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liu bei

劉備 刘备

Liu Bei (劉備), courtesy name Xuande (玄德), was a Chinese warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He is commonly depicted as tall with big ears. Thanks to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei is widely regarded as the ideal benevolent and humane ruler who cared for his people and selected good advisers for his government, which attracts to his side many capable and heroic subordinates like Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang, and Pang Tong.

Although he was a distant relative of the Han imperial family, he grew up poor and impoverished, selling shoes and straw mats. He studied under Lu Zhi with Gongsan Zan. He gathered a militia army to fight the Yellow Turbans with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, later participating in the coalition against Dong Zhuo. Following this, he joined his childhood friend Gongsun Zan and fought under him against Yuan Shao, who then sent him to help Tao Qian against Cao Cao. Thanks to the support of the influential Mi and Chen families along with Tao Qian's last will, Liu Bei inherited the Xu Province. After his defeat against Cao Cao, Lü Bu joined him, but betrayed him with Yuan Shu and seized Xu Province. Later Liu Bei joined Cao Cao and they defeated Lü Bu at the Battle of Xiapi. Although he was treated well by Cao Cao, Liu Bei received a secret edict from the emperor to kill Cao Cao and rebelled. After a brief alliance with Yuan Shao, Liu Bei was quickly defeated by Cao Cao and had to fflee. He was sent by Yuan Shao to create uprisings behind Cao Cao's main base, and later joined his kinsman Liu Biao. After Liu Biao's death, Liu Bei and his supporters joined Liu Qi in Xiakou where they allied with Sun Quan. Together they opposed Cao Cao at the Battle of Red Cliffs.

After Cao Cao's defeat, Liu Bei quickly took control of the majority of Jing Province and married Sun Quan's sister. Sun Quan then agreed to "lend" him Nan Commandery. Liu Bei later led his army to join another kinsman, Liu Zhang, in his war against the warlord Zhang Lu. Based on the advice of his advisors, Liu Bei betrayed Liu Zhang and seized the Yi Province from him, before declaring himself "King of Hanzhong" and setting up his headquarters in Chengdu. However soon after Guan Yu was killed by Liu Bei's "ally" Sun Quan who took the rest of Jing province. Liu Bei was furious and led his army against his former ally but was defeated by Lu Xun. Ashamed by his failure, he never returned to Chengdu and settled in Baidicheng where he died one year later. He urged his heir, Liu Shan not to emulate him and rather be as virtuous as possible. Before he died Liu Bei appointed Zhuge Liang to advise his son on domestic matters with Li Yan to advise him on the military matters.

Adaptations in popular culture:

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