Liu Bei

Liu Bei sold straw sandals and mats as a boy, claimed distant descent from the Han imperial house, and founded a dynasty that outlived him by forty years. He was from Zhuo commandery, fatherless and poor, and rose through the militia raised against the Yellow Turbans. For twenty years he had no territory of his own: he served or sheltered with Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian, Lü Bu, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in turn, losing his base each time and keeping the loyalty of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei throughout, which is the fact that made his reputation. He recruited Zhuge Liang in 207 after visiting his cottage three times, an episode Chinese schoolchildren still learn as the model of how to seek talent. The alliance with Sun Quan destroyed Cao Cao's fleet at Red Cliffs in 208, and Liu Bei took Jing province and then Yi province, the Sichuan basin, where he declared himself emperor of Shu Han in 221 after Cao Pi deposed the last Han emperor. He then ignored every adviser and attacked Sun Quan to avenge Guan Yu, lost the campaign at Xiaoting in 222, and died at Baidicheng the following year, entrusting his son to Zhuge Liang with the offer that Zhuge take the throne himself if the boy proved useless. His reputation rested on a claim to benevolence that he worked at: retreating from Cao Cao at Changban in 208 he moved at walking pace because tens of thousands of civilians had attached themselves to his column, and was caught and beaten because of it. Zhao Yun was said to have carried his infant son out of that rout. He was given the posthumous title Zhaolie, the Illustrious and Martial Emperor. Zhuge Liang did not take the throne, and governed for the son, Liu Shan, for eleven more years. The state Liu Bei founded fell to Wei in 263, the first of the three kingdoms to go.

MyHistorian
A causal knowledge graph of history