Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage is the famous story of Liu Bei seeking out Zhuge Liang and the moment when the hidden strategist finally enters the great struggle of the Three Kingdoms.
Liu Bei already has formidable warriors such as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, but he still lacks a strategist capable of seeing the larger shape of the realm.
Before leaving Liu Bei, Xu Shu recommends Zhuge Liang, a brilliant young man living in seclusion at Longzhong.
Liu Bei decides to visit him personally.
On the first journey, Zhuge Liang is away.
Liu Bei returns without meeting him.
After some time, he goes again with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. The second visit also fails.
Zhang Fei grows impatient. Why should a lord like Liu Bei repeatedly humble himself before an obscure scholar living in the countryside?
Liu Bei refuses to give up.
On the third visit, Zhuge Liang is at home but asleep inside the thatched cottage.
Rather than wake him, Liu Bei waits quietly outside.
When Zhuge Liang finally rises, the two men meet.
Liu Bei asks him about the future of the realm.
Zhuge Liang lays out a grand strategy. Cao Cao dominates the north. Sun Quan holds the southeast. Liu Bei must establish himself in Jingzhou and Yizhou, build his own power, and create a three-sided balance before seeking greater ambitions.
This becomes the famous Longzhong Plan.
Liu Bei is deeply impressed and repeatedly asks Zhuge Liang to leave seclusion and assist him.
Moved by Liu Bei’s sincerity, Zhuge Liang finally agrees.
He walks away from the thatched cottage and enters the world in which his legend will unfold.
The power of Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage lies not simply in the discovery of a clever adviser. Liu Bei, already a lord surrounded by warriors, is willing to humble himself again and again before a young man who has not yet entered public life.
And when Zhuge Liang finally steps beyond the cottage door, the great stories associated with his name truly begin.