Luoyang

Luoyang (洛陽の戦い, rōmaji: Rakuyō no Tatakai) was the capital of China during the rise and fall of the Han Dynasty. When Dong Zhuo came into power, he razed the city in an effort to escape from the coalition and moved the Emperor to Chang'an. Although Luoyang was left in a destitute state after the tyrant's retreat, it rose to prominence once more when Cao Pi of Wei made it his capital.

Much later in Wei's history, the then-emperor, Cao Mao, launched a coup against the Sima family in the hopes of reclaiming the lost imperial power. Cao Mao, however, was killed in the coup, and the Simas solidified their grasp over Wei.

Role in Games

Dynasty Warriors

In Dynasty Warriors 4, Luo Yang becomes the setting of Sun Jian's attempt in finding the Imperial Seal. Players are up against Dong Zhuo's army as they attempt to locate the seal hidden in one of the many wooden crates placed around the vicinity. Lu Bu, Zhang Liao, and Diao Chan may potentially prove to be a hindrance if left unattended. The battle ends in victory for the player's side if they manage to discover the seal first.

Luo Yang returns in Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends as a Legend Mode stage for Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shao, where both intend to fill the potential power vacuum left by the Eunuchs and must best each other in terms of achievements to earn the emperor's trust.

The battle begins with Dong Zhuo sending in fake eunuchs to kill He Jin. If He Jin is killed, the objectives change and result in Yuan Shao and Dong Zhuo aiming to kill more of the eunuchs than the other, while Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Jian all arrive to further complicate the task. Soon the emperor's carriage appears and must be protected from the nearby bandits, while some eunuchs begin attempting to escape through the other gates. Once all the other eunuchs are gone, Zhang Rang emerges and attempts to lead the emperor away from the capital. The rebellion ends after Zhang Rang's defeat, but actual victory is only given to the player's faction if they are able to obtain the most glory within the battle.

If He Jin is kept alive from the fake eunuchs, then the stage follows the same objectives and events, but with the allied forces being forced to actually keep the weakened He Jin alive.

The seventh title features the capital as one of the earlier stages of Wei's Story Mode. Players take control of Cao Cao who must escape the area alone with Chen Gong's assistance. Lu Bu and the other enemy officers will arrive to block the escape route. Aside from opening the palace doors, other actions may also be taken to help secure victory. Releasing Dong Zhuo's pet tigers will confuse the enemy troops whereas freeing the captured handmaidens will cause them to reward players with a variety of helpful items.

For Jin's story mode, it's also where Sima Yi begins his coup d'état to overthrow Cao Shuang and Cao Mao's attempts to kill Sima Zhao later on. In both battles, the player starts at the southwestern corner and has to fight their way into the castle.

As the first chapter of Wei's story in Dynasty Warriors 8, Cao Cao and his companions must escape the castle together. After clearing the enemy in the south, Diaochan will appear to guide Cao Cao and his cousins to safety. Defeating Lu Bu before escaping may be hard but, doing so will change his dialogue at Hulao Gate.

The coup d'etat takes place here with Sima Yi leading. If during the fighting the player can slay Cao Xun, Cao Xi, and He Yan while saving Cao Shuang for last, they can go and chase down Xiahou Ba in the next battle. The area reappears in Jin's hypothetical route, where Zhong Hui has abducted Cao Mao, forcing Sima Yi to come out of retirement to save the emperor. In Zhong Hui's side of the battle, the rebellion starts right in front of the palace, and Zhong Hui must prove his superiority by defeating Cao Mao. When the emperor is defeated, Sima Yi and Zhang Chunhua appear, and must be defeated to attain victory.

The stage also appears during the historical route, where Sima Zhao's forces deal with Cao Mao's loyalists. The Wei emperor first challenges Sima Zhao's forces at the outer courtyard, but flees to the armory after his first defeat. Once Sima Zhao's forces breach the city, they split with Sima Zhao pursuing Cao Mao while Jia Chong begins meeting his agents in the emperor's army. Once confronted for the second time, Cao Mao uses pyrocannons, but is defeated once more and flees to the throne room. Wang Jing launches an ambush on the Sima forces at the central chamber but is killed. Once Sima Zhao nears the emperor's throne room, Jia Chong has its guards secretly open the doors for them, and they march in. In a final plea, Sima Zhao asks the emperor to relinquish his power and abdicate. When the Cao Mao adamantly rebuffs and makes another weak attempt to kill Sima Zhao, Sima Zhao loses his temper and nearly slays the emperor, but Jia Chong finishes the task for his lord instead. In both of Jin's second battles at Luoyang, the city's central area will now have a garden with a stairway leading directly to the throne room.

During Shu's hypothetical route, Jiang Wei leads an assault on the city, but the Shu forces are lured into the central square, where the main gates are shut; dividing the troops. Soon after, Sima Yi and Cao Pi appear, and attack the division that didn't enter the city. Meanwhile, inside the city, Guan Xing ops to act separately from the rest, taking the armory to help assist both his and the others' escape. As Guan Xing moves to Luoyang's rear gate, the main unit led by Jiang Wei defeats Jia Xu to stop the rest of the Wei traps. As soon as the troops exit, Liu Bei appears with his sworn brothers, and together with Shu's younger generation, defeat Cao Pi. Depending on choices made in previous battles, Meng Huo and Zhurong may also appear with the Shu reinforcements. For Wei's side of the battle, Cao Pi has already separated the Shu forces, and moves to engage the ones outside the castle. When they are defeated, he begins chasing down the ones within the castle, and is slightly blunted when the siege weapons are used against him. Soon enough, Liu Bei and the Nanman forces arrive, and defeating Liu Bei will end the stage in a Wei victory.

In Wu's story, this map is used for the confrontation with Gan Ji. Leading the army south, Sun Quan enter the area in an attempt to finally release Sun Ce from Gan Ji's grasp. Upon reaching central square, Zhou Yu decides to split up the forces, with himself and Taishi Ci taking the western path while Sun Quan and Daqiao take the eastern path. Both forces will run into the ghosts of those who they slew in the past such as the warlords of Wujun, and face the ghosts of their fallen comrades. When the soldiers are defeated, Gan Ji resorts to using ghosts of late Wu officers such as Sun Jian, and an illusion of Xiaoqiao. If Gan Ji's urns are not destroyed, Sun Ce will still not appear in succeeding battles even after his survival.

The expansion has the Ten Eunuchs' rebellion as the first stage of Lu Bu's story. In his scenario, he and Ding Yuan will lead troops from the western area to take control of the center. Soon, the eunuchs choose to ambush He Jin while Dong Zhuo arrives in search of the emperor. Once He Jin is killed, Yuan Shao takes command of the battle, and orders that the remaining eunuchs be purged. Ding Yuan also orders that the eunuchs be interrogated to find Zhang Rang's location. Once all eunuchs are defeated, Zhang Rang will appear with the emperor in the carriage and will attempt to flee to the escape point. Once he is defeated the first time, he will retreat back to the throne room, where he will be killed by the Coalition. In the Eunuchs' side of the battle, they will move to take control of the central area, but Lu Bu and Ding Yuan's arrival forces them to instead target the eastern side of the battlefield. As they reach the Coalition's main camp, Dong Zhuo appears with his reinforcements. Defeating He Jin will end the battle.

Additionally, Jin has a new scenario in which Cao Shuang attempts to seize power from the Sima Clan while Sima Yi is busy fighting Gongsun Yuan. Breaking through the encirclement, Zhang Chunhua, Sima Shi and Sima Zhao begin coordinating their counterattack. Zhang Chunhua first decides to call on reinforcements, while her sons plan on having a nearby Xiahou Ba side with the Simas. Foreseeing the Simas' attempt, Cao Shuang attempts to send messengers to convince the young general to side with the Caos. Soon after gaining the advantage, the Sima family begins their charge at the throne room, forcing Cao Shuang to flee. As he is fleeing, Jia Chong arrives in response to Zhang Chunhua's call, and stalls Cao Shuang long enough for the other forces to catch up. The battle is won when Cao Shuang is defeated.

In Cao Shuang's version, regardless of whether the player fighting for him has the advantage, Xiahou Ba will never side with Cao Shuang.

The ninth installment sees Luoyang as a full-fledged city due to the open world design of the game, and one of several hideaways located just across the moat to the city's northeast. In Chapter 2, Cao Cao makes his visit to the capital for his failed assassination attempt on Dong Zhuo, and the capital later houses Dong during the full campaign against him.

During the key mission, "Conflict at Luoyang", several Allied officers already are in position around Luoyang's west and east gates, including Zhang Miao, Cao Anmin, Xue Ti, Ren Jun, Cao Ang, and Wang Zhong. Lu Bu guards Hulao Gate with Diaochan and Zhang Liao, while Hua Xiong guards Sishui Gate to the east of the city. Sun Jian and his three veteran officers are holed up in Yangren Castle (陽人城; Yōjinjō) to the southeast, with Yuan Shu unable to get supplies to them due to the road being blocked by Dong Zhuo's troops, and Liu Bei and his oath brothers attempt to help the Sishui Gate West Village against a pillage raid by more of Dong's men. Yuan Shao's sons are busy dealing with Dong's men along the northern shore of the Yellow River as they attempt to get past them to take out Dong's mountain base at Mt. Hengshanxi West Village.

Several missions can be completed to help ensure a full-scale assault on Luoyang against Dong Zhuo:

Aid Liu Bei with helping the village, then escort some self-defense peasant militiamen to the village, who will offer to help in the final assault on Luoyang.
Aid Yuan Shao's sons, Yuan Xi and Yuan Tan, with securing the northern flank and cut off Dong's reinforcements from Mt. Hengshanxi West Village, allowing them to meet up with Sun Jian to assault Luoyang from the west.
Help Yuan Shu with securing the supply route to Yangren Castle, which will allow Sun Jian to activate his catapults to defend the castle from Hu Zhen's siege.
Aid Sun Jian with defending Yangren Castle, then help clear the mountain path guarded by Li Meng so Sun Jian can assault Luoyang from the west with Yuan Xi and Yuan Tan after they secure the northern flank.
Track down Lu Zhi, who will join the fight and help by sabotaging the catapults under Li Jue guarding the Luoyang Imperial Palace.

Some time after Chibi, after Cao Cao passes away following Guan Yu's death at Fan Castle in Jing Province, Cao Pi, upon becoming Wei Emperor, moves the capital from Xuchang back to Luoyang. In Chapter 11, Sima Yi's family takes the city as a response to Cao Shuang's growing incompetence. In the final chapter, Sima Zhao's loyalists are tasked with finishing Cao Mao's rebellion when it is revealed he helped orchestrate Zhuge Dan's rebellion, ending in Cao Mao's death and a new puppet emperor being placed on the Wei Imperial Throne.

Warriors Orochi

In Warriors Orochi 3, Luoyang serves as one of the few stages in which players must face the Hydra. The vanguard of the Demon army outside the palace must be eliminated before the Yashio'ori is ready. Keiji and Masamune will also appear to reinforce the opposing side. After destroying one of the Hydra's heads, players must then confront Orochi and defeat him to seize victory.

During Chapter 4, a side battle in Luoyang becomes available right after initiating a conversation between Deng Ai, Mitsuhide, and Nagamasa. This time, the stage takes place within the palace halls where Deng Ai, Ryu, and Nene must open the doors from the inside. Defeating Wang Jing enables the team to use the opposing army's ballistas against them. After opening the remaining doors by convincing Hu Lie to join them, the coalition finally faces Zhong Hui.

In Warriors Orochi 4, the map uses Jin's second version of the stage, but the armory is no longer accessible from the central chamber. It first appears under the control of Nobunaga's coalition. Jia Xu devises a plan to break up the support of various warlords for Nobunaga and heads to Luoyang to engage Yuan Shao, Yoshimoto and Dong Zhuo's armies stationed there. He sends Naomasa to convince Yoshimoto to play kemari, lowering his army's guard, he sends Zhu Ran to Yuan Shao's location who humorously thinks that Zhu Ran is judging him; in all the commotion Dong Zhuo decides to escape through the south, to which Jia Xu deploys Shingen and Kagekatsu in an ambush to stop him from doing so. All three warlords must be defeated to win the stage, but only Yuan Shao and Yoshimoto (as well as Magoichi and Gracia who were accompanying them) join the army with Dong Zhuo nowhere to be seen after the commotion.

Another stage has Guan Yinping, Yukimura, Zhang He, Zhang Fei, Tadakatsu and Hanzō defend the city against Ares's army. Their first mission is to clear out the members of the enemy army already within the castle. While their first mission is done, the three cyclops are destroying the gate. This is soon followed by Ares attacking himself. Despite his first defeat, his army brings in multiple Wraiths that are rejuvenated thanks to hidden officers, and Ares returns to duel Nobunaga. Once these officers and their respective Wraith are defeated, the allied officers can finally begin regrouping with Nobunaga's unit.

With their victory, Ares is powerless against the Coalition, but Odin arrives. Rather than aid Ares, Odin simply takes the opportunity to steal the powers of Zeus which were transferred onto Ares before Loki moving to kill the god. This attempt is foiled when Yukimura and Guan Yinping step in, and a grateful Ares decides to join the Coalition in order to revive his father and stop Odin with Athena's arrival after their battle.

This stage is also used when Ma Chao, Guan Yinping and Fa Zheng head to Luoyang to retrieve Guan Yinping's stolen Arm of Ouroboros. They soon encounter a disguised Hisahide, who passes himself as a peasant and directs the Shu forces to the central chamber, where they are attacked by the Tachibana forces under Muneshige and Ginchiyo. Once both forces stop fighting Tachibana forces clarify that they were robbed and were told by Hisahide that the thieves would be within the city's central area.

Once the lie is exposed, the united armies move to capture Hisahide, but Sun Wukong arrives with the demon army, forcing Ma Chao, Guan Yinping and the Tachibana army to face the brunt of the assault. Discreetly, Fa Zheng frees their prisoner and allows Hisahide to get ambushed by Sun Wukong's clones. Once all the demon army's forces are scattered, the Tachibana join the Coalition, along with dragging Hisahide as well in order to keep a closer eye on him.

Historical Information

During 189, the Ten Eunuchs (otherwise known as the Ten Attendants) held unprecedented political influence. When Emperor Ling died, the eunuchs were forced to rely on Empress Dowager He for military power. He Jin, who knew of his sister's relationship with the attendants, immediately called for her to execute them in spite of Dou Wu being assassinated after requesting the same order. Zhang Rang's servants overheard the conversation, and he and the other eunuchs began planning to kill He Jin.

Meanwhile, He Jin, with help from Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao, decided to call Dong Zhuo for help in the battle. On the ninth lunar month, He Jin attempted to apprehend the eunuchs, but he was surrounded by them, and killed. The effect was contrary to the eunuch's expectations, and the Yuans immediately mobilized their troops upon He Jin's death. The chaos was so bad that many innocent attendants were killed, and many men had to reveal their genitals in order to keep themselves from getting killed by the soldiers.

Using the chaos to his advantage, Zhang Rang was able to escape with a few followers after kidnapping Emperor Shao, and the future Emperor Xian, but the eunuch was quickly surrounded by the rest of the imperial troops, and he finally opted to commit suicide. After the death of the eunuchs, Emperor Shao returned to the palace, but Dong Zhuo quickly took control of the emperor, and abused his power. The resulting chain of events would pave the way for the formation of the Three Kingdoms.

In 258, Cao Mao was pressured by Sima Zhao into giving him the "nine bestowments", an honor typically given to extraordinary officials, but also the sign of an usurpation. Cao Mao believed that Sima Zhao would eventually turn on the emperor, and destroy Wei.

By 260, the 19 year old Cao Mao gathered his three followers, Wang Jing, Wang Ye and Wang Chen, and 300 loyal followers for his coup, declaring that "Every person in the street knows what is in Sima Zhao's mind".

Against Wang Jing's counsel, Cao Mao left temporarily to inform the Empress Dowager of what was about to happen. While he was doing so, Wang Ye and Wang Shen defected to the Sima side, and informed Sima Zhao of the emperor's plans. Initially, Cao Mao's rebellion was met with success, and he defeated Sima Zhou, Sima Zhao's younger brother, without much of a fight.

Soon after, Jia Chong arrived, and stopped the emperor. At first, no one dared to attack the emperor, but Jia Chong told his subordinate, Cheng Ji, that the Sima clan should be saved at all costs, and the subordinate rushed forth and killed Cao Mao.

After Cao Mao's death, Sima Zhao forced Empress Dowager Guo to posthumously demote Cao Mao to a commoner, but he would still be buried as a prince. Cheng Ji and Wang Jing, along with their clans, were all executed. Despite the public still calling for Jia Chong's death, Sima Zhao did not make the order.

Power would now be held in absolute control of the Sima family during Cao Huan's rule, and after only 5 years of being emperor Cao Huan abdicated the throne to Sima Yan.