In 760, when Emperor Suzong of the Tang dynasty built a temple to honour Jiang Ziya, he had sculptures of ten famous historical military generals and strategists placed in the temple flanking Jiang Ziya's statue: Zhuge Liang, Bai Qi, Han Xin, Li Jing, Li Shiji, Zhang Liang, Sima Rangju, Sun Tzu, Wu Qi, and Yue Yi.

[8] The authoritative historical source on Zhuge Liang's life is his biography in Volume 35 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), which was written by the historian Chen Shou (233–297) in the third century.

[9]: 113 In the fifth century, the Liu Song dynasty historian Pei Songzhi (372–451) annotated the Sanguozhi by incorporating information from other sources to Chen Shou's original work and adding his personal commentary.

[Sanguozhi zhu 1] The Fengsu Tongyi recorded that Zhuge Liang's ancestor was Ge Ying (zh:葛嬰), who served under Chen Sheng, a rebel leader who led the Dazexiang uprising against the Qin dynasty.

[Sanguozhi 5] In later sources, it is said that during the northern expedition, Zhuge Liang commanded the three armies with a white feather fan while wearing a headscarf made of kudzu cloth and riding on a plain chariot.

The original Chinese text in the novel mentions that Zhuge Liang wore a guanjin (綸巾; a type of headscarf or hat) and a hechang (鶴氅; a robe commonly worn by Daoists).

[Sanguozhi 12] During their private meeting, Liu Bei sought Zhuge Liang's advice on how to compete with the powerful warlords and revive the declining Han dynasty.

[Sanguozhi zhu 10] After initial advisement against Zhuge Liang's plan for a Sun–Liu alliance, further consultation with his generals Lu Su and Zhou Yu convinced Sun Quan to move forward with it.

Imperial Chancellor Zhuge Liang will understand our intents, tirelessly redress our deficiencies, and assist in spreading our benevolent light, that it may illuminate all of China.

If in the past the Yellow Emperor – his whole forces totalling 50,000 or so – controlled every region and stabilised the whole world, how much more so by comparison could ten times his number do, holding the true Way, standing over these criminals?

[Sanguozhi zhu 13]Zhuge Liang wanted to personally lead the Shu forces on a southern campaign to the Nanzhong region to suppress the rebellions which erupted in 223, as well as to pacify and gain the allegiance of the Nanman tribes living there.

Under Zhuge Liang's direction, the Shu military also started training soldiers, stockpiling weapons and resources, etc., in preparation for an upcoming campaign against their rival Wei.

[Sanguozhi 43] In 227, Zhuge Liang ordered troops from throughout Shu to mobilise and assemble in Hanzhong Commandery in preparation for a large-scale military campaign against Cao Wei.

Their mission was to distract and hold the Wei forces' attention, while Zhuge Liang led the Shu main army to attack Mount Qi (祁山; the mountainous regions around Li County, Gansu).

[Sanguozhi zhu 15] In response to the Shu invasion, Cao Rui moved from his imperial capital at Luoyang to Chang'an to oversee the defences in the Guanzhong region and provide backup.

At Jieting (街亭; or Jie Village, east of Qin'an County, Gansu), Ma Su not only went against Zhuge Liang's instructions, but also made the wrong moves, resulting in the Shu vanguard suffering a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Wei forces under Zhang He.

[Sanguozhi zhu 19] However, historians such as Qian Dazhao (錢大昭) have cast doubts on the authenticity of the second Chu Shi Biao and argued that it is falsely attributed to Zhuge Liang.

[Sanguozhi zhu 22] Wang Shuang, a Wei officer, led his men to attack the retreating Shu forces, but was killed in an ambush laid by Zhuge Liang.

At the same time, another Wei army led by Sima Yi, acting on Cao Rui's order, advanced towards Shu from Jing Province by sailing along the Han River.

[23][Sanguozhi 62] In 230,[25] Zhuge Liang launched the fourth Northern Expedition and attacked Mount Qi (祁山; the mountainous regions around present-day Li County, Gansu) again.

[Sanguozhi zhu 31] In response, Zhuge Liang ordered Wei Yan, Wu Ban and Gao Xiang to lead troops to engage the enemy outside Lucheng.

Aside from using the flowing horse to transport food supplies to the frontline, he implemented a tuntian plan by ordering his troops to grow crops alongside civilians at the south bank of the Wei River.

[Sanguozhi 75] The Shu Ji (蜀記), by Wang Yin (王隱), recorded that sometime in the early Jin dynasty, Sima Jun (司馬駿; 232–286), the Prince of Fufeng (扶風王), once had a discussion about Zhuge Liang with his subordinates Liu Bao (劉寶), Huan Xi (桓隰) and others.

[Sanguozhi zhu 42] In his concluding remarks, Pei Songzhi noted that the fourth-century historians Sun Sheng and Xi Zuochi, given their attention to detail, most probably came across Guo Chong's five anecdotes while doing research on the Three Kingdoms period.

He further pointed out that the government lacked popular support and political legitimacy at the time because some people saw Liu Bei as a foreign invader who occupied Yi Province by military force.

[Sanguozhi zhu 48] Guo Chong's third anecdote concerns Zhuge Liang's alleged use of the Empty Fort Strategy against Sima Yi at Yangping (陽平).

In other words, just as attested in Sanguozhi, all of Shu Han's affairs, trivial or vital, were directly handled by Zhuge Liang, and the emperor Liu Shan was just a nominal leader.

Fu Yuan, a well-known local metalsmith, was appointed to a role in metallurgy research by Zhuge Liang, and managed to improve the techniques in crafting steel weapons for the Shu Han army.

[43] The original Chinese text in the novel mentions that Zhuge Liang wore a guanjin (綸巾; a type of hat) and a hechang (鶴氅; a robe commonly worn by Daoists).

Zhuge Liang is also featured in the Qun Xiong Zheng Ba (群雄争霸) and Ao Shi Tian Xia (傲视天下) sets of the collectible card game Generals Order.