Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Liu Bei
Founder of Shu Han, a distant Han kinsman who won Zhuge Liang's service, took Yizhou and proclaimed himself emperor at Chengdu in 221
Mural of the event “Battle of Red Cliffs”, which this person took part in.
At the end of the Eastern Han, the Yellow Turban Rebellion had collapsed central authority and the realm dissolved into warlord territories. After pacifying the north, Cao Cao led hundreds of thousands of land and naval forces southward to swallow the south in one unifying campaign.
Also known as Zi Xuande · Hanzhao Liedi
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
Liu Bei, courtesy name Xuande, came from Zhuo commandery and claimed descent from Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan and a son of Emperor Jing of Han. At the end of the Eastern Han he raised troops against the Yellow Turbans, with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and served in turn Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and Liu Biao. In 207 he called on Zhuge Liang three times, and the next year his alliance with Sun Quan defeated Cao Cao at Red Cliffs; he then held southern Jingzhou and in 214 took Yizhou. In 221, with the reign title Zhangwu, he declared himself emperor of Han at Chengdu, and the following year he attacked Wu to recover Jingzhou, only to lose to Lu Xun at Yiling. Dying at Yong'an in 223, he entrusted his heir Liu Shan to Zhuge Liang, and was named the Zhaolie Emperor. Chen Shou's verdict in the *Records of the Three Kingdoms* (*Sanguozhi*) calls him resolute and generous, a judge of men.
Life and times
Dates 161 CE–223 CE
- c. 207Liu Bei's Three Visits to Longzhongage 46
- 208Battle of Red CliffsTook partage 47
- 208Red Cliffs Fire Defeats Cao Caoage 47
- 208Zhuge Liang Forges the Sun-Liu Allianceage 47
- 220Three Kingdoms DivideTook partage 59
- 221Battle of YilingTook partage 60
- 221Lu Xun Burns Liu Bei's Campsage 60
- 223Liu Bei Entrusts Zhuge Liangage 62
- 225Zhuge Liang Southern CampaignPrecursor