Liu Shan

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Liu Shan (207 – 271) was the second and last emperor of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms era in ancient China. As he ascended the throne at the young age of sixteen, Liu Shan was entrusted to the care of a group of veteran ministers, including the Chancellor Zhuge Liang and Imperial Secretary Li Yan. During Liu Shan's reign, many campaigns were led against the Kingdom of Wei, primarily by Zhuge Liang and his successor Jiang Wei, but to little avail. Liu Shan eventually surrendered to the Kingdom of Wei in 263 after Deng Ai led a surprise attack on the Shu capital Chengdu. He was quickly relocated to Luoyang, capital of Wei, and enfeoffed as Duke Anle. There he enjoyed his last years peacefully before dying, most probably of natural cause, in 271.

Widely known by his infant name "A Dou" (阿斗), Liu Shan was commonly perceived as an incapable, even retarded ruler. He was also accused of indulging in pleasures while neglecting state affairs. However, some critics believe that Liu Shan, like his father Liu Bei, had excellent people management skills, being able to balance the interests of the two major factions in his court, headed respectively by Zhuge Liang and Imperial Secretary Li Yan. These critics also praise Liu Shan for feigning incompetence in the most ingenious and natural way after the fall of the Kingdom of Shu so as to avoid personal harm. Nevertheless, the name "A Dou" is today still commonly used to describe incapable people who would not achieve anything even with significant assistance.

The given name of Liu Shan, when combined with that of Liu Feng, whom Liu Bei adopted before the birth of Liu Shan, would become "fengshan" (封禪), meaning "to ascend the throne in a ceremony". Many believe that this is an implication of Liu Bei's ambition to become the emperor, even long before the abdication of Emperor Xian. This undermines Liu Bei's claim that he was forced to declare himself emperor so as to carry on the lineage of the Han Dynasty.

As Chen Shou, the author of Sanguo Zhi, noted, Liu Shan, contrary to tradition, had no official historian at his court, and therefore many of the events during his reign were unrecorded, causing Chen to be unable to provide more details about Liu Shan's reign in his history.

Contents

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Early life

Born in 207, Liu Shan was the oldest son of Liu Bei, by his concubine Lady Gan (甘夫人). In the next year, the powerful warlord Cao Cao, who had by then occupied the entire northern China, launched a campaign against Jingzhou (荆州, present day Hubei and Hunan). During his retreat south, Liu Bei was caught up by an elite cavalry force led by Cao Cao at Changban (長阪, northeast of present day Dangyang County, Hubei) and forced to leave behind Empress Gan and Liu Shan to resume his escape. The general Zhao Yun stayed behind to protect the family members of Liu Bei. Holding the infant Liu Shan in his arms, Zhao Yun led the mother and child to safety. (It appears likely that Lady Gan had died sometime before 209, because when Liu Bei's wife Lady Sun (Sun Quan's sister) effectively divorced Liu Bei in 211, he was in her custody.)

(An alternative story of Liu Shan's early life was given in A Brief Record of Wei (魏略) by Yu Huan (魚豢). It was said that Liu Shan, then already several years old, was separated from Liu Bei when the latter was attacked by Cao Cao in Xiaopei (小沛, present day Pei County, Jiangsu) in 200. He somehow landed in Hanzhong and was sold by human traffickers. Only when Liu Bei declared himself emperor in 221 was Liu Shan reunited with his father. However, this story was rejected by Pei Songzhi (裴松之), annotator of the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, taking into account of various sources.)

After Liu Bei declared himself the first emperor of Shu Han in 221, Liu Shan was formally made the crown prince. In the next year, Liu Bei left the capital Chengdu on a campaign against Sun Quan (then a nominal vassal of Cao Wei who would soon declare his independence as the first emperor of Eastern Wu). He was defeated at the Battle of Yiling and, having retreated to the city of Baidi, eventually died in 223. With his last breaths, Liu Bei entrusted the young Liu Shan to the care of his chancellor Zhuge Liang and Imperial Secretary Li Yan. He even told Zhuge Liang to take over the throne if Liu Shan proved to be incapable.

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Reign

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Zhuge Liang's regency

During the early years of his reign, Liu Shan was not an unwise ruler. While Zhuge Liang was alive, Liu Shan treated him as a father, allowing the chancellor to handle all state affairs. Zhuge Liang recommended many trusted officials, including Guo Youzhi (郭攸之), Fei Yi (費禕), Dong Yun (董允) and Xiang Chong (向寵) into key positions. Also under Zhuge's advice, Liu Shan entered into an alliance with Eastern Wu, helping both states to survive against the much larger Cao Wei. During Zhuge's regency, the government was largely efficient and not corrupt, allowing the relatively small state of Shu Han to prepare itself for military campaigns.

In 223, Liu Shan married the daughter of his father's friend, Zhang Fei, as empress.

In the aftermaths of Liu Bei's death, the southern non-ethnic-Han people had peeled away from Shu Han dominion. In 225, Zhuge headed south and was able to, by both military victories and persuasion, reintegrate the southern region into the empire. For the rest of Zhuge's regency, the southern non-Han people would be key contributors to Shu Han's campaigns against Cao Wei.

Starting 227, Zhuge launched five campaigns against Cao Wei, but all except one were military failures (albeit not military disasters) in that Zhuge's forces ran out of food before they were able to inflict significant damage on Cao Wei and therefore had to withdraw. It was during one of Zhuge's campaigns that the only real political crisis during Zhuge's regency would occur. In 231, unable to supply the troops sufficiently, Li forged an edict by Liu Shan, ordering Zhuge to retreat. When Zhuge discovered this, he recommended, and Liu Shan accepted the recommendation, that Li be removed from his office and put under house arrest.

In 234, while Zhuge was on his final campaign against Cao Wei, he grew seriously ill. Hearing about Zhuge's illness, Liu Shan sent his secretary Li Fu (李福) to the front line to visit Zhuge and to request Zhuge to leave instructions on important state matters. Among other things, Zhuge recommended that Jiang Wan succeed him, and that Fei Yi succeed Jiang. Zhuge refused to answer Li's next question -- who should succeed Fei. Zhuge died soon thereafter. In the aftermaths of Zhuge's death, his generals Wei Yan and Yang Yi, in conflict over who should succeed Zhuge (not knowing that Zhuge had appointed Jiang), each accused the other of treason, leading to a battle in which Yang prevailed. To Yang's disappointment, his attempt to succeed Zhuge failed regardless, as Liu Shan followed Zhuge's instructions and installed Jiang was the new regent.

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Jiang Wan's regency

Jiang Wan was a capable administrator, and he continued Zhuge's domestic policies, leaving the government largely efficient. He was also known for his tolerance of dissension and his humility. However, not having military aptitude, he soon abandoned Zhuge's policy of waging war against Cao Wei, and indeed in 241 withdrew most of the troops from the important border city of Hanzhong (漢中, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi) to Fu (涪縣, in modern Mianyang, Sichuan). From that point on, Shu Han was generally in a defensive posture and no longer posed a threat to Cao Wei. (This was in fact misinterpreted by many Eastern Wu officials as a sign that Shu Han was abandoning the alliance and entering into a treaty with Cao Wei, but was correctly read by Eastern Wu's emperor Sun Quan as merely a sign of weakness, not an abandonment of the alliance.)

In 237, Empress Zhang died. That year, Liu Shan took her younger sister as a consort, and in 238 created her empress.

In 243, Jiang grew ill and transferred most of his authority to Fei and Fei's assistant Dong Yun (董允). For example, in 244, when Cao Wei's regent Cao Shuang attacked Hanzhong, it was Fei who led the troops against Cao Shuang and dealt Cao Wei a major defeat. However, Jiang remained influential until his death in 245. Soon after Jiang's death, Dong also died -- allowing the eunuch Huang Hao, a favorite of Liu Shan's, whose power Dong had curbed, to start aggrandizing his power. Huang was viewed as corrupt and highly manipulative in domestic matters, and the governmental efficiency that was achieved during Zhuge's and Jiang's regencies began to deteriorate.

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Fei Yi's regency

After Jiang Wan and Dong Yun's deaths, Liu Shan named Jiang Wei as Fei's assistant, but both were largely involved only in military matters, as Liu Shan gradually became more self-assertive in non-military matters. It was also around this time that he became more interested in touring the countryside and increasing the use of luxury items, both of which added stress on the treasury, albeit not cripplingly so. Jiang Wei was interested in resuming Zhuge Liang's policies of attacking Cao Wei aggressively, a strategy that Fei partially agreed with -- as he allowed Jiang to make raids on Cao Wei's borders, but never gave him a large amount of troops, reasoning that Shu Han was in no position for a major military confrontation with Cao Wei.

In 253, Fei was assassinated by the general Guo Xun (郭循) -- a former Cao Wei general who had been forced to surrender but who secretly maintained his loyalty to Cao Wei. Fei's death left Jiang Wei as the leading official of the empire, but with a power vacuum in domestic matters, as Jiang continued to be on the borders, conducting campaigns against Cao Wei, while at court, Huang Hao's influence increased greatly as a result.

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Jiang Wei's semi-regency

After Fei's death, Jiang assumed command of Shu Han's troops and began a number of campaigns against Cao Wei -- but while they were troubling to Cao Wei's de facto rulers Sima Shi and Sima Zhao (who had rendered Cao Wei's emperors figureheads after succeeding their father Sima Yi), the attacks largely inflicted no real damage against Cao Wei, as Jiang's campaigns were plagued by one problem that had plagued Zhuge Liang's -- the lack of adequate food supply -- and largely had to be terminated after a short duration. These campaigns instead had a detrimental effect on Shu Han, whose government no longer had the efficiency that it had during Zhuge and Jiang Wan's regencies, and therefore was unable to cope with the drain of resources that Jiang Wei's campaigns were having.

In 253, Jiang made a coordinated attack on Cao Wei, along with Eastern Wu's regent Zhuge Ke (the son of Zhuge Liang's brother Zhuge Jin), but was eventually forced to withdraw after his troops ran out of food supplies -- allowing Sima Shi to concentrate against Zhuge, dealing Eastern Wu forces a devastating defeat that eventually caused so much resentment that Zhuge was assassinated. (This was the last of only two coordinated attacks by Shu Han and Eastern Wu on Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period -- the first was Zhuge Liang's last campaign in 234, which Sun Quan had joined by attacking Cao Wei on the eastern border.)

In 255, on one of Jiang's campaigns, he dealt Cao Wei forces a major defeat, nearly capturing the important Cao Wei border city Didao (狄道, in modern Dingxi, Gansu), but in 256, as he tried to again confront Cao Wei forces, he was instead dealt a defeat by Deng Ai, and this was a fairly devastating loss that left Jiang's standing with the people weakened. Many officials now openly questioned Jiang's strategy, but Liu Shan took no actions to stop Jiang. Further, in 259, under Jiang's suggestion, Liu Shan approved a plan where the main troops were withdrawn from major border cities to try to induce a Cao Wei attack, with troops positioned in such a way as to intend a trapping of the Cao Wei troops -- a strategy that would be used several years later, in 263, when Cao Wei troops did attack, but which would prove to be a failure.

By 261, Huang Hao's power appeared paramount. Among the key domestic officials, only Dong Jue (董厥) and Zhuge Liang's son Zhuge Zhan were able to maintain their posts without flattering Huang. In 262, Huang would in fact try to remove Jiang and replace him with his friend Yan Yu (閻宇). Jiang, upon hearing this, advised Liu Shan to execute Huang but the emperor denied the request, saying that the eunuch was but a servant who ran errands. Fearing retaliation, Jiang left Chengdu to garrison troops at Tazhong (沓中, northwest of present day Zhouqu County, Gansu).

According to the Eastern Wu ambassador Xue Xu (薛珝), who visited Shu Han in 261 at the order of Sun Xiu, the status that Shu Han was in at this point was:

The emperor is incompetent and does not know his errors; his subordinates just try to get by without causing trouble for themselves. When I was visiting them, I heard no honest words, and when I visited their countryside, the people looked hungry. I have heard of a story of swallows and sparrows making nests on top of mansions and being content, believing that it was the safest place, not realizing that the haystack and the support beams were on fire and that disaster was about to come. This might be what they are like.
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Shu Han's destruction

In 262, aggravated by Jiang Wei's constant attacks, Cao Wei's regent Sima Zhao planned to carry out a major campaign to terminate the Shu Han threat once and for all. Upon hearing rumors of this plan, Jiang submitted a request to Liu Shan, warning him about the mustering of Cao Wei troops under the generals Zhong Hui and Deng Ai near the border. However, Huang Hao, who believed in fortunetellers who disavowed the likelihood of a Cao Wei attack, persuaded Liu Shan to take no actions on Jiang's requests for battle preparedness.

In 263, Sima launched his attacks, led by Zhong and Deng. Liu Shan followed Jiang's previous plans and ordered the border troops withdraw and prepare to trap Cao Wei forces, rather than to confront them directly. However, the plan had a fatal flaw -- it assumed that Cao Wei forces would siege the border cities, which, instead, Zhong and Deng ignored, and they advanced instead on Yang'an Pass (陽安關, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi), capturing it. Jiang was able to meet their troops and initially repel them, but Deng led his force through the almost unpassable mountains and deep into Shu territory and launched a surprise attack on Jiangyou (江油, in modern Mianyang, Sichuan). After defeating Zhuge Zhan there, Deng had virtually no Shu Han troops left between him and the capital Chengdu, Faced with the prospect of defending Chengdu against Deng's troops with no defenses left, Liu Shan took the advice of Secretary Qiao Zhou (譙周) and promptly surrendered. While the surrender was criticized by many, Wang Yin (王隱) in his Records of Shu (蜀記) described the move as a policy that placed the welfare of the people on top.

In 264, the ambitious Zhong would carry out an attempt to seize power -- which Jiang, who had surrendered to Zhong, tried to take advantage of to revive Shu Han. He advised Zhong to falsely accuse Deng of treason and arrest him, and, with their combined troops, rebel against Sima. Zhong did so, and Jiang planned to next kill Zhong and his troops, and then redeclare Shu Han's independence under Liu Shan, and had in fact written Liu Shan to inform him of those plans. However, Zhong's troops rebelled against him, and both Zhong and Jiang were killed in battle. Liu Shan himself was not harmed in the disturbance, although his crown prince Liu Xuan (劉璿) was killed in the confusion.

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Life after Shu Han's destruction

In 264, Liu Shan and his entire clan was relocated to the Cao Wei capital Luoyang. He was created the Duke of Anle (安樂公), and his sons and grandsons were created marquesses. According to the Spring and Autumn Annals of Han and Jin (漢晉春秋) by Xi Zuochi (习鑿齒), Sima Zhao, the Duke of Jin and de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Wei, one day invited Liu Shan and his followers to a feast, during which Sima Zhao arranged to have entertainers perform traditional Shu music and dance. The former Shu officials present were all saddened, but Liu Shan was visibly unmoved. When asked by Sima Zhao if he missed his former kingdom, Liu Shan replied:

I enjoy life here and do not think of Shu at all. (此間樂，不思蜀)

This phrase became a Chinese idiom (樂不思蜀), literally meaning "too joyful to think about home" but often with a negative implication. This was noted by Sima Zhao as a sign that Liu Shan was an incompetent fool; however, some later historians believed that it showed Liu Shan's wisdom in intentionally displaying a lack of ambition so that Sima would not view him as a threat.

Liu Shan died in 271, in Luoyang, and was given the posthumous name Duke Si of Anle (安樂思公, literally "the deep-thinking duke"). His dukedom lasted several generations during Cao Wei's successor state, the Jin Dynasty, before being extinguished in the turmoils caused by the Wu Hu. Liu Yuan, the founder of one of the Wu Hu Sixteen Kingdoms, Han Zhao, who claimed to be a legitimate successor of the Han Dynasty, gave Liu Shan the posthumous name Emperor Xiaohuai (孝懷皇帝, literally "the filial and kind emperor").

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Liu Shan in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a 14th century historical novel by Luo Guanzhong, is a romanticization of the events that occurred before and during the Three Kingdoms era. The novel generally portrays Liu Shan as an incapable ruler who was easily swayed by words, especially those from his favorite eunuch Huang Hao. Two famous stories from the novel involving Liu Shan, both fictional, are:

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Battle of Changban

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In 208, Liu Bei was routed by an elite cavalry force led by the powerful warlord Cao Cao at Changban (長阪, northeast of present day Dangyang County, Hubei) and was forced to leave behind Empress Gan (甘皇后) and Liu Shan in his retreat. The general Zhao Yun stayed behind to protect the family members of Liu Bei. Although in history Zhao Yun led both mother and child to safety without incident, the novel in Chapter 41 fabricated the suicide of Lady Mi (麋夫人), another consort of Liu Bei and younger sister of Mi Zhu, so that Zhao Yun could concentrate on protecting the infant Liu Shan.

Refusing to take the only horse Zhao Yun had, which was sorely needed to break out of the enemy ranks, Lady Mi leapt into a dried well and killed herself. Zhao Yun then pushed the well over to cover up Lady Mi's corpse for fear of desecration by the enemy, before securing Liu Shan to his chest. He singlehandedly broke out of the enemy encirclement. Cao Cao was so impressed with the general's bravery that he ordered his troops not to fire arrows in the hope of capturing Zhao Yun alive. When Zhao Yun did catch up with Liu Bei and the rest, however, Liu Bei threw the child onto the ground to show that his men were more important to him than his own son.

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Zhao Yun rescues A Dou from Lady Sun

In Chapter 61 -- a fictionalization of a true incident -- Lady Sun, younger sister of powerful warlord Sun Quan married to Liu Bei to secure an alliance between the two, returned to her homeland to visit her sick mother. However, the sickness was a lie to persuade Lady Sun to bring along Liu Shan, who would then be used as a hostage to exchange for Jingzhou (荆州, present day Hubei and Hunan) with Liu Bei. When Zhao Yun learnt of her departure, he rushed down to the quay, where Lady Sun had already boarded the boat manned by Zhou Shan (周善), whom Sun Quan sent to fetch her sister.

Grabbing hold of a small fishing boat, Zhao Yun caught up with the larger boat and leapt onto it. Soldiers from the Kingdom of Wu were not able to stop him. Although Zhao Yun was able to forcibly retrieve Liu Shan from his stepmother, he was not able to get off the boat, which was speeding down the river back to Wu lands. Fortunately, the boat was intercepted by a fleet led by Zhang Fei. When Zhou Shan tried to resist, Zhang Fei slew him. The two generals then brought the only son of Liu Bei safely back while Lady Sun returned to her mother.

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Personal information

  • Father
  • Mother
    • Lady Gan (甘夫人), Liu Bei's concubine, posthumously honored as Empress Zhaolie
  • Wives
  • Major Concubines
    • Consort Li (committed suicide 264)
    • Consort Wang, mother of Crown Prince Xuan and Prince Yao
  • Children
    • Liu Xuan (劉璿), the Crown Prince (created 238, killed in disturbance 264)
    • Liu Yao (劉瑤), the Prince of Anding (created 238)
    • Liu Cong (劉琮), the Prince of Xihe (created 252, d. 262)
    • Liu Zan (劉瓚), the Prince of Xinping (created 256)
    • Liu Chen (劉諶), the Prince of Beidi (created 259, committed suicide 263)
    • Liu Xun (劉恂), the Prince of Xinxing (created 259), later inherited the Dukedom of Anle
    • Liu Qian (劉虔), the Prince of Shangdang (created 259), might also be named Liu Qu (劉璩)this is gay
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References

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See also

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External links

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