Liu Bei

Descended from Prince Sheng of Zhongshan but selling straw sandals and weaving mats when the Yellow Turban call comes. At 28 he reads the Zhuo volunteer notice and sighs at his helplessness - the sigh that draws Zhang Fei in. Initiates the Peach Garden oath, leads his first 500 troops to crush Cheng Yuanzhi, ambushes the rebels besieging Qingzhou, and joins Lu Zhi at Guangzong before being sent on to Yingchuan.

After the Yellow Turbans are broken, Liu Bei is appointed magistrate of Anxi but is barely settled before the petty inspector arrives demanding a bribe. Refuses to abandon his ideals, restrains Zhang Fei after the whipping, and hangs his official seal on the inspector's neck before leaving with his brothers.

Joins the coalition from Pingyuan under Gongsun Zan's wing and is seated last among the lords for his imperial blood. At Tiger Trap Pass he rides in with his twin swords to complete the three-against-one melee against Lü Bu - the triangle of steeds that finally makes the halberd waver.

Takes Tiger Trap Pass with his brothers when Zhao Cen abandons River Si, then follows Gongsun Zan out of the dissolving coalition and is left in command at Pingyuan.

Arrives with his brothers and Gongsun Zan's troops at the Pan River; their charge breaks Yan Liang and Wen Chou's encirclement and saves Gongsun Zan. Meets Zhao Yun for the first time; the two part reluctantly when the emperor's truce envoy ends the campaign.

Marches from Pingyuan with three thousand men and his brothers to break the Beihai siege - 'and does he know there is a Liu Bei in this world?' - then borrows two thousand troops and Zhao Zilong from Gongsun Zan for Xuzhou. He cuts through to the city, writes the letter that (with Lü Bu's help) lifts the siege, and three times refuses Tao Qian's offered governorship, settling instead at little Xiaopei to stand watch.

Liu Bei; relieves Xuzhou with the help of his brothers and is finally pressed by Tao Qian into accepting the governorship at his deathbed. Takes the seal of office only after Tao Qian's third dying request, and brings the city under his control - the foundation of his independent career.

Receives the fugitive Lü Bu with full honors over Mi Zhu's objection and - to his brothers' horror - offers him the seal of Xuzhou outright. When the guest-host friction turns dangerous he lodges Lü Bu at Xiaopei, keeping both his honor and his province.

Handed the Xuzhou protectorship and a lordship by Cao Cao's own memorial - with a private note ordering him to kill Lü Bu. He shows Lü Bu the letter instead, seeing through the 'Rival Tigers' ruse; but the follow-up 'Tiger against Wolf' edict he obeys, marching on Yuan Shu - and while Guan Yu duels Ji Ling at Xuyi, Xuzhou and his own family fall to Lü Bu behind him. 'Success is not worth rejoicing; failure is not worth grieving.'

Liu Bei; back at Xuyi after fleeing the night raid; held off Lu Bu's pressure and ultimately accepted Chen Gong's compromise to settle at Xiaopei as Lu Bu's nominal subordinate.

Saved once by the halberd shot and besieged anyway over Zhang Fei's horse raid, he abandons Xiaopei by moonlight and throws himself on Cao Cao - who, over Xun Yu's and Cheng Yu's urgings to kill him, calls him brother, gives him troops and grain, and has him made Imperial Protector of Yuzhou.

First to welcome the grand army - presenting the heads of Han Xian and Yang Feng, whose plundering he ended with a dropped cup at his own banquet. He fights on the southern face at Shouchun and is then planted at Xiaopei: Cao Cao's 'pitfall for the tiger', with secret orders to heed only the two Chens.

Exposed by his intercepted reply to Cao Cao, he shuts Xiaopei's four gates - himself at the south, Sun Qian north, Guan Yu west, Zhang Fei east, the Mi brothers guarding the family - sends Jian Yong for help, and marches out to camp when Cao Cao's fifty thousand approach. The chapter ends with Lü Bu, Gao Shun, and Zhang Liao each taking one brother.

Liu Bei; rides with Cao Cao to Xiapi. On the scaffold, reminds Cao Cao 'remember Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo' - the line that seals Lu Bu's death sentence.

Certified the Emperor's uncle by the Books of the Genealogies and made General of the Left Army, Lord of Yicheng. He drops a hare with his first arrow at Xutian, then saves everything by waving back Guan Yu's drawn blade when Cao Cao usurps the imperial cheers - 'when you throw stones at a rat, beware of the vase.' Ma Teng's finger lands on his name as the chapter ends.

Survives Cao Cao's heroes test by pretending fear of thunder; uses the Yuan Shu-versus-Yuan Shao march as cover to leave Xuchang with 50,000 troops, then slays Che Zhou and retakes Xuzhou. The escape that begins his anti-Cao Cao career.

Liu Bei; receives Sun Qian's news that Yuan Shao has agreed in principle to an alliance after Zheng Xuan's letter; sets the brothers to picket the Cao Cao probe and welcomes the relief alliance.

Liu Bei; off-stage in this chapter at Xuzhou; awaiting Yuan Shao's intervention.

Defeated by Cao Cao's overwhelming attack on Xuzhou; loses contact with Guan Yu (now in Xiapi), Zhang Fei (fled to Mangdang Hills), and his wives. Flees alone north to Yuan Shao via Mi Zhu and Sun Qian.

Grieving and rootless at Jizhou, he tips Yuan Shao into war - 'you are failing in your duty if you do not attack' - and begs the doomed Tian Feng into mere imprisonment. Then Baima's survivors describe his brother's saber-work, and the chapter ends with lictors leading him out to die.

Talks his head off the block twice - 'is every red-faced man with a beard named Guan Yu?', then 'Cao Cao arranged it all to make you kill me' - and glimpses his brother's Hanshou banner across the river at Yenjin. His letter of loving reproach, carried by Chen Zhen, brings Guan Yu out of Xuchang.

Already gone from Yuan Shao's court: reading the jealous quarrels around him, he and Sun Qian contrived his departure, and he waits now with Liu Pi at Runan - the destination Sun Qian turns the carriage toward.

Reunites with both brothers, Zhao Yun, Mi Zhu, Mi Fang, and Sun Qian at Gucheng - a council that returns the brothers to Runan to begin again under Liu Pi and Gong Du.

Recites the Girdle Mandate to Cao Cao's face at the Rang Mountains and wins the first day - then loses both brothers to relief missions, is ambushed by night, and flees alone into the hills. Saved by Liu Pi's death and Zhao Zilong's spear, he reaches the Han River with a thousand men, offers to release his followers, and instead takes Sun Qian's counsel: refuge with his kinsman Liu Biao, who welcomes him into Jingzhou - the start of the long exile.

Sent out by Liu Biao to make the first resistance at the Xiping front; when Cao Cao suddenly decamps north he smells a ruse, lets the retreat go unmolested, and takes himself back to Jingzhou.

Counsels Liu Biao against helping Yuan Tan - nothing to gain, and a loophole handed to Cao Cao - and proposes answering both brothers as a gracious peacemaker instead; the letters end Yuan Tan's southern hopes.

Liu Bei; at a banquet for the Jingzhou notables overhears Cai Mao plotting his death; flees the city on his horse Dilu (the 'unlucky steed'), is cornered at the Tan Torrent and makes the famous leap - Dilu clears the gorge at a single bound. The novel's most-quoted miracle escape.

After leaping the Tan Torrent and pausing at the recluse Sima Hui's hut, Liu Bei is told the famous prophecy 'when Sleeping Dragon or Young Phoenix is yours, the empire is yours.' Returns to Xinye and meets Shan Fu (Xu Shu) on the road - the start of his strategist's life.

Liu Bei; wins his first major engagement under Shan Fu's strategy at Xinye; loses Shan Fu to the forged letter; sets out toward Sleeping Dragon Ridge after Xu Shu's recommendation.

Liu Bei; the famous Three Visits to Sleeping Dragon Ridge begin. First visit: Zhuge Liang isn't home - encounters Zhuge Jun. Second visit through deep snow: still not home; meets Zhuge Liang's father-in-law Huang Chengyan and brother Zhuge Jun, and learns to wait patiently. The arc spans the chapter.

Third Visit chapter: he answers his brothers with Prince Huan and King Wen, walks the last quarter mile on foot, and stands through the sage's nap and another hour besides. The Longzhong Plan unrolls before him on a map - Jingzhou first, the River Lands next, the empire in trinity - and his tears at 'what will become of the people?' win what gifts could not.

Declines Jingzhou to its owner's face - 'he has always been most kind; I could not take advantage of his weakness' - stages the colic that sends Zhuge Liang into Liu Qi's ladder trap, and answers his brothers' jealousy with 'I have him as if the fish has got into the water again.' At Bowang he hands over sword and seal, plays the retreating bait himself, and watches the fire prove the young strategist to everyone.

Refuses twice - Zhuge Liang's urging to seize failing Jingzhou ('I would rather perish than do what is wrong') and Yi Ji's plan to grab Liu Zong at the mourning - after promising the dying Liu Biao to guard his orphans. He releases the captured envoy, evacuates every soul of Xinye to Fancheng by boat, and watches the fire plan from a hilltop, drinking under umbrellas in Xu Chu's furious view.

Marches at the people's pace - three or four miles a day, a hundred thousand souls - weeping at the crossing until he must be held back from the river, praying at Liu Biao's tomb, refusing twice to abandon the crowd ('the success of every great enterprise depends upon humanity'). Overtaken at the fourth watch by the picked horsemen, he loses wives, son, and officers in the dark - and still stakes his own judgment on the loyalty of the vanished Zhao Zilong.

Flings his rescued son to the ground to honor the man who saved him, schools Zhang Fei on why the broken bridge invites pursuit, and is cornered against the Great River - saved by Guan Yu's ambush, Liu Qi's fleet, and Zhuge Liang's boats in turn. At Jiangxia he plays his part in the coaching: know nothing of Cao Cao's numbers, and let Lu Su beg for the man who does.

Liu Bei; at Jiangxia; awaits the outcome of Zhuge Liang's embassy.

Liu Bei; off-stage at Jiangxia.

Sails to Zhou Yu's camp with one boat and twenty men, laughing through a banquet staged for his assassination - the dropped-cup signal never comes because Guan Yu stands sword in hand behind his chair. Only in the boat does Zhuge Liang tell him how close it was; he leaves with the strange instruction about the twentieth day and the southeast wind.

Liu Bei; off-stage at Jiangxia.

Liu Bei; off-stage at Jiangxia.

Waits at Xiakou scanning the river until the single sail appears; then takes his own strange assignment - sit calmly in a high tower at Fankou and watch Zhou Yu's great scheme burn - voicing the one doubt Zhuge Liang confirms: Guan Yu will let Cao Cao pass, and is meant to.

Camps at Youkou with congratulations and gifts - and plays his coached line: Cao Ren may be too much for the South Land, so 'should you not take it, then we will occupy it.' The wager witnessed, he waits while the armies bleed each other, doubting aloud until Zhuge Liang whispers the design; by chapter's end Nanjun, Jingzhou, and Xiangyang all fly his banners.

Fends off Lu Su's restitution demand behind Liu Qi's living body, takes Ma Liang's four-commandery plan, and marches on Lingling - sparing Xing Darong to use him, forgiving Liu Xiang, and reappointing the surrendered Liu Du. At Guiyang he draws the lesson from Zhao Zilong's refusal of the widow: 'you are indeed right honorable.'

Follows his over-confident brother with supports, enters Changsha to the tale of the two mercies, and goes in person to the house where Huang Zhong sits behind a plea of illness - the visit that wins the veteran. He makes Huang Zhong and Wei Yan Van Leaders, gives Changsha to Liu Pan and Wuling to Gong Zhi, renames Youkou to Gongan - and wails at the news of Liu Qi, knowing the promise that death matures.

Fifty and grizzled, he sails into the enemy's capital with ten ships, five hundred gala-dressed guards, and three silken bags he cannot read: the public shopping spree makes the engagement irreversible, the Dowager takes one look and claims him, and his kneeling appeal - 'if you would slay me, let it be here' - turns her wrath on the assassins. He splits the boulder on a secret prayer, matches Sun Quan gallop for gallop on the slope, and walks through the red torches into a bridal chamber hung with spears.

A year of fair women, silk, and music nearly does what armies could not - until Zhao Zilong's invented invasion wakes him. He weeps his way to the truth twice: the ancestor-sacrifice fiction that wins the Dowager's blessing, and the third bag's full confession at the roadblock - 'you were the bait with which to hook me' - that turns his bride into his shield. At Loving Shore, despairing on an empty river, he finds twenty boats and a smiling Daoist waiting.

Weeps on cue - covering his face when Lu Su names the rendition, beating his breast as Zhuge Liang's speech peaks - and agrees to the borrowed-road offer on his adviser's rapid nod, understanding none of it until the ruse is named for him afterwards.

Judges the Young Phoenix by his unbowed salutation and ugly face and posts him to Leiyang - then, when Zhang Fei returns amazed and Lu Su's letter surfaces ('beware of judging him by his looks'), goes out to meet him and apologizes at the foot of the steps. With both Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix in service - 'surely the Hans will rise again.'

His letter raises the west: recalling the Girdle Edict he shared with Ma Teng, he calls Ma Chao to attack from one side while Jingzhou blocks the retreat - 'you cannot let the same sky cover you and your father's murderer.' The letter is Zhuge Liang's device to abort Cao Cao's southern expedition without moving a man.

Liu Bei; lavishly entertains Zhang Song on his way home; receives the Yi Province maps and Zhang Song's promise to make him welcome in Liu Zhang's court. The setup for the Western campaign.

Liu Bei; at Fucheng with Liu Zhang. Pang Tong, Fa Zheng and Wei Yan press him to seize Liu Zhang at the banquet - he refuses on principle. Receives Sun Quan's letter via Lady Sun requesting her return; Lady Sun takes Liu Shan with her until Zhao Yun intercepts on the river.

Liu Bei; takes Fu Pass by Pang Tong's stratagem - Yang Huai and Gao Pei lured out under flag of peace and killed. Liu Bei now in open war with Liu Zhang; pushes deeper into Yi Province.

Liu Bei; loses Pang Tong; calls Zhuge Liang to take over the campaign. The chapter that turns the Yi Province campaign serious.

Liu Bei; arrives at Luocheng and presses the siege; refuses to execute Zhang Ren but cannot persuade him to defect.

Liu Bei; welcomes Ma Chao into his army; rides to Chengdu and accepts Liu Zhang's surrender. Becomes Imperial Protector of Yi Province - his territory now spans Jingzhou + Yi, the Longzhong Plan two-thirds complete.

Liu Bei; nominally agrees to return three commanderies to Wu - but Guan Yu refuses to hand them over, escalating the Jingzhou crisis.

Liu Bei; at Chengdu; alarmed by Cao Cao's Hanzhong victory.

Liu Bei; off-stage at Chengdu.

Liu Bei; loses Wu Lan on the western frontier; begins the long planning toward the Hanzhong campaign.

Liu Bei; sets up the Hanzhong reconquest - sends Zhang Fei against Zhang He, Huang Zhong against Xiahou Yuan.

Liu Bei; on campaign in Hanzhong; receives the Dingjun victory; advances his army into the mountains to seize the rest of the territory.

Liu Bei; secures Hanzhong; his army's morale soars. Will be proclaimed King of Hanzhong in the next chapter.

Liu Bei; proclaimed King of Hanzhong by his officers - the formal break from purely-Han pretense. Tries to refuse three times; takes the throne under pressure; gives Liu Shan the heir's title.

Liu Bei; off-stage; the news of Guan Yu's flood-victory at Fan reaches Chengdu.

Liu Bei; in Chengdu - has the recurring dream of Guan Yu's bloody apparition before any news arrives. Then the official report. Vomits blood, faints. The oath of vengeance against Wu that produces the Yiling campaign.

Liu Bei; off-stage; in Chengdu still mourning Guan Yu.

Liu Bei; off-stage; the Liu Feng/Meng Da reckoning reaches him.

Liu Bei; in Chengdu when news of the abdication arrives. Held to be the legitimate Han heir; against his stated wishes is petitioned by his officers (Zhuge Liang, Mi Zhu, Qiao Zhou, Yi Ji, etc.) to declare himself emperor in succession to the Han. Goes into mock-mourning, refuses, refuses again; finally consents. Founds Shu-Han; era Zhangwu. Names Liu Shan heir.

Liu Bei; the chapter's emotional fulcrum. Wakes from a dream of Zhang Fei before the news arrives; faints when the messenger reads the report. With Guan Yu and Zhang Fei both dead, the war against Wu is now unstoppable - he overrides Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun's objections and marches. The Yiling campaign begins.

Liu Bei; advances the Yiling expedition. Sun Quan, panicked, sends ever more peace embassies; Liu Bei rejects them all. Then Sun Quan formally pledges vassalage to Cao Pi to free his northern flank - Cao Pi accepts and confers the title 'King of Wu' on Sun Quan.

Liu Bei; advances on the Wu camps; cannot draw Lu Xun out; reaches Yiling. Strings his 700,000-man army (the figure is novelistic) along a chain of 40 connected stockaded camps stretching seven hundred li through pine forest. The heat is brutal; he orders the camps moved into the woods for shade - the strategic mistake.

Liu Bei; the catastrophe. Wakes in his command tent to find the night red with fire on every horizon; rides for his life with a handful of men. Cut off, surrounded, rescued by Zhao Yun's relief; flees to Baidicheng with the war lost. The proud old emperor who had said 'I am a tiger' is broken in a single night.

Liu Bei dies at Baidicheng. The chapter's heart. From his sickbed at the Yong'an Palace (Baidicheng), summons Zhuge Liang from Chengdu. The famous 'orphan-entrusting' (托孤) scene: tells Zhuge Liang to support Liu Shan if he proves worthy - and to take the throne himself if he proves unworthy. Zhuge Liang weeps and prostrates himself swearing absolute loyalty. Dies aged 63; era Zhangwu year 3. Names Liu Shan emperor; appoints Zhuge Liang and Li Yan co-regents.

Liu Bei; named in passing in Zhuge Liang's reflections.

Liu Bei; named in passing.

Liu Bei; named in passing.

Liu Bei; named in passing in the closing elegies.