Nanzhong

The Battle of Nanzhong (南中の戦い, rōmaji: Nanchū no Tatakai), also called the Nanman Campaign in earlier titles, often entails Zhuge Liang's southern campaign to subjugate the Southern tribes. It is a series of battles against their leader, Meng Huo. Other kingdoms also subdue them in their respective scenarios. Players see many different versions of the region during the games.

Dynasty Warriors
In the Dynasty Warriors series, the battle loosely follows the events entailed in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Normally, the Shu forces attack Meng Huo and must defeat him seven times until he agrees to join the Shu forces. The battle often involves secret passages, poison swamps, powerful troops, vicious beasts and other tricks that Meng Huo's forces attempt to use against Zhuge Liang, but they are easily thwarted after the completion of a few simple missions.

Nan Zhong is also the stage for Wu's campaigns in the south. On Lu Xun's suggestion, Sun Quan leads an army to protect their southern borders after the Battle of Chi Bi. Meng Huo attempts to stage an ambush on Sun Quan's men by luring them to the bottom section of the map. He then surrounds Wu's main camp with a team of elephant riders and tiger troops. An engineer team will try to cut off the central bridge to further isolate Sun Quan. Unlike Shu's version of the campaigns, Wu kills Meng Huo to suppress the south in Dynasty Warriors 5.

Meng Huo's Legend Mode in the Xtreme Legends expansions explores the possibility of being invaded by Wei after Shu falls. In Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends, Meng Huo tries to sacrifice himself so that his men and wife can safely escape Sima Zhao's army. The following installment's expansion has him work together with his tribe to uphold their promise to Zhuge Liang and they drive back Sima Yi.

In Dynasty Warriors 4, the battle is optional if playing the Shu and Wu story modes. It is also infamous for being one of the hardest battles in the game to complete, with a very undersized allied army, the constant climate change affecting ally morale and enemy morale often rising with Meng Huo's each subsequent reappearance. Meng Huo can also be very hard to defeat if his troop and morale count are high as he fights with greater fervor, so taking out nearby troops may be recommended. If Yong Kai and his subofficers are routed fast enough, Dallai Dongzhou and Dong Tuna will defect to the Shu ranks. Completing the stage triggers the Nanman reinforcements at the Battle of Yi Ling.

Nan Zhong also appears as an optional quest for the next-gen ports of Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. It has two maps in Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires as well as seeing the return of Meng Huo and unique Nanman generals but both maps are rather small and the Nanman lack many of their unique tactics.

In Dynasty Warriors 7, the battle does not appear in the main story, yet it is mentioned in Shu's narration scene. Sanjiang Castle appears as a map in conquest mode and in the Xtreme Legends expansion, where Bao Sanniang has it as her legendary stage.

In Dynasty Warriors 8, it is also given a brief mention in the historical route, but the battle returns during the hypothetical route. The combined Shu-Wu army led by Zhuge Liang and Lu Su, look to pacify Nanzhong. Mounts cannot be ridden on this stage and the player has to overcome various plots such as ambushes, the recurring Meng Huo and Zhurong, and tigers and elephant attacks as well while trying to use Yueying's juggernauts and Nanman features such as elephants to your advantage. By defeating Zhurong three times, this will allow her and Meng Huo to arrive as reinforcements at the siege of Luoyang.

This is also Zhurong's personal scenario where she sets out to look for her husband, while rescuing the isolated Nanman forces from the Shu onslaught. She eventually finds Meng Huo fighting Guan Suo and Guan Yinping in the central garrison and although initially angry, calms down and then both husband, wife and army charge to defeat Zhuge Liang.

The map from Dynasty Warriors 5 where Wu invades the Nanman also appears as a DLC pack for Dynasty Warriors 8, which can be played for both sides and aside from a larger amount of reinforcements for both forces, the battle remains the same as before. Like the other DLC packs, there is also an animal battle where you can obtain the limited-edition Amazon Bird. In this battle, the player fights on the heavily surrounded Wei side. It begins with Pang Tong leading a large coalition of Shu officers to assault Cao Cao's camp in the northwest. The player must keep both Cao Cao and Guo Jia safe. Once the Eastern Garrison falls, Guo Jia will stay to defend the area. The player must defeat Li Hui to break through the Southern Garrison. Xu Shu will blockade the southwest fort, forcing the player to try and draw him out from the centre. When the eastern blockade is breached, Li Dian and Yue Jin will arrive to back Guo Jia up. Once the player makes it to Cao Cao's side, and rescues him from a slew of officers led by Guan Yu's children, he will award the player with the Amazon Bird. Then, the player must defeat Pang Tong in the north camp to finish the stage.

Nanzhong is also seen in the Xtreme Legends expansion as a scenario for both Meng Huo and Zhurong, where the two drive out poachers. When the battle begins poachers will arrive in the following order; Yuan Shao will appear to take the elephants, Xiaoqiao appears to take the pandas, Yueying appears at the northeast to take the tigers there, Liu Biao and Yuan Shu attack the northwestern garrison to take the elephants, Dian Wei appears in the central area to take the tigers, and Dong Zhuo appears to seize any animal within the vicinity. Defeating Dong Zhuo will put a firm stop to the poachers, but allowing more than three animals to be taken or letting Meng Huo get defeated will result in defeat.

Warriors Orochi
In Warriors Orochi, Zhao Yun's army is assisted by Jiang Wei after their escape from Ueda Castle. They set up an ambush for 4 officers under Orochi. If the ambush is successful, Jiang Wei will join Zhao Yun's cause and become playable. Zhao Yun later saves Meng Huo's army from Orochi's army. As a result, Meng Huo, and Zhu Rong joins Zhao Yun's cause and fight against Orochi. Cao Pi saved Zhang He from the assault from Zhao Yun's forces convincing him to fight for Cao Pi. If Cao Pi meets up with Zhang He, Zhang He will join Cao Pi's cause and become playable. Nagamasa, Oichi, and Gan Ning later save Tadakatsu's sons from Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu's assault. If the player saves Tadakatsu's son and defeat Lu Bu in 2 minutes without losing any yellow officers, Tadakatsu will be impressed and might be unlocked as a playable character.

In Warriors Orochi 2, Wu cooperates with Meng Huo to defeat Cao Pi. If the player helps Meng Huo succeed with all the fire attacks and defeat Pang Tong, the player will be able to get the treasure. Regardless, Meng Huo and Zhu Rong joins Wu's cause in the end. It's a dream mode stage where Liu Bei and Sun Ce have a practice battle, while Wei Yan, Kojirō Sasaki, and Taishi Ci fight their rivals/ allies without hate or malice. This is also present for another dream mode stage where Ma Chao, Kanetsugu Naoe, and Nagamasa Azai rescue peasants from Kiyomori's army. During the battle, Yukimura Sanada also arrives to assist them.

In Musou OROCHI Z, San Zang, Himiko, and Sun Wukong must save Gracia while dealing with Kotarō's phantoms.

Warriors Orochi 3 gives Nanzhong a Greek-style design with a temple at the center of the stage. Nemea, Sun Shangxiang, Kai, Ding Feng, and Kaguya pursue the fleeing Da Ji while saving Meng Huo, Zhurong and Wei Yan from being overwhelmed by the demon army and fighting their way past Achilles, Motonari Mōri and Himiko. Although Da Ji manages to escape, the coalition captures Himiko, but Kai allows the girl to leave. Meng Huo returns to Nanzhong with Zhurong, Wei Yan and Zhang He to save the land from the serpent army. They come across Kojirō, who helps them drive off the demons and later joins the coalition.