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The romantic tradition that originated with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms differs from historical accounts in many details. For example, Cao Cao's army strength was exaggerated to over 800,000 men. This may be attributed to the ethos of later times, particularly of the Southern Song Dynasty . The Shu kingdom in particular was viewed by later literati as the "legitimate" successor to the Han empire, so fictionalised accounts assign greater prominence than the historical records warrant to the roles of Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and other heroes from Shu. This is generally accomplished by minimising the importance of Wu commanders and advisors such as Zhou Yu and Lu Su. While historical accounts describe Lu Su as a sensible advisor and Zhou Yu as an eminent military leader and "generous, sensible and courageous" man, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms depicts Lu Su as unremarkable and Zhou Yu as cruel and cynical.