Liu Feng 劉封

Liu Feng was originally the son of the Marquis of Luo of the Kou clan and a nephew of the Liu clan of Changsha. When Liu Bei arrived in Jing Province he still had no son to succeed him, so he raised Liu Feng as his son. Records, Shu 10 §2

When Liu Bei entered Shu and turned back from Jiameng to attack Liu Zhang, Liu Feng, then a little over twenty, was skilled in martial arts and had strength beyond other men. Leading troops, he went west upstream together with Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and others and won every battle he fought. When Yi Province was pacified he became General of the Household Assisting the Army. Records, Shu 10 §2

In the summer of the 24th year of Jian'an (219), after taking Hanzhong, Liu Bei sent Liu Feng, Meng Da and others to attack Shen Dan at Shangyong. In the same year Meng Da, under orders, attacked Fangling northward from Zigui, and Kuai Qi, the Administrator of Fangling, was killed by Meng Da's soldiers. When Meng Da was about to advance on Shangyong, Liu Bei privately worried that it might be too much for Meng Da to handle alone, so he had Liu Feng go down the Mian River from Hanzhong to take command of Meng Da's army. Liu Feng met Meng Da at Shangyong. Records, Shu 2 §39Records, Shu 10 §3

Shen Dan, the Administrator of Shangyong, surrendered with his followers and sent his wife, children and clan to Chengdu. Liu Bei added the title General Who Campaigns in the North to Shen Dan and let him keep his posts of Administrator of Shangyong and Marquis of Yuanxiang as before; he made Shen Dan's younger brother Shen Yi General Who Establishes Trust and Administrator of Xicheng, and promoted Liu Feng to General Assisting the Army. After Guan Yu besieged Fancheng and Xiangyang, he repeatedly called on Liu Feng and Meng Da to send troops to help him. The two declined, saying that the mountain commanderies had only just submitted and could not be unsettled, and did not carry out Guan Yu's orders. Records, Shu 10 §4

When Guan Yu was then defeated and destroyed, Liu Bei resented them. Liu Feng had also quarrelled angrily with Meng Da and was on bad terms with him, and soon afterwards he seized Meng Da's band of drums and pipes. Meng Da, fearing punishment and angry at Liu Feng, sent a memorial taking leave of Liu Bei and led his followers to surrender to Wei. Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of Wei, made Meng Da Cavalier Regular Attendant and General Who Establishes Martial Might, enfeoffed him as Marquis of Pingyang Village, and gave him the post of Administrator of Xincheng Commandery, formed by combining the three commanderies of Fangling, Shangyong and Xicheng. Records, Shu 10 §5

Emperor Wen of Wei sent the General Who Campaigns in the South Xiahou Shang and the General of the Right Xu Huang to attack Liu Feng together with Meng Da. Meng Da wrote to Liu Feng saying that he and the King of Hanzhong were mere strangers met on the road, and that since Liu Shan (A Dou) had been made crown prince, men of insight had felt a chill on his behalf. He also said that around the King of Hanzhong there would surely be people driving a wedge between the two of them, and that to abandon one's parents and become another man's heir was contrary to propriety. He then urged him to come east and succeed the Marquis of Luo, in which case he would receive a split tally for a great state and become its first enfeoffed lord. Liu Feng did not follow Meng Da's words. Records, Shu 10 §6 · 8 · 10–12 · 14

When Shen Yi turned against Liu Feng, Liu Feng was defeated and fled back to Chengdu. Shen Dan surrendered to Wei, was given the acting title General Who Gathers and Embraces, and moved to live in Nanyang; Shen Yi became Administrator of Weixing, was enfeoffed as Marquis of Yuanxiang, and was stationed at Xunkou. Records, Shu 10 §15

When Liu Feng arrived, Liu Bei reproached him for encroaching on and slighting Meng Da and for not rescuing Guan Yu. Zhuge Liang, worried that Liu Feng was hard and fierce and would in the end be difficult to control after the next generation took over, urged Liu Bei to use this occasion to remove him. So Liu Bei ordered Liu Feng to die and made him take his own life. Liu Feng sighed, 'I regret not following the words of Meng Zidu (Meng Da)!' and Liu Bei shed tears for him. The Records does not record the year of his death. Records, Shu 10 §15

In his assessment Chen Shou said that although Liu Feng stood in a position open to suspicion, his thought for guarding against it was not enough to protect himself. Together with Peng Yang, Li Yan, Wei Yan and others in the same volume, he wrote that in bringing on disaster and incurring blame, none of them had anyone to blame but themselves. Records, Shu 10 §74