Tianshui

The Battle of Tianshui (天水の戦い, rōmaji: Tensui no Tatakai) is a battle between Wei and Shu. In the Dynasty Warriors series the battle's purpose is similar to the novel: for Jiang Wei to defect to Shu.

Historically there wasn't any battle that happened in Tianshui, just a simple revolt. Zhuge Liang's aim was to capture the cities of Nan'an, Anding, and Tianshui, which would all be pacified by Zhang He later.

Dynasty Warriors
The fourth installment is the stage's debut as a Shu Tales stage, which can only be unlocked when during Shu Act III, if the player does not play Battle of Bo Wan Po and through either having Zhuge Liang and Huang Gai die or defeating Cao Cao before anything happens, to have the fire attack fail when they play Chi Bi.

The initial appearance of the map is an expanded-yet-altered section of the Wu Zhang Plains series of maps, with more emphasis on the eastern side that shows Tian Shui Castle itself (Ji Castle is off in the northwest as it is the castle stronghold for the Wei side of Wu Zhang Plains itself). The battle starts out with Zhuge Liang instructing that Jiang Wei, Yin Shang, and Liang Xu to defect to their side, and thus not to engage them or take any of the two main castles. The player must succeed with this in taking out a few officers while Jiang Wei charges out due to Ma Zun's mistrust of him (as Jiang Wei is paranoid of Zhuge Liang's schemes). Taking this chance without entering Ji Castle off in the west, Zhuge Liang will instruct the player to take out both of Jiang Wei's sub officers (Zhu Ling and Hu Zhi) in order to isolate him and force him to defect. Once successful, Jiang Wei will send in agents (as a player or CPU) into Tian Shui castle in order to oblige Yin Shang and Liang Xu to open the gates to Tian Shui castle, allowing the player to move in to take out Ma Zun. However, should the battle linger during that time, Xiahou Yuan can arrive as reinforcements, which can extend the battle time as the main objective overall is to take both Ji and Tian Shui castle, so killing Ma Zun alone is not enough to finish the stage. Clearing the stage in this manner via making Jiang Wei defect will unlock him.

Should the player enter the castles from the outside or inside via defeating the guard captains, the gates will trigger ambush parties, and prompting Zhuge Liang to state they have no choice but to take the castle(s) and overall forgo their initial plan (this action for both castles is a requirement for Jiang Wei's Lv. 10 weapon). Thus, if this is done with Ji Castle's case, Jiang Wei cannot defect (and by proxy, Yin Shang and Liang Xu will also not defect if Tian Shui Castle is taken the same way), and thus he he won't be unlocked if it's already done so. In Musou Mode, if Jiang Wei is already unlocked, then Cao Ren will take his place with different dialogue from both Ma Zun and Cao Ren himself. Otherwise, in Free Mode, Jiang Wei can face himself via mirror fight if the player is also Jiang Wei themselves and his CPU version will not appear at all when the first defection occurs.

In the fifth installment while playing the side of the Shu forces the player needs to defeat Xiahou Mao and Cui Liang to capture Nan An and An Ding. Zhuge Liang will order his men to release Xiahou Mao or Cui Liang inside the Tian Shui Castle telling the commander, Ma Zun, that Jiang Wei has defected. This would be the time that Jiang Wei will return to Tian Shui. Defeating him would start Ma Zun's retreat if the player defeats him then the battle has won. In the Wei side, the player needs to rescue Nan An or An Ding from the invaders. If successful, the battle will be an easy win. Sometime, an imposter of Jiang Wei will appear under the Shu forces, to try and get Ma Zun to distrust his servant. If the two castles fall Ma Zun will attempt to retreat and will be confused leading him to Zhuge Liang's main camp. If the player defeats Zhuge Liang the battle will be finished. The battle was removed in the sixth installment with Jiang Wei.

In the Dynasty Warriors 7, Jiang Wei returns as the enemy commander after the defeat of Ma Zun, Cui Liang and Yang Ling. Instead of simply capturing the bases after defeating the appropriate enemy, as with Dynasty Warriors 5, now the player will be ambushed as they reach the base. The battle also marks the debut of Liu Shan as a warrior in any battle, and gets caught in an ambush. At the end of the battle, Ma Zun will set fire to the base and try to escape.

In Dynasty Warriors 8, the battle still only appears in Shu's story, and first starts out with Zhuge Liang ordering the taking of the outer garrisons. Once taken, Zhao Yun attacks the Wei forces to create a distraction for Zhuge Liang. While travelling to Anding, the Shu forces are ambushed twice by Jiang Wei's men, piquing Zhuge Liang's interest. When they arrive near Ma Zun's castle, Jiang Wei appears for the first time, and is forced to withdraw. From there, Zhuge Liang orders the taking of the castles before Jiang Wei can reach them in order to build distrust. If the castles are Nan'An and Anding are taken before Jiang Wei arrives, Ma Zun will flee from the battlefield, and defeating Xiahou Mao will mean the taking of Tianshui. Upon Xiahou Mao's defeat, Jiang Wei remains defiant in the northwestern garrison, and needs to be defeated before he surrenders. In Wei's side of the battle, Jiang Wei will exit from Ma Zun's castle to launch a surprise attack on Liu Shan. Once Liu Shan's defeated, Zhao Yun will begin causing a ruckus to the allied army, and defeating him becomes the next objective. After defeating Zhao Yun, Xingcai will mobilize, and defeating her will cause Zhuge Liang to begin moving. Defeating Zhuge Liang will end the stage.

The game also reuses the area for "Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin's Rebellion" in Jin's story.

In the Xtreme Legends expansion, the area is reused as the "Battle of Zitong" in Wei's story.

Warriors Orochi
In the first game, this stage serve as Chapter 2 for Wei's story, in which where Cao Pi and Da Ji's forces faceoff against the Oda Army. Before Nobunaga arrives, player must protect three allied garrisons from the enemy. During the defense, Huang Gai will appear and charge towards one of the garrisons, only to be defeated and told off by Cao Pi. After Nobunaga arrives, Da Ji will summon her army, which is led by Zhuge Liang, to attack Nobunaga. Depending on the amount of allied garrisons that are successfully protected, the amount of reinforcement may be low or high. Defeating Nobunaga will complete the stage, while the defeat of Cao Pi or Da Ji will count as a defeat. After the battle, Da Ji decides to let Mitsunari join Cao Pi's forces, and Mitsunari joins Wei.

In the PSP of Warriors Orochi 2 and Musou Orochi Z, this stage served as one of the new Dramatic Mode stages. This introduces San Zang, who joins the army of Wei, to hunt down Sun Wu Kong. Together with Magoichi and Zhang He, they must rescue the Azai Army from the Orochi Army, led by Sun Wu Kong. Nagamasa Azai's defeat will count as a loss, while defeating Sun Wu Kong will count as a victory.

Historical Information
In 228, Zhuge Liang declared that he would march through the Xie Gorge to take Mei. He sent Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi as decoys to give the appearance of threatening Mei and to occupy Ji. Cao Zhen led his armies to oppose them. Zhuge Liang personally led the armies to besiege Mount Qi; the ranks were ordered, discipline severe and authority apparent. The three commanderies of Nan'an, Tianshui and Anding all revolted and defected from the Cao Wei side to Zhuge Liang, sending shock waves through Guanzhong. Cao Rui moved to Chang'an to oversee the defense. Cao Zhen secured Mei against Zhao Yun, while a combined cavalry-infantry force of 50,000 under Zhang He went west to oppose Zhuge's main army.

Zhuge Liang ordered Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi to counter Cao Zhen, whilst he himself marched to besiege Mount Qi. The troop strength of Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi were inadequate to that of the enemy. Hence they were defeated at Ji Gorge, but their centre held firm and thus avoided a great defeat.

At that moment, Jiang Wei was patrolling the outskirts with his governor. Afraid that Jiang Wei might be colluding with the Shu army, the governor fled secretly at night. When Jiang Wei discovered about that, it was already too late and on returning to Yi Xuan, his own city refused to open the city gates. As such, Jiang Wei proceeded to meet Zhuge Liang.

There was in fact no battle at Tianshui, only revolt. The area surrounding the city submitted quickly to Shu Han, enabling the army to advance steadily but the Shu army had suffered a setback at Jieting, when Zhang He defeated Ma Su. Zhuge Liang gave the order for a retreat back to Shu territory.

Zhuge Liang separated his troops in two groups: one led by himself; the other led by Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi. Zhuge Liang encountered Zhang He, so he sent Ma Su to handle him at Jieting, but Ma lost and had to withdraw. Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi's army met Cao Zhen, who defended Mei from them. Zhao Yun and his army withdrew. The commanderies that rose in revolt to join Shu were later pacified by Zhang He and returned to Wei control.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In chapters 92 and 93 of Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Jiang Wei was one of the reasons Zhuge Liang went on this expedition, and getting Jiang to defect to Shu became a goal after his quick battle with Zhao Yun. Zhuge Liang sent Zhao Yun ahead first, and after a skirmish and some scheming he comes onto the battlefield. During the battle, Jiang Wei's commanding officer Ma Zun suspected him of plotting with the enemy. When Jiang Wei was outside Tianshui, Ma Zun closed the city gates and denied Jiang entry. Jiang Wei had no choice but to defect to Zhuge Liang's side.