Liu Bei

Courtesy name

Biography

At 161, Liu Bei born in Zhou Zhou, Hebei Province. He was a descendant of Prince Sheng of Zhongshan, a great-great-grandson of the fourth Han Emperor Liu Qi. He made a living weaving and selling grass mats and straw sandals during his youth. At the age of fifteen, He became a pupil of the Han scholar Lu Zhi with Gongsun Zan.

Liu Bei was a very distant relative to the royalty of the Han Empire. With virtually no connection with the ruling family, he rose to power by fighting the Yellow Turban Rebellion. While Cao Cao became the prime minister of the Han Empire and the de facto ruler of northern China, he was leading a wandering army around Shu (now Sichuan).

He enlisted Zhuge Liang, the strategist with the highest reputation of the age, as his minister. Zhuge Liang suggested that they ally with Sun Quan, the king of Wu, to resist the power of Cao Cao. This strategy worked most evidently in 208, when the Liu-Sun alliance defeated the invasion of Cao Cao at the Battle of Chi Bi.

With the help of Zhuge Liang, he became a warlord of Shu with the title; King of Hanzhong.

In 220, Cao Pi, son of Cao Cao, overthrew the Han Royals and founded the Kingdom of Wei. Liu Bei dismissed Cao Pi's action as illegal and proclaimed himself an Emperor of the Han Dynasty in 221.

Most Chinese historians do not regard Liu Bei as an Emperor of the Han Dynasty, preferring to call his "empire" the Shu-Han Dynasty, commonly known as the Kingdom of Shu, and call Liu Bei the founder of the new kingdom.

According to the legend, Liu Bei became sworn brothers with Zhang Fei and Guan Yu. When Liu Bei was but a man selling straw mats and hats at the market place, a neighboring store that sold pork was unusually drawing large crowds. When Liu Bei went to investigate, he found out that the reason for the commotion was that the seller couldn't sell any pork. When asked why, he responded by showing them a well with a large rock blocking the top. He then jested to the crowd, saying that if anyone was strong enough to lift the rock, he would give that man whatever pork was inside. Then came a man with a long beard who quickly lifted it with ease. This was Guan Yu. True to his word the man offered Guan Yu the pork, but Guan Yu rejected it, saying that it was best to give it to the customers instead.
While the people scrambled to get a piece of free meat, Guan Yu noticed Liu Bei in the distance due to Liu Bei being the only one among them not grabbing for the meat. When Guan Yu went back to his own stall of green mongo seeds, another man came along, having heard of Guan Yu's remarkable strength. This was Zhang Fei. He decided to play a trick on Guan Yu by picking up a handful of the seeds, squeezing them in his hands and showing that the results were just a handful of powder. He then mocked Guan Yu saying that he was selling only powder, of which Guan Yu calmly remarked that it was Zhang Fei who made it so. At this Zhang Fei grew angry and challenged Guan Yu to a fight, which Guan Yu accepted.
Their hand-to-hand duel was so dynamic that it supposedly tore the entire market apart. They fought for quite a long time, for the two were evenly matched. In the end, it was Liu Bei who stopped the fight. Amazed by the pair's skills, he invited them home and befriended them. They became the closest of friends, resulting in the Peach Garden Oath.

Historically, however, the three never sworn brotherhood but were close comrades.

After Guan Yu was killed in a battle against the State of Wu (later the Kingdom of Wu) in 219, Liu Bei tried to revenge by leading an invasion in 221 of Wu. He was mostly successful until the Battle of Yiling when he was defeated by the Wu general Lu Yi (Xun).
Kong Ming (Zhuge Liang), who had been against the invasion, was sent for by a wounded Liu Bei from the battle. Kong Ming brought Liu Bei's son Liu Chan, who Liu Bei gave the kingdom to. He secretly told Kong Ming, however, that if his son proves to be trouble, Kong Ming had his permission to dethrone him and personally lead the kingdom.
He died of sickness and his wounds in 223 and was succeeded by his son Liu Chan.

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