Liu Bei 劉備

The Biography of the First Sovereign refers to him as 'the First Sovereign' (Xianzhu). His courtesy name was Xuande and he was a native of Zhuo County in Zhuo Commandery; Liu Zhen, a son of Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan, lost his marquisate at Zhuo County over the matter of the tribute gold (zhoujin) and settled there. His grandfather was Liu Xiong and his father Liu Hong. He lost his father young and made a living with his mother selling sandals and weaving mats. Beneath the mulberry tree by the fence of his house he said, 'I will surely ride in a carriage with a feathered canopy like this,' and was scolded for it by his uncle Zijing. At fifteen he studied under Lu Zhi together with Gongsun Zan and others, and his clansman Liu Yuanqi always provided him with money, saying, 'He is no ordinary person.' Records, Shu 2 §2–4

He stood seven chi five cun tall; when he let his arms hang, his hands reached below his knees, and when he turned his head he could see his own ears. He spoke little and did not show joy or anger. When the Yellow Turbans rose, he fought under Colonel Zou Jing and was made Commandant of Anxi, but when the commandery inspector (duyou) refused to see him, he went in, tied the man up, gave him two hundred strokes of the rod, then abandoned his post and fled. Later he attached himself to Gongsun Zan, became a Major of a Separate Command (biebu sima), and held off Yuan Shao together with Tian Kai; for his merit in battle he rose to Chancellor of Pingyuan. Records, Shu 2 §5–7

When Cao Cao attacked Xu Province, he went with Tian Kai to rescue Tao Qian, Governor of Xu Province; when Tao Qian reinforced him with four thousand Danyang troops, he transferred his allegiance to Tao Qian and was stationed at Xiaopei as Inspector of Yu Province. When Tao Qian fell gravely ill, he told Mi Zhu, 'Without Liu Bei this province cannot be kept secure.' After Tao Qian died, he declined, saying the province should be given to Yuan Shu, but when Chen Deng and Kong Rong spoke poorly of Yuan Shu and urged him, he took charge of Xu Province. In the 1st year of Jian'an (196), on Cao Cao's recommendation, he became General Who Guards the East and Marquis of Yicheng Village. Records, Shu 2 §8–11

While he was facing Yuan Shu, Lü Bu raided Xiapi and captured his wife and children; later, defeated by Lü Bu, he went over to Cao Cao. After capturing Lü Bu at Xiapi together with Cao Cao, he went to the capital, Xu, and became General of the Left, and Cao Cao had him ride in the same carriage when they went out and sit on the same mat when they sat. When Dong Cheng, uncle of Emperor Xian (Liu Xie), said he had received a secret edict hidden in the emperor's robe sash and proposed killing Cao Cao, he had not yet acted; then Cao Cao said to him, 'The only heroes in the realm today are you, sir, and I,' and he dropped his spoon and chopsticks. Afterwards he plotted with Dong Cheng, but went out to intercept Yuan Shu and never carried out the plan. He killed Che Zhou, Inspector of Xu Province, and seized Xiapi, but in the 5th year of Jian'an (200) he was heavily defeated by Cao Cao, and his wife and children and Guan Yu were captured. Records, Shu 2 §12–16

When he fled to Qing Province, Yuan Tan welcomed him, and Yuan Shao came out two hundred li from Ye to meet him. While he was raiding the area around Xu with Liu Pi of Runan and others on Yuan Shao's orders, Guan Yu escaped and returned to him. Wishing to leave Yuan Shao, he persuaded him to ally with Liu Biao, then joined Gong Du and others in Runan and killed Cai Yang, whom Cao Cao had sent. When Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao and came south, he took refuge with Liu Biao. Liu Biao stationed him at Xinye, but as the leading men of Jing Province gathered around him, Liu Biao secretly guarded against him. At Bowang he burned his own camp, feigned flight, and defeated Xiahou Dun, Yu Jin and others with an ambush. Records, Shu 2 §17–19

While at Xinye, on Xu Shu's advice he went to visit Zhuge Liang and met him only on the third visit. When Liu Biao died and his son Liu Cong surrendered to Cao Cao, he, stationed at Fan, learned of it only when Cao Cao had reached Wan, and he left leading his followers. When Zhuge Liang urged him to attack Liu Cong, he said, 'I cannot bear to.' By the time he reached Dangyang his followers numbered more than a hundred thousand and he advanced only a little over ten li a day; told to hurry ahead and hold Jiangling, he refused to abandon them, saying, 'To accomplish a great undertaking one must take people as the foundation.' Cao Cao rode over three hundred li in a single day and night with five thousand elite cavalry and caught up with him at Changban, and he fled with Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and a few dozen other horsemen, abandoning his wife and children. Records, Shu 5 §4Records, Shu 2 §20–22

Meeting Guan Yu's boats, he crossed the Mian River and reached Xiakou together with Liu Qi, Liu Biao's eldest son. He sent Zhuge Liang to ally with Sun Quan, who dispatched a navy of several tens of thousands under Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu and others, and together they crushed Cao Cao at Chibi. When an epidemic broke out as well and Cao Cao withdrew, he brought the four southern commanderies to submission, and when Liu Qi died of illness he became Governor of Jing Province. Sun Quan, fearing him, gave him his younger sister in marriage. Records, Shu 2 §23–24

In the 16th year of Jian'an (211), when Cao Cao was about to attack Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, Liu Zhang, Governor of Yi Province, grew afraid and on Zhang Song's advice sent Fa Zheng to invite him in. He left Jing Province in the hands of Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu and others and entered Yi Province; when Zhang Song, Fa Zheng and Pang Tong urged him to seize Liu Zhang at Fu County, he said, 'This is a great matter; it must not be rushed.' The following year Zhang Song's plot was discovered and he was executed, and the passes were closed to him; he then beheaded Liu Zhang's officer Yang Huai and occupied Fu County. Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others came up the river to join him, and after attacking Luo for nearly a year he surrounded Chengdu in the 19th year of Jian'an (214) and received Liu Zhang's surrender. Becoming Governor of Yi Province once more, he gave high posts even to Peng Yang, whom Liu Zhang had shunned, and to Liu Ba, whom he himself had long resented. Records, Shu 2 §27–34

In the 20th year of Jian'an (215), when Sun Quan demanded Jing Province, he replied, 'Once I have taken Liang Province, I will give you Jing Province.' Sun Quan sent Lü Meng to seize three commanderies, but when Cao Cao pacified Hanzhong he made peace with Sun Quan and divided Jing Province between east and west. In spring of the 24th year of Jian'an (219) he had Huang Zhong behead Xiahou Yuan at Mount Dingjun, and when Cao Cao came in person he said, 'Even if Lord Cao comes, he can do nothing; I will surely hold the Han River valley,' and, relying on strong terrain, refused to give battle. In summer Cao Cao withdrew, and he took Hanzhong. Records, Shu 2 §35–39

That autumn, 120 of his subordinates submitted a memorial to the Han emperor proclaiming him King of Hanzhong; he returned the seals and ribbons of General of the Left and Marquis of Yicheng Village, went back to Chengdu, and left Wei Yan to guard Hanzhong. Soon afterwards Sun Quan attacked and killed Guan Yu and took Jing Province. In the 25th year of Jian'an (220), when Emperor Wen of Wei took the imperial title and rumors spread that the Han emperor had been killed, he conferred on him the posthumous title Emperor Xiaomin; in the fourth month of the 26th year of Jian'an (221) he ascended the throne south of Wudan at Chengdu and changed the era name to Zhangwu. In the sixth month Zhang Fei was killed by his own attendants. Long enraged at Sun Quan's attack on Guan Yu, he attacked Wu in the seventh month and refused even Sun Quan's request for peace. Records, Shu 2 §40 · 53–55 · 65 · 68–69

In the second month of the 2nd year of Zhangwu (222) he set up camp at Xiaoting in Yidao, sent Ma Liang to pacify the Man peoples of Wuxi, and gave Huang Quan command of the forces north of the river. Lu Xun of Wu (the Biography of the First Sovereign records him under his original name, Lu Yi) attacked his army, which had strung together dozens of camps from the Wu Gorge to the border of Yiling, by having soldiers carrying bundles of thatch set fires; he broke more than forty camps and killed Feng Xi, Zhang Nan and others (Biography of Lu Xun). He returned overland to Yufu, which he renamed Yong'an, and when Sun Quan asked for peace he accepted. In the 3rd year of Zhangwu (223), when his illness became grave, he entrusted his orphaned son to the Chancellor Zhuge Liang, with Li Yan as his deputy, and in the fourth month he died at Yongan Palace, aged 63. His posthumous title was Emperor Zhaolie. Records, Shu 2 §70–73 · 76Records, Wu 13 §2 · 17 · 21

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that the First Sovereign was broad-minded and resolute, tolerant and generous, able to judge men and treat scholars well, and so had the bearing of Emperor Gaozu and the capacity of a hero. He called the way he entrusted the whole state and his orphaned son to Zhuge Liang without any duplicity of heart a splendid model for all ages. In adaptable stratagem and practical ability he fell short of Emperor Wu of Wei, and so his territory was also narrow; yet Chen Shou wrote that his refusal to bend when broken and his never becoming another's subordinate came from judging that the other side would never tolerate him, and seeking to avoid harm. Records, Shu 2 §78