Nanzhong

The Battle of Nanzhong (南中の戦い, rōmaji: Nanchu 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 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 story mode. 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.

In Dynasty Warriors 7, the battle does not appear in the main story, yet it is mentioned in Shu's narration scene.

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.

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. Zhao Yun later saves Meng Huo's army from Orochi's army. Cao Pi saved Zhang He from the assault from Zhao Yun's forces convincing him to fight for Cao Pi. Nagamasa, Oichi and Gan Ning later save Tadakatsu's sons from Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu's assault.

In Warriors Orochi 2, Wu cooperates with Meng Huo to defeat Cao Pi. 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.

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.