Battle of Que 曲阿之戰

Liu Yao became Inspector of Yang Province by imperial edict, but because Yuan Shu was in Huainan he was afraid and did not dare go to the province, and Wu Jing and Sun Ben welcomed him and settled him at Qu'e. The biography of Sun Ce records that the provincial seat, Shouchun, was already held by Yuan Shu, so Liu Yao crossed the Yangtze and made Qu'e his seat. Liu Yao pressed and drove out Wu Jing and Sun Ben, who had been appointed by Yuan Shu, and stationed Fan Neng, Zhang Ying and others along the Yangtze to resist Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu set up his former subordinate Hui Qu as Inspector of Yang Province and had Wu Jing and Sun Ben attack Zhang Ying and the others, but they could not win for more than a year, and the court added the posts of Governor and General Who Invigorates Martial Might for Liu Yao, whose following numbered several tens of thousands. Records, Wu 4 §4–5Records, Wu 1 §28

Sun Ce, disappointed in Yuan Shu, asked to help Wu Jing and the others pacify Jiangdong. Yuan Shu memorialized to make him Colonel Who Breaks Assaults and acting General Who Exterminates Bandits; he had barely a thousand soldiers and a few dozen horsemen, and several hundred retainers who wished to follow him. By the time he reached Liyang his following had grown to five or six thousand, and Zhou Yu also came with troops to meet Sun Ce. According to the Biographies of Consorts, when Xu Kun, short of boats, wanted to halt the army, his mother told him to cut reeds and make rafts to cross; Sun Ce followed this, and his whole force crossed the river. Records, Wu 1 §27 · 29Records, Wu 9 §3Records, Wu 5 §11–12

Sun Ce attacked Hengjiang and Dangli, took them both and defeated Zhang Ying and the others. He then crossed the river, attacked Moling and defeated Ze Rong and Xue Li, turned to take Hushu and Jiangcheng, and advanced into Qu'e. The biography of Cheng Pu records that Cheng Pu earned merit in the taking of Moling, Hushu, Jurong and Qu'e alike, and the biography of Wu Jing records that when Sun Ce was wounded at Niuzhu the bandits who had surrendered rebelled again, but Wu Jing captured every one of them. Records, Wu 9 §3Records, Wu 10 §3Records, Wu 5 §4

Taishi Ci, a man of the same commandery as Liu Yao, had returned from Liaodong and come to Qu'e to see Liu Yao, and before he left he met Sun Ce. When someone urged Liu Yao to make Taishi Ci his Grand General, Liu Yao said that Xu Zijiang would laugh at him, and had him merely scout the enemy's strength. Taishi Ci was riding with a single horseman when he ran into Sun Ce leading thirteen riders and fought him; Sun Ce stabbed Taishi Ci's horse and snatched his hand halberd, and Taishi Ci seized Sun Ce's helmet. Records, Wu 4 §27–28

Liu Yao fled to Dantu, then went up the Yangtze to hold Yuzhang in the south and stationed himself at Pengze. The biography of Sun Ce records that when Liu Yao abandoned his army and fled, the administrators of the various commanderies also abandoned their cities and ran away, and that because Sun Ce's military orders were strict the people turned to him. Sun Ce pacified Moling and Qu'e, took in the remaining followers of Ze Rong and Liu Yao, and gave Lü Fan an additional 2,000 soldiers and 50 cavalry horses; when his following reached several tens of thousands, he told Zhou Yu that with this force it was enough to take Wu Commandery and Kuaiji and pacify the Shanyue, and sent him back to guard Danyang. Records, Wu 4 §5Records, Wu 1 §29–30Records, Wu 11 §34Records, Wu 9 §3–4

Chen Shou assessed Liu Yao as a man who cultivated his reputation and conduct and loved to judge the good and bad in people, but said that holding a territory of ten thousand li in a time of turmoil was not his strength. Records, Wu 4 §51