Liu Bei's takeover of Yi Province 益州之戰

According to the Biography of the First Sovereign, in the 16th year of Jian'an (211) Liu Zhang was alarmed to hear that Lord Cao meant to send Zhong Yao and others to Hanzhong to attack Zhang Lu, and the Attendant Officer with Separate Carriage Zhang Song urged him to have Liu Bei attack Zhang Lu. Liu Zhang gave Fa Zheng 4,000 men to welcome Liu Bei, and Fa Zheng took the opportunity to lay out a plan for seizing Yi Province. The Biography of Liu Zhang records that the Registrar Huang Quan remonstrated, weighing the advantages and dangers, and the Attendant Officer Wang Lei remonstrated by hanging himself upside down from the gate of the provincial seat, but Liu Zhang accepted none of it. Records, Shu 2 §27–28Records, Shu 7 §16Records, Shu 1 §16

Leaving Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu and others to hold Jing Province, Liu Bei led several tens of thousands of infantry into Yi Province and met Liu Zhang at Fu County. Zhang Song and Pang Tong proposed seizing Liu Zhang there and then, but Liu Bei refused, saying that he had only just entered another's domain and his kindness and good faith were not yet known. Liu Zhang added to Liu Bei's troops so that he could attack Zhang Lu and put him in charge of the Baishui army, and Liu Bei, with more than 30,000 men, went north to Jiameng, but instead of attacking Zhang Lu at once he dispensed generous favors to win the hearts of the people. Records, Shu 2 §28–29Records, Shu 7 §7

The following year, when Lord Cao attacked Sun Quan, Liu Bei, saying that he would go east to rescue Guan Yu, asked Liu Zhang for 10,000 troops and supplies, but Liu Zhang granted only 4,000 and gave half of everything else. When Zhang Song's elder brother Zhang Su denounced the letter Zhang Song had sent to Liu Bei and Fa Zheng, Liu Zhang beheaded Zhang Song, and when Liu Zhang told the generals at the passes not to exchange documents with Liu Bei, Liu Bei rebuked and beheaded Yang Huai, Commander of the Baishui Army. The Biography of Pang Tong records that Pang Tong offered three plans, an upper, a middle and a lower, and that Liu Bei followed the middle plan, beheaded Yang Huai and Gao Pei and headed for Chengdu. Records, Shu 2 §30–31Records, Shu 7 §7–9

Liu Bei advanced on Fu County with Huang Zhong and Zhuo Ying and took the city, and Liu Gui, Leng Bao, Zhang Ren, Deng Xian and others sent by Liu Zhang were defeated at Fu County and fell back to Mianzhu. In the 18th year of Jian'an (213) Li Yan, whom Liu Zhang had made Protector of the Army to hold Mianzhu, led his men over to Liu Bei in surrender, and Liu Zhang's relative by marriage Fei Guan surrendered together with Li Yan. Liu Zhang's Attendant Officer Zheng Du proposed moving the people of Baxi and Zitong west of the Fu River and burning the grain to hold out, but Liu Zhang rejected this, saying that he had never heard of moving the people to avoid an enemy. Records, Shu 2 §32Records, Shu 10 §41Records, Shu 15 §46Records, Shu 7 §17–18

While Liu Bei divided his forces to pacify the subordinate counties, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others went upstream and pacified Baidi, Jiangzhou and Jiangyang. Zhang Fei captured Yan Yan, Administrator of Ba Commandery, at Jiangzhou, and admiring Yan Yan's words that in his province there were generals who lose their heads but no generals who surrender, he released him and made him his guest. Zhao Yun split off at Jiangzhou and went up the Outer River to Jiangyang, and they joined Liu Bei at Chengdu. Records, Shu 2 §32Records, Shu 5 §18Records, Shu 6 §17–18 · 40

Huo Jun, whom Liu Bei had left to hold the city of Jiameng when he went south, rejected the enticements of a general sent by Zhang Lu, and though besieged for nearly a year by more than 10,000 men under Liu Zhang's generals Fu Jin, Xiang Cun and others, he held out with a few hundred men, then sallied out, attacked and beheaded Xiang Cun. Wang Lian, Magistrate of Zitong, shut his city gates and would not surrender, and Liu Bei, thinking him righteous, did not press him by force. Huang Quan, Chief of Guanghan County, likewise shut his city and held it firmly, going over to Liu Bei only after Liu Zhang had surrendered. Records, Shu 11 §2–3 · 10Records, Shu 13 §3

Liu Bei advanced and besieged Luo, and Liu Zhang's son Liu Xun, who defended the city, held out for almost a year. Pang Tong was struck by a stray arrow while leading his men in an assault on the city and died at the age of thirty-six, and Fa Zheng, during the siege of Luo, sent Liu Zhang a letter explaining the situation. When Luo fell in the summer of the 19th year of Jian'an (214), Liu Bei besieged Chengdu for several tens of days. When Ma Chao, who had been relying on Zhang Lu, secretly sent a letter asking to surrender, Liu Bei sent men to welcome him, and when Ma Chao arrived below the walls with his troops, the city shook with fear. Records, Shu 2 §32–33Records, Shu 7 §11 · 18Records, Shu 6 §29–30

According to the Biography of Liu Zhang, there were still 30,000 picked troops and enough grain to last a year in the city, and the officials and people wanted to fight to the death, but Liu Zhang, saying that it was because of him that the people had fought for three years and soaked the fields with their blood, opened the city gates, came out and surrendered. Liu Bei moved Liu Zhang to Gong'an and returned his property and his seal and ribbon as General Who Spreads Awe, again took on the post of Governor of Yi Province himself, and placed Liu Zhang's former officials such as Dong He, Huang Quan and Li Yan in high positions. Records, Shu 1 §17–18Records, Shu 2 §33–34