face was dark as iron.

"Alas," Liu Bei sighed before the notice, "a man should serve his country in its hour of need. But what can one man do alone?"

"Brother," Zhang Fei's voice boomed, "I have land behind my manor. Let us gather men and raise a force of our own!"

They retreated to Zhang Fei's estate, where a peach orchard bloomed in glorious spring. The fragrance of blossoms filled the air as the three men knelt before a simple altar with incense, a black ox, and a white horse.

"We three—Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei—though of different families, swear brotherhood. From this day forward, we shall share one heart, one purpose. We shall protect the common people and rescue the empire from chaos. We seek not to be born on the same day, nor to die on the same day—but should heaven will it so, we shall face death together. May heaven and earth bear witness to this oath."

Rising from their knees, they became brothers not by blood, but by something far stronger.

And from this simple oath in a peach garden would spring the greatest saga of loyalty, betrayal, strategy, and warfare that the Chinese world has ever known.