Liu Yao faction 劉繇

Liu Yao was a native of Muping County in Donglai Commandery, from a family that had settled there after the youngest son of King Xiao of Qi was enfeoffed as Marquis of Muping. His uncle Liu Chong was Grand Commandant of the Han, and his elder brother Liu Dai served as Palace Attendant and Inspector of Yan Province. At nineteen Liu Yao made his name by snatching back an uncle who had been taken hostage by bandits, and when the province summoned him to inspect Jinan, he memorialized against the greedy and lawless Chancellor of Jinan and had him dismissed. Records, Wu 4 §2–3

While taking refuge from the turmoil at Huaipu, Liu Yao was made Inspector of Yang Province by edict, but since Yuan Shu was in Huainan, he was afraid and dared not go to the province. The provincial seat had long been Shouchun, which Yuan Shu already held, so Liu Yao crossed the Yangtze and made Qu'e his seat. At this time Wu Jing and Sun Ben welcomed him and settled him at Qu'e. Records, Wu 4 §4Records, Wu 1 §28

When Yuan Shu plotted usurpation and attacked and seized commanderies and counties, Liu Yao, regarding Wu Jing and Sun Ben as men appointed by Yuan Shu, pressed them and drove them out, and the two withdrew to Liyang. The biography of Zhu Zhi states that a rift arose because Liu Yao feared being absorbed by the Yuan and Sun families. Liu Yao stationed Fan Neng and others to the east at Hengjiang Ford and Zhang Ying at Danglikou to hold off Yuan Shu. Yuan Shu made his former subordinate Hui Qu Inspector of Yang Province and had Wu Jing and Sun Ben attack Zhang Ying and the others, but they could not prevail for more than a year. The Han court raised Liu Yao to Governor of Yang Province and General Who Invigorates Martial Might, and his followers numbered several tens of thousands. Records, Wu 4 §5Records, Wu 1 §28Records, Wu 11 §3

Some crossed the river to escape the turmoil and relied on Liu Yao. Shi Yi of Beihai came to Jiangdong relying on Liu Yao, and Teng Yin's uncle Teng Dan and father Teng Zhou, whose family came from the same home district as Liu Yao, also crossed the river and relied on him. Taishi Ci, a man of the same Donglai Commandery, also came to Qu'e, but when someone urged making him a grand general, Liu Yao said, "If I were to employ Ziyi, would Xu Zijiang not laugh at me?" and merely assigned him to reconnoiter the enemy's strength. Records, Wu 17 §2Records, Wu 19 §66Records, Wu 4 §27

Sun Ce set out for Jiangdong after persuading Yuan Shu that he would help Wu Jing and the others, and by the time he reached Liyang his followers numbered five or six thousand. When Zhou Yu joined him with troops, Sun Ce took Hengjiang and Dangli, crossed the river, defeated Ze Rong and Xue Li at Moling, and advanced on Qu'e by way of Husu and Jiangcheng. At this time Taishi Ci, whom Liu Yao had sent to reconnoiter, ran into Sun Ce and fought him hand to hand. Liu Yao abandoned his army and fled, and the administrators of the commanderies all abandoned their cities and ran away. Records, Wu 1 §29–30Records, Wu 9 §3Records, Wu 4 §27–28

Liu Yao fled to Dantu, then went up the Yangtze and south to hold Yuzhang, encamping at Pengze. Sun Ce pacified Qu'e and Moling, took in the remaining followers of Ze Rong and Liu Yao, and added them to Lü Fan's troops. Shi Yi, who had followed Liu Yao, moved to Kuaiji when the army was defeated. Records, Wu 4 §5Records, Wu 11 §34Records, Wu 17 §2

In Yuzhang, Ze Rong had arrived first, killed the Administrator Zhu Hao and entered the commandery. Ze Rong was the man who, serving under Tao Qian, had seized the supplies of three commanderies to build a Buddhist temple and had killed Zhao Yu, Administrator of Guangling, and Xue Li, Chancellor of Pengcheng. Liu Yao advanced against him and was defeated by Ze Rong, but he rallied the subordinate counties again and defeated Ze Rong, who fled into the mountains and was killed by the local people. Records, Wu 4 §6 · 8–9

Liu Yao died of illness shortly afterwards at the age of forty-two. According to the biography of Sun Ben, Sun Ce and Sun Ben, returning from attacking Liu Xun, Administrator of Lujiang, and Huang Zu, Administrator of Jiangxia, heard that Liu Yao had died of illness and pacified Yuzhang, and the Biography of the Lord of Wu records this campaign under the 4th year of Jian'an (199). The biography of Taishi Ci records that after Liu Yao died at Yuzhang, Sun Ce sent Taishi Ci to pacify and win over more than ten thousand of his soldiers who were left with no one to rely on, and that Taishi Ci returned on the day he had promised. Records, Wu 4 §6 · 30Records, Wu 6 §27Records, Wu 2 §3

On his way back from attacking Jiangxia, Sun Ce collected Liu Yao's coffin at Yuzhang and treated his family well. Wang Lang sent Sun Ce a letter saying that when Liu Yao first came to the province, he had crossed the river and established himself with the help of the Sun family, and that he had become their enemy only because of suspicions tangled with the Yuan family, which was not his true intention. His eldest son Liu Ji, cherished and respected by Sun Quan, served as Minister of Agriculture and Superintendent of the Palace, among other posts, and Sun Quan took Liu Ji's daughter as a wife for his son Sun Ba. Records, Wu 4 §10–12 · 14–15

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