Zhuge Liang, styled Kongming, was born in AD 181 and died in AD 234. He is an outstanding politician and strategist.  According to historical literature, Liu Bei who was a descendant of the imperial family aimed to seize the state power. He and his sworn brothers called on Zhuge Liang's cottage three times in AD 207, asking Zhuge Liang to come out to take an office. This story known as "Three Calls to a Cottage" has become synonymous with "seeking talent with eagerness" or "being courteous to the wise."
Inside his cottage at Longzhong the far-sighted Zhuge Liang proposed to Liu Bei that he should not confront Cao Cao who had a million-strong army. Instead, Liu Bei should ally with Sun Quan who had occupied the region east of Yangzi River for generations. At the same time, Zhuge Liang pointed out, Liu Bei could expand towards Jingzhou and Yizhou. This is the well-known "dialogue of Longzhong." At the time of this dialogue, Zhuge Liang was only 27 years old.
In AD 225 Zhuge Liang, then the prime minister of Kingdom Shu, decided to have a stable home front before a northern expedition. He ordered his army to march toward the region of present-day Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. By capturing and releasing the ethnic chieftain Meng Huo seven times, Zhuge Liang won over the local people.
After the home front was settled, Zhuge Liang began his plan of northern expedition. In AD 227 Zhuge Liang submitted the famous "Memorial on Sending Out the Troops" to the emperor. The memorial aiming at settlement of the central China and restoration of the Han regime is embodiment of the overall strategy in his dialogue of Longzhong, his native land in Central China. 
To set Zhuge Liang into relief, the Three Kingdoms combined facts and fictitious elements to create the stories of Zhuge Liang's burning the enemy at Xinye, his talking down the allied think-tanks , angering Zhou Yu to death, borrowing arrows from enemy by deploying straw boats, strategy of the unguarded city and so on. All these made Zhuge Liang the soul of wisdom in people's mind.
In AD 234 Zhuge Liang for the last time deployed his troops at Wuzhangyuan in present-day Meixian County, Shaanxi Province in confrontation with the army of Kingdom Wei. He died at his post before his troops triumphed. According to his will people buried him at the foot of Dingjun Mountain in today's Mianxian County, Shaanxi Province.
The famous maxim "work with devotion until death" from his "Memorial on Sending Out Troops" is the very picture of Zhuge Liang's life. He left his cottage to take a post at his age of 27 and after 27 years he died at his post. But the short period of 27 years has made him a hero remembered and honored in Chinese history.