Zhou Cang

Zhou Cang (onyomi: Shū Sō) is a fictional general of the Yellow Turbans who pledged his loyalty to Guan Yu after hearing his exploits. He is known as a masterful swimmer and a swift runner who could travel the same distance as Red Hare in a single day.

Before his playable Warriors appearance, he has been a generic officer since the second Dynasty Warriors game. He placed tenth with fans in Gamecity's Shin Sangoku Musou Blast first card promotion poll. His Warriors character has a character image song, Die Together!.

In Kessen II, his height is 180 cm (almost 5'11").

Dynasty Warriors

 * "...I've never seen someone run so fast..."
 * Zhao Yun; Dynasty Warriors 9.

NPC Zhou Cang usually appears in battles involving the Yellow Turbans and Shu. However, he does not appear in the Yellow Turbans' army onwards until the fourth installment.

Zhou Cang's first chronological appearance in Dynasty Warriors 9 is during Zhang Jiao's story, where he stands up to various Han officials. He is rescued from their wrath by Zhang Jiao and immediately joins the Yellow Turbans as a result. When the Yellow Turban Rebellion soon becomes a widespread threat at the Guangzong area, imperial troops soon pour in to contain it. During the final battle against Zhang Jiao, Zhou Cang and Liao Hua will be charged with protecting the gates of Guangzong and they are protected by tornados and lightning bolts respectively. After Zhang Jiao's defeat, he and Pei Yuanshao become bandits at Mt. Woniu. Before that, when he first battles Liu Bei and his future oath brothers in Zhang Fei and Guan Yu in Liu Bei's home village of Luosang, upon being defeated, he is impressed with Guan Yu's strength and asks that when they next encounter each other after he trains some more, he hopes to be taken in as Guan Yu's disciple.

He is not seen again until after the elimination of Yuan Shu, where he finds Guan Yu, and eagerly asks for him and Pei Yuanshao to be the general's subordinates, recalling his earlier request to become Guan Yu's disciple after being bested in battle by him during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Although Guan Yu initially mistakes Zhou Cang as a ruffian, he accepts Zhou Cang's request. Guan Yu, however, apologizes as he is still searching for his brother, but Zhou Cang informs his idol of Liu Bei's army within Yuan Shao's forces. While Guan Yu decides to leave Cao Cao's army immediately, he also opts to eliminate officers of Yuan Shao to repay his debt to Cao Cao.

As Zhou Cang attempts to inform Pei Yuanshao, he is shocked to find his friend already dead at the hands of Zhao Yun, having learned of the presence of Yellow Turbans in the area. Despite Zhou Cang's assertions of being one of Guan Yu's disciples, he immediately flees when Zhao Yun believes him to be lying and tries to attack him to protect Liu Bei.

Zhou Cang's story begins once Guan Yu's forces finally reunite with Liu Bei before retreating to Jing Province and the protection of Liu Biao. Seeing them as a threat, Cao Cao orders Cao Ren to eliminate them at Xinye, but the army's new strategist, Xu Shu, provides the plans needed to break Cao Ren's Eight Gates Formation and defeat him.

After their victory, Xu Shu departs out of concern for his mother and is replaced by the famed Sleeping Dragon, Zhuge Liang. Sensing this threat, Cao Cao orders a second army under Xiahou Dun to attack them at Bowanpo, but Zhou Cang and the others are able to prevail thanks to Zhuge Liang's strategies, then engage Cao Cao at Changban to buy the people time to escape before fleeing again.

Having had enough, Cao Cao begins leading his massive army against Liu Bei once more, and Zhou Cang and the others are forced to flee to Liu Biao's domain at Jing Province. Once they ally with the nearby Sun Quan, Liu Bei is finally able to stop Cao Cao's advance south thanks to a great victory at Chibi, forcing Cao Cao to return to Xuchang in disgrace to rebuild his forces while Jing Province is left for Shu and Wu to use as stepping stones for future plans. However, due to Guan Yu's honor and having formerly served under Cao Cao at Guandu, when Cao Cao is encountered on his retreat from Chibi, Guan Yu lets him go without incident, which Zhou Cang is forced to accept, despite his concern about letting Cao Cao slip away when they could take him out right then and there before he causes Liu Bei any problems in the future.

With most of Cao Cao's forces defeated, Jing Province soon becomes rife with soldiers of all three sides scrambling to take its fertile cities. Knowing that most of Sun Quan and Cao Cao's men were battling at Nanjun, Zhuge Liang orders Liu Bei's forces to seize the southern cities before either party can react.

Thanks to the efforts of Zhou Cang, the cities are taken and provide Liu Bei with his first foothold, much to outrage of Zhou Yu and Sun Quan. Nonetheless, due to the threat posed by Cao Cao, they allow Liu Bei to keep the counties until he can get land of his own.

This opportunity comes in the form of Fa Zheng, a strategist of Liu Zhang, who wishes to support Liu Bei. To do so, he encourages Liu Bei to advance on Yi Province to set up his base there. Unfortunately, during the campaign to secure Yi Province and Chengdu, Pang Tong is slain after being mistaken for Liu Bei due to riding Hex Mark by Zhang Ren's troops, leaving Liu Bei's forces without the support of the Fledgling Phoenix. Once they succeed, Lu Su arrives once again to stake Wu's claim over the disputed districts within Jing. Although he agrees to Guan Yu's suggestion of returning two of the districts in Guiyang and Changsha first in order for both of their forces to launch joint attacks on Hanzhong and Hefei respectively, Lu Su warns them that the people of Wu have become more impatient due to the constant delays to their promises as well as a growing radical faction.

Guan Yu later sends Zhou Cang to aid his brothers at the Hanzhong campaign against the Wei forces while Sun Quan is busy attacking Hefei. Thanks to these timely reinforcements, Cao Cao is forced to return back to his capital of Xuchang while the Shu forces solidify their grasp over Hanzhong.

With Cao Cao back at Xuchang, Guan Yu decides to march with his family and Zhou Cang for Fan Castle in order to take the central plains. In spite of Zhou Cang and Guan Ping's concerns of leaving the province, as well as Lu Su being succeeded by Lu Meng as Sun Quan's primary strategist, one of the radicals that they were previously warned of, Guan Yu remains confident that the Wu forces would not dishonor their agreement as they had failed to take Hefei thanks to Cao Cao sending reinforcements there to aid Zhang Liao with defending the area from Wu, thus Guan Yu had no need to return Wuling and Lingling to Wu because they would only be returned if Wu took Hefei. They failed, so the two districts remain under Shu control.

Thanks to his children and Zhou Cang, Guan Yu proceeds to flood Fan Castle, forcing the surrender of Yu Jin and the capture of Pang De. While many are celebrating the victory, Zhou Cang tells Guan Yu of his fears of the castle's fall being part of an enemy trap, which Guan Yu believes to be more Wei reinforcements.

After taking the castle, Guan Yu provides Zhou Cang with a new horse. As soon as Zhou Cang compliments his horse's speed, Guan Yu has Red Hare gallop at its full extent, leaving Zhou Cang behind. With little choice, Zhou Cang carries his horse and continues to charge forward, still obligated to fulfill his promise of following Guan Yu.

After his story, Zhou Cang's fears ring true as Lu Meng breaks their alliance with Liu Bei and seizes Jing Province anyway. Unable to hold on to Fan Castle thanks to the betrayal of the Wu forces and the arrival of Xu Huang's reinforcements as part of a Wei-Wu alliance between Cao Cao and Sun Quan against him, Guan Yu, Zhou Cang, and the others all flee to Mai Castle. When the Wu forces continue their pursuit, Guan Yu stays behind to help the others escape, including his children in Guan Xing, Guan Suo, and Guan Yinping.

Though Guan Yu apologizes to both Zhou Cang and Guan Ping for leading them to their deaths, both refuse the apology as it was their commitment to following him that brought them to this end and are proud to stand with him until the end. Thanking them for their final show of loyalty, the trio charge to their deaths at the hands of Wu soldiers.

Guan Yinping and her surviving brothers later report their demise to an emotional Liu Bei and Zhang Fei, who plan revenge against Wu for Guan Yu, Guan Ping, and Zhou Cang's deaths and betrayal of their alliance.

Warriors Orochi
In the first Warriors Orochi game, he can be seen in Shu's Story Mode guarding Edo Castle under the orders of Zhuge Liang. After losing against the Resistance, Zhou Cang and his allies rejoin their former comrades to rescue their lord from Orochi's grasp.

Warriors All-Stars
When he first arrives in the Warriors All-Stars world, Zhou Cang and Zhao Yun defend themselves from the monsters surrounding them. Once they regroup, they duel Lu Bu and Wang Yuanji until Tamaki pleads to them to cease their aggression. After hearing about their new surroundings, Zhou Cang quips at the other royal members' irresponsibility and joins Tamaki.

Kessen
Zhou Cang appears as reinforcements for Shu at the Battle of Ru Nan in Kessen II. His first appearance helps bolster Zhao Yun's morale. He rides a spear unit into battle and serves as a secondary general for either Guan Yu or Mei Sanniang. Though he possesses rather uninspired officer skills, he is a decent support unit for raising army morale.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Within the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, Zhou Cang is depicted as a militarily-oriented officer with his best stat being his war which lands in the low to mid 80's while his leadership and charisma rank in the 60's. Conversely, his intelligence and politics rank fairly low in the 40's to 30's. Despite his initial background as a bandit, Zhou Cang features none of the negative traits usually associated with his contemporaries and offers several traits valuable to Zhang Jiao or Liu Bei's faction, that being a slightly higher affinity for battling on water and an increased likelihood in capturing enemy officers, both references to his contributions within the novel.

Appearing initially as a member of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Zhou Cang will appear as a free officer based at Runan after the rebellions conclusion and will serve Liu Bei's faction once the latter has migrated his forces to Runan. Eternally loyal to Guan Yu, Zhou Cang will see better performance when he is deployed alongside Guan Yu in combat.

Development
Zhou Cang is in Warriors All-Stars before his debut Dynasty Warriors because Furusawa, the producer of Warriors All-Stars, thought it would be an interesting twist to the usual formula. He wanted to add Zhou Cang due to the incident where he loses to Zhao Yun in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, thinking that the interaction would make the base for a good relationship in Warriors All-Stars. Developers for Dynasty Warriors 9 worked with the Warriors All-Stars team, with Suzuki specifically critiquing them on their proposed changes or additions. Furusawa and Suzuki joke that he almost looks Mexican in Warriors All-Stars because they "went overboard" with the size of his hat and his outfit. Zhou Cang is meant to be a powerful and speedy character. His Dynasty Warriors debut differs with more details on his scarf to better emphasize his flashy hat.

Furusawa later commented that Zhou Cang's command inputs may be different in Dynasty Warriors, but everything about his character will be nearly the same in that series. He also said that the team's ground rules to avoid bias for their own IPs were "only three characters max from one IP", but they deliberately bent that for Zhou Cang's inclusion.

Sawashiro remarked that he played Zhou Cang to be energetic. Since his character has a lot of dialogue, every recording session was tiring to him. He hopes players find their favorite character in Warriors All-Stars.

Personality
Strong and loyal, Zhou Cang prides himself on his speed. He tends to be positive and upbeat, though he is snide and uneasy towards Zhao Yun due to a prior misunderstanding between them and the late Pei Yuanshao.

Awestruck by Guan Yu's strength and majesty, Zhou Cang develops a quick relationship with the general, whom he respectfully, but casually refers to as "boss". His close relationship with Guan Yu also spills over to his children, with Guan Xing and his younger siblings looking up to Zhou Cang for his experience, while Guan Ping respects his colleague's reliability, but will tease him of his fear of Zhao Yun on occasion.

Character Symbolism
During Guan Yu's ending in 9, Zhou Cang briefly mentions going off to take some supplies from the Wu forces in order to help their campaign at Fan Castle. This was done historically by Guan Yu during the siege of Fancheng and was one of the incidents that eventually caused him to incur Sun Quan's wrath. Ironically, however, this event was completely omitted from Romance of the Three Kingdoms which emphasized the dispute over Jing and the failed marriage proposal between Sun Quan's son and Guan Yu's daughter.

Voice Actors

 * Chiharu Sawashiro - Warriors All-Stars, Dynasty Warriors 9 (Japanese)
 * Tommy Cooley - Dynasty Warriors 9 (English)
 * Xiao Lang - Dynasty Warriors 9 (Chinese)
 * Takahiro Yoshimizu - Kessen II (Japanese)
 * Tōru Sakurai - Sangokushi Legion (Japanese)
 * Yūko Sasamoto - Youkai Sangokushi (Japanese)
 * Yūki Ishikari - Sangokushi Hadou (Japanese)
 * Takeshi Ōba - Sangokushi Three Kingdoms TV series

Live Action Performers

 * Yu Matsumura - Butai Shin Sangoku Musou Sekiheki no Tatakai

Quotes

 * See also: Zhou Cang/Quotes


 * "You truly are a marvel on horseback, Master Guan Yu. But please try to think of those who have to keep up with you."
 * "I know you're fast enough to keep up. That's why I can continue to go full speed."
 * "I am honored you feel that way! In that case, I will follow you to the ends of the earth."
 * Zhou Cang and Guan Yu; Dynasty Warriors 8


 * "Lord Liu Bei! My name is Zhou Cang. My men and I have come to help you save and rebuild the Han Empire!"
 * Kessen II

Gameplay

 * See also: Zhou Cang/Movesets

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Introduced in the 28th chapter of the novel, Zhou Cang is a powerful fighter whose notable features are his dark complexion and curly beard. Originally affiliated with the Yellow Turbans, he and Pei Yuanshao took refuge in Mt. Wo Niu after losing their leader. The two of them live a life of banditry until they come across Guan Yu who had been escorting Liu Bei's family to safety. Having admired the God of War since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Zhou Cang vows to change his ways and offers his services to him. The rest of his followers agree to join as well.

As a general of Liu Bei's army, he often stood by Guan Yu's side wherever he went and even served as his weapon bearer. He also interceded on his idol's behalf when negotiations with Lu Su soured. His naval skills proved useful at the flooding of Fan Castle, leading to his capture of Wei general Pang De. Their victory is cut short when the forces of Wu intervene, though. Guan Yu loses his life as a result and Zhou Cang slices his own throat upon seeing his displayed head.

Trivia

 * Dynasty Warriors 9 Zhou Cang's artwork pose resembles his Warriors All-Stars render and early concept pose.