History Series / TheAdvisorsAlliance

* TruthInTelevision: How Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Cao Rui handled their respective succession issues was only ''slightly'' exaggerated. It is known that Cao Rui was Crown Prince for ''at most 2 weeks'' before he became emperor, while Cao Fang was only Crown Prince for ''less than a day'' before being pushed to take the throne on the same day. Similarly, Lady Zhen did meet with a terrible fate, with no explanation found in official histories. Pei Songzhi, the annotator of ''Sanguozhi'', wrote that Lady Zhen must have committed an offence which was either so embarrasing or serious that it could not be recorded down.

** Historically, Xiahou Hui was poisoned by Sima Shi himself in 234 CE, during Cao Rui's reign. [[note]]Hui's early death and the fact that the Sima clan did not suffer any reprisals was a sign that the Sima clan's power was already threatening the Cao and Xiahou clans by that time.[[/note]] Also, Sima Shi later married a daughter of Wu Zhi and divorced her; his third wife is Yang Huiyu, a granddaughter of Cai Yong and sister of Yang Hu, a general during the late Wei/ early Jin era.

** Historically, Sima Yi recognized Deng Ai's talent between 235 and 239 CE, while he was Grand Commandant (and towards the end of Cao Rui's reign).

** Historically, Sima Yi had nine sons, born to four women. Among them, the more famous ones left out are Sima Liang (like his half-brother Lun, one of the titular princes in the "War of the Eight Princes") and Liang's full brother Zhou (who led an army in the final conquest of Eastern Wu and whose grandson became the first emperor of the Eastern Jin). Yi also had two daughters; the younger daughter, Princess Gaolu, married Du Yu, another prominent general who led an army in the final conquest of Eastern Wu. [[note]]Du was also the originator of two Chinese idioms: "势如破竹" ('shi ru po zhu'; literally "(a) situation like breaking bamboo", used to describe easy and complete victories) and "迎刃而解" ('ying ren er jie'; literally "splitting upon contact with (a) blade's edge", used to describe solutions which resolve a problem easily and completely), as he used the two terms to describe the ease of eliminating Wu.[[/note]]

** The incident where Cao Cao scattered ''weiqi'' pieces in order to test Sima Yi is a less fantastical adaptation of an ancedote in Yi's biography in ''Book of Jin'', where Yi supposedly turned his head 180 degrees like a wolf.

** Cao Cao calling Sima Fang "old and useless" would be odd, considering Sima was only 6 years older than Cao historically.

** While Cao Hong was historically very stingy with his personal wealth, the series turns his greed UpToEleven. [[note]]Hong's stinginess historically nearly cost him his life, as he offended Cao Pi over money matters before Pi became emperor. Pi was so determined to kill Hong that Empress Dowager Bian had to threaten to depose Empress Guo in order for Guo to work doubly hard to convince Pi not to go ahead with the execution.[[/note]]

* DecadentCourt: UpToEleven. In Wei, the Cao and Xiahou clans faction to keep their power and privileges at any cost; in Shu, the natives of Yi province struggle against the Jing province faction (officials who followed Liu Bei to Yi province).

** [[spoiler: Xiahou Dun dying of a stroke in Sima Yi’s household turns the animosity between the Sima and Xiahou-Cao clans UpToEleven]]

** [[spoiler: Similarly, Ding Yi willingly ties himself up and presents himself before the newly crowned Cao Pi. He loses his composure as soon as Cao Pi extends the punishment [[KillEmAll to his entire family.]]]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: The end result of Sima Yi's coup against Cao Shuang. After He Yan is tricked into exposing his co-conspirators, Zhong Hui and Sima Shi begin rounding them up in addition to three generations of their families to all be executed.]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Averted to a degree. While there's still a dizzying amount of characters, this is a mere ''fraction'' compared to other ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' adaptations due to its emphasis on Sima Yi's life. Many characters and events are typically mentioned ''very'' briefly.