Liu Zhang faction 劉璋

While Liu Yan was in Yi Province, Liu Zhang was in Chang'an attending Emperor Xian as Chief Commandant of Imperial Equipages, and when Emperor Xian sent him to admonish Liu Yan, Liu Yan kept him there. When Liu Yan died in the 1st year of Xingping (194), Zhao Wei and others, drawn to Liu Zhang's gentleness and benevolence, jointly put him forward as Inspector of Yi Province, and an edict made Liu Zhang Army Supervisor Envoy concurrently holding the post of Governor of Yi Province and made Zhao Wei General of the Household Who Conquers the East to attack Liu Biao. Records, Shu 1 §9 · 11

After Liu Zhang succeeded, Zhang Lu grew increasingly arrogant and would not obey him, and when Liu Zhang killed Zhang Lu's mother and younger brother, the two became sworn enemies. Zhang Lu held Hanzhong and taught the people with the Way of Ghosts. Liu Zhang repeatedly sent Pang Xi and others to attack Zhang Lu but was defeated each time, and because many of Zhang Lu's retainers were in Baxi, he made Pang Xi Administrator of Baxi to hold them off. Later he fell out with Pang Xi, and Zhao Wei raised troops and turned his blades inward, but his followers scattered and he was killed. Chen Shou wrote that all this came about because Liu Zhang lacked clear judgment and let outside words in. Records, Shu 1 §13Records, Wei 8 §62

Hearing that Cao Cao was campaigning against Jing Province, Liu Zhang sent Yin Pu of Henei to pay his respects and received the title of General Who Spreads Awe, while his elder brother Liu Mao became General Who Pacifies Bandits. The Annals of Emperor Wu record that in the 13th year of Jian'an (208) Liu Zhang, Governor of Yi Province, answered a levy for the first time and sent troops to join Cao Cao's army. Liu Zhang next sent his Attendant Officer Aide-de-camp Zhang Su to present 300 Sou soldiers and various articles for imperial use, but Zhang Song, the Aide-de-camp he sent after that, bore a grudge because Cao Cao, having pacified Jing Province, no longer paid him any attention. Records, Shu 1 §14Records, Wei 1 §105

When Cao Cao met with setbacks at Red Cliffs, Zhang Song returned, disparaged Cao Cao and urged Liu Zhang to break with him, saying that Liu of Yu Province was a close blood relative worth befriending. Liu Zhang sent Fa Zheng to establish friendly relations with Liu Bei, and then had Fa Zheng and Meng Da take several thousand troops to help Liu Bei's defense. Records, Shu 1 §15

In the 16th year of Jian'an (211), when Liu Zhang grew afraid at news that Cao Cao was sending Zhong Yao and others to Hanzhong to attack Zhang Lu, Zhang Song urged him to have Liu of Yu Province attack Zhang Lu, saying that the provincial commanders such as Pang Xi and Li Yi relied on their merits and harbored other designs. Liu Zhang gave Fa Zheng 4,000 men to welcome Liu Bei. The Registrar Huang Quan set out the advantages and dangers and was pushed out to be Chief of Guanghan County, and the Attendant Officer Wang Lei hung himself upside down from the provincial city gate to remonstrate, but Liu Zhang accepted none of it. Records, Shu 2 §27–28Records, Shu 1 §15–16Records, Shu 13 §2–3

When Liu Bei reached Fu County, Liu Zhang went out to meet him with more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry, and the two camps feasted merrily for over a hundred days. Pang Tong proposed seizing Liu Zhang at this meeting, but Liu Bei rejected it. Liu Zhang put Liu Bei forward as acting Grand Marshal and Colonel-Director of Retainers, and Liu Bei put Liu Zhang forward as acting General-in-Chief Who Guards the West and Governor of Yi Province; Liu Zhang increased Liu Bei's troops and even gave him command of the army at Baishui so that he could attack Zhang Lu, and returned to Chengdu that same year. Records, Shu 1 §16Records, Shu 2 §28–29Records, Shu 7 §7

The next year Liu Bei, saying that he had to go to Sun Quan's rescue, asked for 10,000 troops and supplies, but Liu Zhang granted only 4,000 troops and gave only half of everything else. Zhang Su, Zhang Song's elder brother and Administrator of Guanghan, fearing that disaster would reach him, exposed Zhang Song's plot, whereupon Liu Zhang seized Zhang Song and beheaded him, and for the first time a rift opened between the two men. When Liu Zhang ordered the commanders at the passes to stop passing documents to Liu Bei, Liu Bei summoned Yang Huai, Area Commander of Baishui, rebuked him for his discourtesy and beheaded him, then advanced to Fu County and occupied the city. Records, Shu 2 §30–32

Liu Zhang sent Liu Gui, Leng Bao, Zhang Ren, Deng Xian and others to hold Liu Bei off at Fu County, but they were all defeated and fell back to Mianzhu, and Li Yan, whom he sent to command the troops at Mianzhu, led his men over to Liu Bei. Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others came upriver and pacified Baidi, Jiangzhou and Jiangyang; Luo County, held by Liu Zhang's son Liu Xun, was under attack for nearly a year, and Pang Tong, attacking it, was killed by a stray arrow. When Zheng Du proposed moving the people of Baxi and Zitong west of the Fu River, burning the grain and waiting, Liu Zhang rejected him, saying he had never heard of moving the people to avoid the enemy. Records, Shu 2 §32Records, Shu 7 §11 · 17–18

In the summer of the 19th year of Jian'an (214) Luocheng fell and Chengdu was besieged for several tens of days. Inside the city there were still 30,000 elite troops and enough grain and silk to last a year, and the officials and people wished to fight to the death, but Liu Zhang, saying that he and his father had been in the province for more than twenty years without bestowing any kindness on the people, yet the people had fought for three years, opened the city gates, came out and surrendered. The biography of Ma Chao records that when Ma Chao arrived below the walls with his troops, the city trembled with fear and Liu Zhang promptly bowed his head in submission, and the biography of Jian Yong records that Liu Zhang left the city riding in the same carriage as Jian Yong, who had come to persuade him. Records, Shu 2 §33Records, Shu 1 §17–18Records, Shu 6 §30Records, Shu 8 §28

Liu Bei moved Liu Zhang to Gong'an in Nan Commandery and returned his property and the seal and ribbon of General Who Spreads Awe. Dong He, Huang Quan and Li Yan, whom Liu Zhang had employed, Wu Yi and Fei Guan, Liu Zhang's relatives by marriage, and Peng Yang, whom Liu Zhang had rejected, all rose to high positions. After Sun Quan killed Guan Yu and took Jing Province, he made Liu Zhang Governor of Yi Province and stationed him at Zigui; after Liu Zhang died, Yong Kai of Nanzhong rebelled with Yizhou Commandery as his base and attached himself to Wu, and Sun Quan made Liu Zhang's son Liu Chan Inspector of Yi Province. The eldest son Liu Xun remained in Shu, so the descendants of Liu Zhang's two sons were divided between Wu and Shu. Records, Shu 1 §18–19Records, Shu 2 §34

In his assessment in Records of Shu 1, Chen Shou wrote that Liu Zhang, whose talents did not make him a hero, held territory in an age of chaos; that one who ought to carry burdens riding in a carriage invites robbers is the natural order of things, and his losing his territory was no misfortune. Records, Shu 1 §22