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Wei - Act III
The Rise of Cao Cao
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[Battle of Xia Pi] (Cao Cao's Forces)
Difficulty: ***

From the start of the battle wait near the east side of the castle for a 
while. Zhang Liao should appear as reinforcements. Defeating him will cause 
him to join Cao Cao. Next head north and deal with Zhang Ba. Lu Bu will 
realize that he is vastly outnumbered and will attempt to call Yuan Shu for 
reinforcements by sending a carriage with his daughter. The north castle gate 
will open and he will personally escort the carriage as it makes its way west 
to the entry point. You'll be told to stop it, but I don't think it's 
possible as the carriage moves faster than you can damage it. Not to mention 
that Lu Bu will be on your ass faster than you can say "It's Lu Bu!". So just 
ignore the carriage for now. What you _can_ do in the meantime is sneak in 
the castle via the north gate while he's away (he he he). Doing so will 
reveal that the river current running through the castle is too fast to make 
any progress against it. You will be informed that you can use a rockslide to 
block the flow of the river. Quickly make your way to the large rock near the 
north of the castle on the other side of the river (you probably noticed it 
on the way here). You will end up blocking the river and flooding the castle. 
This will also cause Red Hare to appear in the southeast on a small island. 
Lu Bu will attempt to get him back, but if you're fast enough you can 
intercept Red Hare and claim him as your own (note that this does _not_ give 
you the Red Hare Harness item). Don't forget to break the nearby pot for a 
Musou Wine. 

Once you have Red Hare you can either fight the remaining generals outside 
the gate, or go for Diao Chan on the inside. Note that Wei Xu, Song Xian, and 
Hou Cheng will surrender if their morale is low. You can speed up the process 
by hitting them a few times. If not, don't worry about it too much. What you 
should be aware of is that if Diao Chan is defeated Lu Bu will go berserk and 
his morale will shoot to eight stars. Also don't forget that Yuan Shu will 
arrive eventually with reinforcements. If this happens you may have to head 
back west to deal with that. Note that Chen Gong will surrender in an event 
if Wei Xu, Song Xian, and Hou Cheng have all surrendered. This will also 
cause a great deal of Lu Bu's troops to desert him. Once all the opposition 
is taken care off, head back to Lu Bu and finish him off. You may find it 
easier to deal with him if you ignore Diao Chan, but that wouldn't any fun 
now would it? On a side note you can find a Meat Bun in a pot inside of the 
castle near the northern waterway grating.

Dave Matchen writes in to mention that it _is_ possible to destroy the 
carriage, though it is very difficult unless you have a fast character. Doing 
so will prevent Yuan Shu from arriving later in the battle. He also mentions 
that if Diao Chan is alive when the Chen Gong surrender event occurs, both Lu 
Bu and Diao Chan will retreat from the battle. The only down side to this is 
that Lu Bu will reappear later at Wan Castle looking for revenge.

[Battle of Wan Castle] (Cao Cao's Forces)
Difficulty: ***

If you don't mind a bit of backtracking from the start turn around and head 
southward until you reach the bedroom that you saw in the opening. You can 
find a Meat Bun in a jar in the corner. Where were we? Oh yes. Getting back 
to saving Cao Cao. He shouldn't be too hard to find. Just follow the trail of 
enemies and kill them all. Eventually you should meet up with him. Make your 
way through the castle, taking out everyone you encounter. Zhang Xiu should 
appear later on. While it is possible to defeat him if you have a strong 
character, he will retreat when his life gets low. If you want to grab a 
Musou Wine, head south from the western entry point until you reach a storage 
room. The Musou Wine should be there. Head back and escort Cao Cao through 
the halls until you can proceed no further. Dian Wei should break down a door 
so Cao Cao can proceed. You will need to backtrack around a bit to reach it. 
More generals and Xhang Xiu await you beyond. Kill them all and Cao Cao 
should eventually escape.

[Battle of Guan Du] (Cao Cao's Forces)
Difficulty: ***

There are two ways to go about this stage: the easy way or the hard way. Most 
people will prefer the easy way since it's faster and, well, easier. From the 
start of the battle Yuan Shao's two famous generals Wen Chou and Yan Liang 
will assault Yan Jin castle to the left and Bai Ma castle to the right 
respectively. Your job is to take them both out before they can overcome the 
castle defenses. Man Chong and Yu Jin will both put up a spirited defense, 
but their sub generals will fall at an alarming rate. Fortunately, you have 
Guan Yu on your side. He will immediately engage Yan Liang right from the 
start, but unlike Dynasty Warriors 3 it will take a while before he defeats 
him. When Yan Liang is defeated Guan Yu will go after Wen Chou next. If you 
have a decent character neither one of them will be much of a problem. When 
they are both gone the only thing left do to is to clear out the enemies as 
they come advancing towards you. Yuan Shao will arrive with more soldiers, 
but he's the pebble in the road, not you. When you defeat all of his generals 
and sub generals he will run away to fight another day. If you're wondering 
where Wu Chao compound is, it's right in the northwest corner of the map, but 
you can't access it unless you trigger a series of events. Don't worry about 
it if you're taking the straightforward approach.

For those of you who want a bit more challenge (and want to sack Wu Chao), 
you'll need to take the longer approach. At the beginning of the battle just 
sit back for a while and watch things unfold. Wen Chou will attack Yan Jin 
castle and Yan Liang will assault Bai Ma castle. Guan Yu will attack and kill 
Yan Liang, then proceed to Wen Chou and do the same. He will then move 
towards Yuan Shao, whereupon he will meet Liu Bei. Both of them will leave 
the battle, which will effectively end Guan Yu's reign of terror. From this 
point both castles will be swarmed with enemies. Bai Ma castle will most 
likely go first, which will cause Cao Cao to order his men to pull back. When 
Yan Jin castle falls, Cao Cao will shut the gates of Guan Du castle. Wait 
near the castle until you see a cut scene where Yuan Shao's army approaches 
with ram vehicles. At this point Cao Cao will personally exit the castle and 
head for Wu Chao compound to the northwest. If you want you can try to 
destroy all of the siege weapons (there are three, two in front and one to 
the left of the castle), but it may be a better idea to leave them alone and 
escort Cao Cao. He will head north via the right path that splits into two 
and then take a left at Bai Ma castle and head directly towards Wu Chao. If 
you don't feel like guarding Cao Cao you can just make a break for the 
compound and sack Chunyu Qiong. Yuan Shao will send reinforcements once he 
realizes what is happening, but it's a little too late. Once Wu Chao is 
burning Zhang He and Gao Lan decide to defect to your side. At this point Cao 
Cao orders everyone to take advantage of the chaos and counter attack. With 
two additional generals and a huge morale boost it shouldn't take long for 
you to totally decimate Yuan Shao's army.

Note that if you had previously defeated Lu Bu at Hu Lao Gate, he will appear 
here to fight you. If you defeat him, Yuan Shao will be amazed that there is 
someone even mightier than Lu Bu. =)