Liu Ji 劉基

Liu Yao, holding Yuzhang, died of illness not long afterwards. Later, when Sun Ce was returning from his western campaign against Jiangxia and passed through Yuzhang, he collected Liu Yao's coffin for transport and treated his family well. Wang Lang wrote to Sun Ce praising the deep kindness of gathering up the remains, raising the orphans and protecting the young orphan entrusted to him, and saying that 'the eldest son of Zhengli has resolve and integrity, and will surely prove out of the ordinary.' Records, Wu 4 §6 · 10–12

At the age of fourteen Liu Ji observed the mourning for Liu Yao with full propriety and accepted none of the gifts sent by his father's former officials. He was handsome in appearance, and Sun Quan cherished and respected him. When Sun Quan became General of Agile Cavalry he summoned him as Officer of the Eastern Bureau and appointed him Colonel Who Assists Righteousness and General of the Household Who Establishes Loyalty. When Sun Quan became King of Wu, he transferred Liu Ji to Minister of Agriculture. Records, Wu 4 §14

After Sun Quan became King of Wu, toward the end of a banquet he rose himself to pour wine around, but Yu Fan lay prostrate on the ground pretending to be drunk and did not take the cup, then sat up once Sun Quan had passed. Sun Quan, in a great rage, took up a sword in his own hand to strike him, and all those sitting in attendance were thrown into panic. Only the Minister of Agriculture Liu Ji rose, threw his arms around Sun Quan and remonstrated: if the great king were to kill a fine scholar with his own hand after three cups of wine, then even if Yu Fan were guilty, who in the realm would know it? He also said that it was because the great king could generously accept the worthy and nurture the multitude that all within the seas looked up to him, and asked whether it was right to cast this away in a single morning. Records, Wu 12 §10

When Sun Quan said, 'Even Cao Mengde killed Kong Wenju; what is Yu Fan to me?', Liu Ji replied that Mengde had lightly harmed scholars and the realm condemned him for it, and asked how the great king, who personally practiced virtue and righteousness and sought to rival Yao and Shun in glory, could compare himself to such a man. Yu Fan thereby escaped death, and because of this Sun Quan ordered his attendants that from then on, even if he spoke of killing someone after drinking, no one was to be killed. The record of Liu Ji in volume 4 likewise says that although Sun Quan was furious, Yu Fan escaped death thanks to Liu Ji's remonstrance. Records, Wu 12 §11Records, Wu 4 §14

When Sun Quan heard of Zhang Wen and asked his ministers whom he could now be compared with, the Minister of Agriculture Liu Ji replied that he could be ranked with Quan Cong. The Minister of Ceremonies Gu Yong, however, said that Liu Ji did not know Zhang Wen's character well, and that Zhang Wen had no equal at present. Records, Wu 12 §24

In the height of summer, when it was very hot, Sun Quan held a banquet on a ship and was caught by thunder and rain on the ship's upper deck. Sun Quan had himself covered with a canopy and ordered Liu Ji covered too, but the others were not; such was the favor Liu Ji received. Liu Ji was transferred to Prefect of the Palace Gentlemen, and when Sun Quan took the imperial title in the 1st year of Huanglong (229), he was reappointed Superintendent of the Imperial Household and shared in handling the affairs of the Imperial Secretariat. He died at the age of forty-nine; Chen Shou's main text does not record the year of his death. Records, Wu 4 §15Records, Wu 2 §61

Later Sun Quan took Liu Ji's daughter as a wife for his son Sun Ba and granted a residence, and the favors and gifts bestowed in every season matched those of the Quan and Zhang families. Liu Ji's two younger brothers, Liu Shuo and Liu Shang, were both Chief Commandants of Cavalry. In his assessment in volume 4, Chen Shou discussed Liu Yao, Taishi Ci and Shi Xie but did not mention Liu Ji separately. Records, Wu 4 §15 · 51