Zhuge Liang had never held office in his early years, yet after Liu Bei visited his thatched cottage three times when he was 26, Liu immediately valued him highly and entrusted him with important responsibilities. Liu Bei's reasons were, first, recommendations from Sima Hui, Xu Shu, and others; second, Zhuge Liang's Longzhong Plan; and third, Zhuge Liang's own social reputation and standing.

In the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Shu, Biography of Zhuge Liang, the account before the three visits occupies only a little over a hundred Chinese characters. But if we combine it with other historical sources and some reasonable inferences, we can discover more interesting information.

A person is the sum of their social relations. Drawing on historical sources, this article will review the various people connected to Zhuge Liang in his early years to help readers better understand his early experiences and social standing.

1. Forefather: Zhuge Feng

Zhuge Feng was the Director of Retainers under Emperor Yuan of Han and was known for his integrity and outspokenness. The Director of Retainers was an inspecting official who supervised the capital and surrounding regions, comparable to a regional inspector for the capital area, with considerable rank and authority. The Zhuge family probably began to prosper at this time, and its lineage continued for more than 200 years from Emperor Yuan to Emperor Xian. Zhuge Dan, who later served Cao Wei as General Who Guards the East and commander of Yang Province, was also a descendant of Zhuge Feng and a younger clansman of Zhuge Liang, although their relationship was probably quite distant.

2. Father: Zhuge Gui

Zhuge Gui was the assistant administrator of Taishan Commandery. The Taishan written in the source presumably refers to Mount Tai Commandery, southeast of today's Jinan. Under the Han system, a commandery administrator, or grand administrator, had an assistant and a chief clerk. The assistant administrator helped the administrator handle government affairs. This office was far below Zhuge Feng's Director of Retainers, but it was by no means lowly: it can be compared to a deputy mayor today. Zhuge Gui died early. It is said that Zhuge Jin was fifteen and Zhuge Liang eight when he died, although these ages are not necessarily reliable.

3. Uncle: Zhuge Xuan

After Zhuge Gui died, Zhuge Liang's uncle went to take office as grand administrator of Yuzhang, taking Zhuge Liang and Zhuge Jun with him. Zhuge Liang's two elder sisters probably went as well. The grand administrator of Yuzhang can be compared to today's mayor or municipal Party secretary of Nanchang. It was one rank above Zhuge Gui's assistant administrator of Taishan and was a local office with real power.

At the time, Zhou Shu, the previous grand administrator of Yuzhang, had died of illness. Liu Biao recommended Zhuge Xuan for the post, but the Han court sent Zhu Hao to succeed Zhou Shu. Zhu Hao asked Liu Yao for troops to attack Zhuge Xuan, who withdrew to Xicheng. In the first month of the second year of Jian'an, the people of Xicheng rebelled and killed Zhuge Xuan. Zhuge Liang was sixteen at the time.

The preceding paragraph comes from the Annals of Emperor Xian. The account in the Records of the Three Kingdoms is less specific: it says only that after Zhuge Xuan took office, the Han court happened to send Zhu Hao to replace him, and Zhuge Xuan, who happened to have an old friendship with Liu Biao, went to join him.

The Records of the Three Kingdoms probably presents a more flattering account, but both sources confirm that Liu Biao and Zhuge Xuan had a close relationship. After Zhuge Xuan died, Zhuge Liang probably continued to receive support in Jing Province and could readily enter the local circle of educated elites.

4. Father-in-Law: Huang Chengyan; Wife: Lady Huang

There are only two passages in the Records of Xiangyang.

The first:

Huang Chengyan Huang Chengyan was lofty in spirit and open in temperament, a prominent gentleman south of the Mian River. He said to Kongming: "I hear that you are choosing a wife. I have an ugly daughter, with yellow hair and a dark face, whose abilities would make her a suitable match for you." Kongming agreed, and she was sent to him in a carriage. People at the time laughed about it, and a local saying arose: "Do not choose a wife as Kongming did, only to get Ah Cheng's ugly daughter!"

The second:

At the end of the Han, the Cai family was the most prominent. Cai Feng's elder sister married Grand Commandant Zhang Wen. His eldest daughter was Huang Chengyan's wife, and his younger daughter became Liu Jingsheng's later wife; she was Cai Mao's elder sister.

This tells us that at the end of the Han dynasty, the greatest family in the Xiangyang area was the Cai family. Cai Feng was a central figure in it, and his elder sister was the wife of Grand Commandant Zhang Wen. The Grand Commandant was a top official in the central government, comparable to a defense minister today. Zhang Wen had once been promoted by Cao Cao's grandfather Cao Teng and also had connections with the Cao family.

Cai Feng's eldest daughter was Huang Chengyan's wife; his younger daughter was Liu Biao's wife, though not his first; and his son was Cai Mao.

The relationships can therefore be laid out as follows: Huang Chengyan and Liu Biao were married to sisters. Liu Biao's son Liu Cong called Cai Mao his maternal uncle, and Huang Chengyan's daughter Lady Huang also called Cai Mao her maternal uncle. Thus, as Huang Chengyan's son-in-law, Zhuge Liang would address Liu Biao as his wife's uncle, Cai Mao as his wife's maternal uncle, and Liu Cong as his wife's younger cousin.

Whether Lady Huang was ugly hardly mattered, given her family's position. Still, the local joke, "Do not choose a wife as Kongming did, only to get Ah Cheng's ugly daughter," also indirectly suggests that Zhuge Liang and Lady Huang were well matched in family standing, or at least that he was not marrying far above his station.

This feels like quite a lot of information, so I will leave it here for today and continue tomorrow. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments, and if you think this was well written, give it a free like.

Have you noticed that the forefather, father, uncle, and father-in-law mentioned so far all contain the Chinese character for "father"? A colloquial word for father is "dad." These "dads" of Zhuge Liang were all powerful figures, hence "powerful dads." That is where this article's subtitle, "Four Powerful Dads," comes from.