Zhou Yu was the finest young strategist of the south — handsome, brilliant, and ambitious. At twenty-four, he was already Supreme Commander of Sun Quan navy.

But his brilliance was matched only by his jealousy.

Zhuge Liang was everything Zhou Yu could never be: calm where Zhou Yu was fiery, patient where Zhou Yu was impetuous, and unfailingly correct in predictions that Zhou Yu wanted to make himself.

"As long as Kongming lives," Zhou Yu told his wife, Xiao Qiao, "I shall never be the greatest mind of this age."

Three times he tried to kill Zhuge Liang. Three times Zhuge Liang outwitted him.

First, Zhou Yu sent Zhuge Liang to forge ten thousand arrows in three days, expecting him to fail and face execution. Zhuge Liang floated straw boats into enemy waters at dawn, collected the arrows shot at them by panicked soldiers, and returned with more than ten thousand.

Second, Zhou Yu tried to trap him with a mission that seemed impossible. Zhuge Liang completed it before Zhou Yu could finish gloating.

Third — but by the third attempt, Zhou Yu was already dying. The stress of his own schemes had eaten away at him. On his deathbed, he whispered, "If Heaven gave birth to Yu, why did it also give birth to Liang?"

The greatest strategist of his generation died of his own jealousy.