Liu Bei studied under Lu Zhi in his youth and later participated in the suppression of the Yellow Turban Uprising. Due to his limited strength, Liu Bei repeatedly failed in his entrepreneurship during the chaos of the feudal lords in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He successively attached himself to multiple feudal lords such as Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Liu Biao. However, due to their consistent adherence to the code of conduct of persuading people with virtue, they were respected by scholars from all over the world. Tao Qian and Liu Biao expressed their abandonment of allowing their sons to inherit the foundation, and instead chose to give their territories of Xuzhou and Jingzhou to Liu Bei's command. [10] [21]

Through persistent efforts, Liu Bei successively captured Jingzhou and Yizhou after the Battle of Red Cliffs, and established the Shu Han regime. Later, because Guan Yu was killed by Eastern Wu, Liu Bei refused to listen to the advice of his courtiers and insisted on launching a war against the state of Wu. As a result, he was defeated in Yiling and eventually passed away in Baidicheng in the third year of Zhangwu (223 AD) at the age of 63. He was posthumously named Emperor Zhaolie and buried in Huiling. Shu Han did not give Liu Bei a temple name, and Emperor Liu Yuan of Han referred to his temple name as Liezu. [1] [197]

Liu Bei was broad-minded and generous, knowing how to deal with people and treating scholars. He persevered and entrusted Zhuge Liang with his actions before his death, which was praised by Chen Shou as the "prosperous track of ancient and modern times". Many literary and artistic works in later generations have Liu Bei as the protagonist. There is a Han Zhaolie Temple in Chengdu to commemorate it.