Liu Zhang 劉璋

While Liu Yan was Governor of Yi Province, Liu Zhang, as Chief Commandant of Imperial Equipages, was in Chang'an with his elder brothers Liu Fan and Liu Dan, attending Emperor Xian. When Liu Yan's ambitions grew so large that he had more than a thousand sets of carriages and fittings made of the kind used by the Son of Heaven, Emperor Xian sent Liu Zhang to admonish him, but Liu Yan kept Liu Zhang with him and did not send him back. Later Liu Fan conspired with Ma Teng to attack Chang'an and was killed, and Liu Dan too was punished. Records, Shu 1 §9–10

In the 1st year of Xingping (194), when Liu Yan died of a malignant ulcer on his back, Zhao Wei and other senior officials of the province, drawn to Liu Zhang's gentleness and benevolence, jointly submitted a document putting him forward as Inspector of Yi Province. An edict accordingly made Liu Zhang Army Supervisor Envoy concurrently holding the post of Governor of Yi Province. Records, Shu 1 §11

After Liu Zhang succeeded, Zhang Lu grew increasingly arrogant and willful and would not obey him. Liu Zhang killed Zhang Lu's mother and younger brother, and the two became sworn enemies. Liu Zhang repeatedly sent Pang Xi and others to attack Zhang Lu but was defeated each time, and he made Pang Xi Administrator of Baxi to hold off Zhang Lu. Later he fell out with Pang Xi, and Zhao Wei raised troops and turned their 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 sway him. Records, Shu 1 §13

Hearing that Lord Cao was campaigning against Jing Province, Liu Zhang sent Yin Pu of Henei to pay his respects, and in return he received the title of General Who Spreads Awe, while his elder brother Liu Mao became General Who Pacifies Bandits. When he next sent his Attendant Officer Aide-de-camp Zhang Su to present 300 Sou soldiers and various articles for imperial use, Lord Cao made Zhang Su Administrator of Guanghan. But Zhang Song, the Aide-de-camp he sent after that, bore a grudge because Lord Cao, having already pacified Jing Province and driven out the First Sovereign, no longer paid him any attention. The Annals of Emperor Wu record that in this year Liu Zhang for the first time answered a levy and sent troops to join Lord Cao's army. Records, Shu 1 §14Records, Wei 1 §105

When Lord Cao met with setbacks at Red Cliffs, Zhang Song returned, disparaged Lord 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 the First Sovereign, and then had Fa Zheng and Meng Da take several thousand troops to help the First Sovereign's defense. In the 16th year of Jian'an (211), when Liu Zhang grew afraid at news that Lord Cao was sending Zhong Yao and others to Hanzhong to attack Zhang Lu, Zhang Song persuaded him to have Liu of Yu Province attack Zhang Lu. The Registrar Huang Quan set out the advantages and dangers, 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 1 §15–16Records, Shu 2 §27–28

Liu Zhang gave Fa Zheng 4,000 men to welcome the First Sovereign and had every place he passed through provide for him. When the First Sovereign reached Fu, Liu Zhang went out to meet him with more than 30,000 infantry and cavalry, his carriages and canopies gleaming in the sunlight, and the two camps feasted merrily for over a hundred days. The two recommended each other: Liu Zhang put the First Sovereign forward as acting Grand Marshal and Colonel-Director of Retainers, and the First Sovereign put Liu Zhang forward as acting General-in-Chief Who Guards the West and Governor of Yi Province. Liu Zhang increased the First Sovereign'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 §28–29

The next year the First Sovereign, saying that Lord Cao was attacking Sun Quan and he had to go to the rescue, asked for 10,000 troops and supplies; 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 the First Sovereign, the First Sovereign flew into a rage, summoned Yang Huai, Area Commander of Baishui, rebuked him for his discourtesy and beheaded him, then advanced to Fu and occupied the city. Records, Shu 2 §30–32

Liu Zhang sent Liu Gui, Leng Bao, Zhang Ren, Deng Xian and others to hold the First Sovereign off at Fu, but they were all defeated and fell back to Mianzhu; he then sent Li Yan to command the troops at Mianzhu, but Li Yan led his men over to the First Sovereign. Luo, held by his eldest son Liu Xun, was under attack for nearly a year. When Zheng Du proposed driving the people of Baxi and Zitong west of the Fu River, burning the granaries and the grain in the fields, and waiting without giving battle, Liu Zhang rejected him, saying, 'I have heard of resisting the enemy to keep the people at peace, but never of moving the people to avoid the enemy.' Records, Shu 2 §32Records, Shu 7 §17–18

In the summer of the 19th year of Jian'an (214) Luo 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 all wished to fight to the death. Liu Zhang said, 'We, father and son, have been in this province for more than twenty years without bestowing any kindness on the people. That the people have fought for three years and their flesh and fat have soaked the grass of the fields is because of me; how could my heart be at ease?' He opened the city gates, came out and surrendered, and there was none among his officials who did not shed tears. 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

The First Sovereign moved Liu Zhang to Gong'an in Nan Commandery and returned all his property along with the seal and ribbon of General Who Spreads Awe that he had formerly worn. After Sun Quan killed Guan Yu and took Jing Province, he made Liu Zhang Governor of Yi Province and stationed him at Zigui. When 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. His eldest son Liu Xun, as he had requested through Pang Xi, remained in Shu and became Leader of the Court Gentlemen of Imperial Equipages, so the descendants of the two sons were divided between Wu and Shu. The Records do not give the year of Liu Zhang's death. Records, Shu 1 §18–19

In his assessment, 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