Liu Bei's faction

Liu Bei's faction is the political and military following built around Xuande as the Han order disintegrates and rival leaders carve out competing powers. It is held together less by secure territory than by personal loyalty, a claim to just rule, and the strategic work of commanders who repeatedly turn peril into a chance to survive. From the loss of a city and the scattering of its members to the recovery of its companions and the adoption of a wider strategy, the faction’s story is one of precarious cohesion and persistent reconstruction.

Identity and political purpose

The faction takes shape in a world where the Han is collapsing and three leaders emerge to found rival dynasties: Xuande, Cao Cao, and Sun Quan. Xuande’s place in that contest is established through an aspiration to befriend worthy men and a portrayal as generous, reserved, and modest. The narrative makes his fortunes a major force directing the early action, so his following is both a military organization and the means through which his political prospects are pursued.

Xuande’s stated purpose is to see the land ruled justly while the Han’s authority is being usurped. When Kong Ming assesses the balance of power, he distinguishes between Cao Cao, whose huge army and control of the emperor make him too strong to oppose directly, and Sun Quan, whose southern support makes him a possible ally. The advice directs Xuande toward Jingzhou as the place where the future will be decided. The faction’s political course therefore depends on an effort to combine the restoration of legitimate rule with a practical reading of territory, strength, and alliance.

Territory, displacement, and survival

The faction’s hold on territory is repeatedly vulnerable. At Xiaopei, Xuande, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu position camps outside the city to protect its approach. A coordinated attack breaks those defenses: Gao Shun strikes Guan Yu’s camp while Lü Bu attacks Zhang Fei’s, and the advancing force overwhelms Xuande’s men. Xuande attempts to reach the city, but Lü Bu follows so closely that the defenders cannot secure his entry. The drawbridge comes down, and Lü Bu’s force crosses into the city instead. Xuande’s family is still inside, leaving the defeat with an immediate personal as well as political danger.

Lü Bu nevertheless refuses to harm Xuande’s family. Mi Zhu argues that a gallant man does not attack an opponent’s household and reminds him that Cao Cao is the greater adversary; Lü Bu answers that the two factions are committed to one another. This protection does not restore Xuande’s position, but it preserves his family and creates a debt of action and memory amid the faction’s losses.

Later, Xuande’s departure from Cao Cao’s court offers another measure of the faction’s constrained independence. Troubled by the court’s atmosphere and concerned about Zhao Zilong, he volunteers to lead troops against Yuan Shu. He leaves under an imperial commission with fifty thousand soldiers and assures Dong Cheng that he will not forget the emperor’s command. To his sworn brothers he describes his previous position as confinement, contrasting it with the freedom to move beyond Cao Cao’s control. The expedition is thus both a military assignment and an escape from political enclosure.

When Cao Cao sends two hundred thousand troops to seize Xuzhou and Xuande, the faction cannot rely on outside support: Yuan Shao refuses to help because his favorite son is gravely ill. Sun Qian carries that refusal back after riding through day and night. Zhang Fei proposes striking Cao Cao’s army at night, when its soldiers will have completed a long journey and be preparing to rest. The episode presents tactical initiative as a response to failed diplomacy and an unfavorable balance of forces.

Companions, recruitment, and renewed cohesion

The faction’s cohesion is tested whenever its members are separated, and rebuilt through recognition and reunion. While traveling with the two women in his care, Guan Yu encounters former Yellow Headband rebels who have become robbers. Their leader, Zhou Cang, recognizes him, dismounts, kneels, and asks to join him. The episode turns a roadside encounter into a recruitment: an armed stranger becomes a follower through his recognition of Guan Yu’s standing.

The journey also leads Guan Yu to Gucheng, where he learns that Zhang Fei has taken control of the city after driving out its governor and has gathered an army and provisions. Guan Yu expects a welcome and sends Sun Qian ahead to announce his arrival and the presence of his sisters-in-law. The reunion at Gucheng becomes a public restoration of the brothers’ bond. Xuande, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu exchange accounts of their separate adventures, make a sacrifice to Heaven and Earth with an ox and a horse, and celebrate. The addition of Zhao Zilong and Guan Ping brings further joy, giving the faction renewed personnel as well as renewed family-like cohesion.

That cohesion becomes operational in battle. When Xuande’s force is nearly destroyed, he has fewer than a thousand men left and fears Guan Yu has been captured. Zhao Zilong arrives with his troops, but is himself surrounded. Guan Yu, Guan Ping, and Zhou Cang then emerge from the hills and attack, forcing Zhang He to retreat. Guan Yu also rides to rescue Zhang Fei, and the three brothers are reunited. The sequence shows that the faction’s scattered groups can still function as a network of mutual rescue, though their survival depends on timely arrivals rather than secure defenses.

Strategy, resources, and command

The faction’s military prospects change when Xuande recruits Kong Ming as adviser. Kong Ming’s strategic assessment sets limits as well as goals: Cao Cao’s control of the emperor and command of an immense force make direct opposition imprudent, while Sun Quan is better treated as a potential ally. The advice places Jingzhou at the center of Xuande’s future, linking political ambition to a specific strategic geography.

Kong Ming’s first major test comes when Cao Cao’s army, numbering over one hundred thousand, advances on Xinye. He assigns Guan Yu to conceal troops in the hills around Bowang and wait for flames before attacking the enemy rear and supply train. Zhang Fei is to hide in valleys beyond the forest and strike the stores at Bowang when the fire signal appears. Other commanders are to prepare fires on both sides of the ravine, while Zhao Zilong leads the advance party and is instructed to feign retreat after contact with Cao Cao’s troops. Each order assigns a distinct task to a different part of the force, coordinating concealment, deception, fire, and attack on supplies.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei doubt the plan, especially because Kong Ming will not be near the fighting. Xuande rebukes them, and even he is troubled when Kong Ming orders him to leave camp as the enemy arrives and return only after seeing the flames. Kong Ming’s confidence is underscored by his instruction that Sun Qian and Jian Yong prepare victory celebrations. The episode places the faction’s old fighters’ distrust beside its new adviser’s coordinated plan, making command authority itself part of the test.

A later resource problem displays the same reliance on deception and an opponent’s decisions. In dense fog, Kong Ming sends boats toward Cao Cao’s shore, where the sound of drums and shouting is mistaken for an assault. Cao Cao orders his troops to fire into the fog; ten thousand archers and crossbowmen shoot toward the apparent threat. The boats carry barriers made of black-wrapped straw, and the arrows lodge in them as the sailors maintain the noise. As daylight disperses the fog, the boats return with all one thousand straw bales bristling with arrows. The faction gains the needed weapons without paying for them, turning Cao Cao’s defensive response into its supply source.

Limits and narrative significance

The faction’s successes do not eliminate the risks of command. At Jieting, Kong Ming appoints Ma Su to defend the position and sends Wang Ping to oversee him. Ma Su rejects Wang Ping’s advice to defend the road and instead occupies a hill, relying on book learning to justify his choice. He permits Wang Ping to take a small force to the road but stays on the hill; an express messenger reports the separate positions to Kong Ming. Sima Yi attacks after learning that an inexperienced commander is in charge. His army cuts Ma Su off, and the hill’s lack of water contributes to desertions and the breakdown of the defense. Wang Ping’s effort to help is forced back, and Sima Yi captures the city.

The defeat has consequences beyond the loss of Jieting. A night attempt to retake it becomes a trap, and the faction suffers further losses in the fighting around Lieliu. Wang Ping, Wei Yan, and Ma Su flee toward Yangping Pass for fear that it too will fall. The episode sharply contrasts Kong Ming’s carefully divided assignments at Bowang with a commander who disregards sound advice: strategy depends not only on a plan but on whether subordinates carry it out competently.

Liu Bei's faction is therefore presented as a following that survives through the interplay of political purpose, personal allegiance, recruitment, and military judgment. Its members’ reunions restore more than numbers; they re-establish the relationships on which its cohesion depends. Its tactical gains show how disciplined coordination and resourcefulness can offset disadvantage, while the loss at Jieting reveals how quickly a position may collapse when authority and judgment fail. The faction’s defining strength is its capacity to gather again and pursue a political future despite repeated reversals, not an uninterrupted possession of power or territory.