Shu Strategist
Liu Bei, the Imperial Uncle
劉備161 to 2234 star
In short
Liu Bei (161 to 223) founded Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms. A distant descendant of the Han emperors, he grew up poor, raised volunteers against the Yellow Turbans, and spent twenty five years losing provinces and keeping followers. With Zhuge Liang's plan and Sun Quan's alliance he won at Red Cliffs, took Yi Province in 214, and declared himself emperor in 221. He died in 223 after his defeat at Yiling.
| Lived | 161 to 223 |
|---|---|
| Name in Chinese | 劉備 |
| Courtesy name | Xuande |
| Served | Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, each for a time |
The history
Liu Bei was from Zhuo county. His father died early, and he and his mother sold straw sandals and wove mats. He studied a little under Lu Zhi, liked dogs, horses, music and good clothes, spoke little, and did not show joy or anger. Men attached themselves to him.
He raised a company against the Yellow Turbans in 184, with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei beside him. For the next quarter century he was given places and lost them. Tao Qian left him Xu Province, and Lu Bu took it. Cao Cao honored him at court, and is said to have told him over wine that the only heroes in the empire were the two of them. Liu Bei dropped his chopsticks. He joined a plot against Cao Cao, fled to Yuan Shao, and then to Liu Biao in Jing Province.
There, in 207, he visited Zhuge Liang three times. In 208 he retreated before Cao Cao with a column of civilians he would not abandon, allied with Sun Quan, and shared the victory at Red Cliffs. He took southern Jing, and then Yi Province from his kinsman Liu Zhang in 214. In 219 he won Hanzhong from Cao Cao himself and called himself King of Hanzhong.
That winter Guan Yu was killed and Jing was lost. Cao Pi ended the Han in 220, and in 221 Liu Bei took the title of emperor to continue it. He marched on Wu. At Yiling in 222 Lu Xun waited through the summer and burned forty of his camps. Liu Bei died at Baidicheng the next year.
The novel
Romance of the Three Kingdoms makes him the rightful heir and a model of kindness, sometimes to the point of weakness: he weeps often. The oath in the peach garden opens the book. The history’s Liu Bei is tougher, a soldier who was dangerous enough that Cao Cao never stopped watching him.
Liu Bei in the game
In Warlords of the Three Kingdoms Liu Bei is the Imperial Uncle: a 4 star strategistof Shu. The game's line for him: “A sandal seller of royal descent who lost nearly every battle he fought and still founded an empire.”
| Kingdom | Shu |
|---|---|
| Role | Strategist |
| Rarity | 4 star |
| Base attack and defense | 21 and 26 |
| Where from | Summoned at the Imperial Summon, for Jade. The odds are shown before every summon. |
A warlord sworn to Shu fields him 10% stronger, as every General of their own Kingdom. Wei, Shu or Wu has what the choice changes.
Twin Oath Swords is his signature: holding it raises his attack and defense by 15%. Guan Yu is his signature bodyguard, and lends 30% of his own attack and defense where any other guard lends 15%. Zhang Fei is his signature bodyguard, and lends 30% of his own attack and defense where any other guard lends 15%.
Four star is where he starts. Duplicates become shards, shards add stars, and each star adds a tenth to both numbers.
Questions
Was Liu Bei really related to the Han emperors?
He claimed descent from Liu Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan, a son of Emperor Jing who died in 113 BC. The line cannot be traced in detail, and by his father's time the family was poor. His contemporaries accepted the claim.
How did Liu Bei die?
Of illness at Baidicheng in June 223, a year after Lu Xun burned his camps at Yiling. He left his son Liu Shan and the state to Zhuge Liang.
Why did Liu Bei attack Wu?
Sun Quan had taken Jing Province and executed Guan Yu in the winter of 219. Liu Bei marched east in 221 against the advice of Zhao Yun and others, and lost most of his army in 222.
How do you get Liu Bei in Warlords of the Three Kingdoms?
Summoned at the Imperial Summon, for Jade. The odds are shown before every summon.
Sources
The history follows Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms, written in the third century, with Pei Songzhi's annotations of the fifth, and Fan Ye's Book of the Later Han for the years before the Han court fell apart. What the page calls the novel is Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, of the fourteenth century. Where the two disagree, the page says which is speaking. For more on him, see Liu Bei on Wikipedia.
Written by Gitkonek Studio, .
Keep reading
- Guan Yu, the Saint of WarHe cut down Yan Liang amid ten thousand men at Baima, and later ages raised temples to him as a god of war.
- Zhao Yun, the Dragon of ChangshanAt Changban he carried Liu Bei's infant son through Cao Cao's whole army and out the other side.
- Zhuge Liang, the Sleeping DragonLiu Bei called at his cottage three times, and was given the Longzhong Plan and the next twenty-seven years.
- Huang Zhong, the Veteran of DingjunPast sixty when he cut down Xiahou Yuan at Dingjun Mountain, he took it as proof that he was not yet old.
- Ma Chao, the SplendidAt Tong Pass he chased Cao Cao so hard that the chancellor cut off his own beard to pass unrecognized.