Why Liu Bei Sought Zhuge Liang Three Times

Liu Bei had wandered for years.

He had loyal companions and a Han surname, but he lacked a durable plan. Cao Cao dominated the north. Sun Quan held Jiangdong. Liu Bei needed more than courage.

He needed Zhuge Liang.

Liu Bei Lived Under Liu Biao

After Guandu, the Yuan family began to collapse. Cao Cao pacified Hebei, then lost one of his most trusted advisers.

Guo Jia died at only thirty-nine. Cao Cao grieved deeply and later said he had once hoped to entrust future affairs to him after the empire was settled.

But Cao Cao could not stop. He based himself at Ye and built Xuanwu Pond to train a navy. The meaning was clear. His next target was Jingzhou.

Jingzhou was ruled by Liu Biao, a relative of the Han imperial house. He had held the region for years, taking Lingling and Guiyang in the south and guarding the Han River in the north. Jingzhou was broad, rich, and relatively stable. Many scholars fleeing war in Guanzhong, Yan, and Yu had taken refuge there.

Liu Biao had prestige and could preserve his territory. What he lacked was decisive ambition.

Liu Bei arrived in Jingzhou after another defeat by Cao Cao. Not everyone welcomed him. He had previously attached himself to Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian, Lü Bu, Cao Cao, and Yuan Shao, rarely staying anywhere long. To some in Jingzhou, he looked dangerous.

Liu Biao accepted him anyway. They shared the Liu surname and both faced Cao Cao's pressure. Liu Biao greeted Liu Bei outside the city, treated him as an honored guest, gave him troops, and stationed him at Xinye.

The Flesh Returned to His Thighs

In Jingzhou, Liu Bei finally had several quiet years.

Quiet did not satisfy him.

At a banquet with Liu Biao, Liu Bei rose to use the toilet. When he returned, he was crying.

Liu Biao asked why.

Liu Bei said that in earlier years he had spent his life on horseback, so the flesh on his thighs had worn away. Now, after long inactivity, the flesh had grown back. Time was passing, he was aging, and he had still achieved nothing.

Liu Biao was moved, but also wary.

Liu Bei was living under him, yet still dreamed of great deeds. More and more local heroes were drawn to Liu Bei. Liu Biao began to guard against him.

Around 203, Liu Biao sent Liu Bei north. Cao Cao sent Xiahou Dun to oppose him. Liu Bei burned his own camp and pretended to retreat. Li Dian warned Xiahou Dun that the narrow, wooded roads made pursuit dangerous. Xiahou Dun ignored him and fell into an ambush, surviving only after Li Dian came to help.

This event later became the famous burning of Bowang Slope in fiction, with Zhuge Liang made the mastermind. Historically, Zhuge Liang had not yet joined Liu Bei.

In 207, when Cao Cao campaigned against the Wuhuan, Liu Bei urged Liu Biao to attack Xu. Liu Biao refused. After Cao Cao returned victorious, Liu Biao regretted it. Liu Bei comforted him, saying there would still be chances.

But Liu Bei understood that Liu Biao would not give him the opening he needed.

Xu Shu Pointed to Wolong

During these years in Jingzhou, Liu Bei met Xu Shu.

Xu Shu had once lived as a bold young swordsman. He killed a man in revenge, was captured, and refused to reveal his name. After escaping, he left that life behind, studied, and became a scholar.

He moved south to Jingzhou during the wars. Liu Biao invited him more than once, but Xu Shu refused to serve. He thought Liu Biao had a reputation for honoring talent but lacked the resolve to use good men and remove bad ones.

When Xu Shu observed Liu Bei, he saw ambition, kindness toward followers, and real personal appeal. He went to Xinye to meet him.

Liu Bei welcomed him gladly. Xu Shu helped organize the army and train soldiers.

But Xu Shu told Liu Bei that his own ability was nothing compared with Zhuge Liang.

Liu Bei had also heard from Sima Hui, the man called Water Mirror, that Jingzhou had two great talents: Wolong, the Sleeping Dragon, and Fengchu, the Young Phoenix. Wolong was Zhuge Liang. Fengchu was Pang Tong.

Now Xu Shu was saying the same thing. Liu Bei wanted to meet the Sleeping Dragon.

Who Was Zhuge Liang?

Zhuge Liang came from a notable family in Langya.

His childhood was hard. His mother died when he was three. His father died when he was eight. He later followed his uncle to Yuzhang, then moved with the family to Jingzhou when his uncle's office changed.

After his uncle died, Zhuge Liang and his younger brother Zhuge Jun lived in seclusion in the Jingzhou region, farming and studying.

Later traditions debated whether his farming place was Nanyang's Wolong Ridge or Longzhong near Xiangyang. Either way, his world was Jingzhou.

Zhuge Liang liked to sing "Liangfu Yin" and compared himself to Guan Zhong and Yue Yi, famous ancient statesmen and generals. Many people thought this sounded arrogant from a young man.

But friends such as Xu Shu, Cui Zhouping, Meng Jian, and Shi Tao believed in him. So did noted Xiangyang figures like Sima Hui, Pang Degong, and Huang Chengyan.

Huang Chengyan even married his daughter to Zhuge Liang. He warned that she was not considered beautiful, describing her as yellow-haired and dark-skinned, but said her talent matched Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang accepted at once.

People joked about the marriage, but it also tied Zhuge Liang more deeply into Jingzhou's elite network. Huang Chengyan was connected by marriage to Liu Biao's circle, so Zhuge Liang now stood closer to the region's political world.

The Three Visits

When Liu Bei wanted to summon Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu corrected him.

This was not a man to be called casually. If Liu Bei truly wanted him, he should go in person.

So came the story of the three visits to the thatched cottage.

In the novel, Liu Bei goes with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. The first time, Zhuge Liang is away. The second time, Liu Bei still fails to meet him. Zhang Fei grows impatient, thinking a village recluse is not worth such effort. Liu Bei insists on a third visit.

On the third visit, Zhuge Liang is sleeping. Liu Bei waits outside and does not disturb him. Only after Zhuge Liang wakes do they meet.

The official histories do not give the scene in such detail.

But Zhuge Liang later wrote in the "Chu Shi Biao" that Liu Bei did not despise his low position and personally visited him three times in his humble cottage. That line strongly suggests the visits were real.

When they finally spoke, Liu Bei cleared the room and asked for a plan for the realm.

He said the Han house was declining, treacherous ministers had stolen authority, and he wanted to uphold righteousness but lacked the wisdom to succeed. His ambition remained. What should he do?

Zhuge Liang's answer became the Longzhong Plan.

The Longzhong Plan

Zhuge Liang began with the map of power.

Cao Cao held a million men in broad terms and controlled the emperor to command the lords. Liu Bei could not compete with him directly.

Sun Quan had held Jiangdong through three generations. The terrain was secure, the people were attached, and capable men served him. He could be an ally, not an immediate target.

Jingzhou was useful ground. It touched the Han River in the north, Wu and Kuaiji in the east, and Ba-Shu in the west. But Liu Biao could not hold it.

Yi Province was rugged and rich, the land from which Liu Bang, founder of the Han, had once built imperial power. Its current governor Liu Zhang was weak, Zhang Lu threatened from the north, and local talent hoped for a better ruler.

Zhuge Liang advised Liu Bei to occupy Jingzhou and Yi Province, hold the passes, comfort the surrounding peoples, ally with Sun Quan, govern well inside, and wait for a change in the north. Then Liu Bei could advance in more than one direction and claim to restore the Han.

In plain terms, Liu Bei should not smash himself against Cao Cao, and he should not rush to attack Sun Quan. His road lay through Jingzhou and Yi Province.

Liu Bei was delighted.

He was forty-six. Zhuge Liang was twenty-six.

After this meeting, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang became increasingly close. Liu Bei was no longer only a wandering elder brother with loyal companions. He had a route.

Another Version

There is also another historical tradition.

The Weilue and Jiuzhou Chunqiu say that after Cao Cao settled Hebei, Jingzhou was in danger. Zhuge Liang believed Liu Biao was old and weak in military affairs, so he went north on his own to meet Liu Bei.

At first, Liu Bei treated him as an ordinary young scholar. After others left, Zhuge Liang stayed. Liu Bei sat there weaving with an ox-tail hair implement to pass the time.

Zhuge Liang challenged him. Was a hero of the age really going to spend his time on such small things?

Liu Bei said he was only easing his worries.

Zhuge Liang asked who was stronger, Liu Biao or Cao Cao. Liu Bei said Cao Cao. Then he asked how Liu Bei compared with Cao Cao. Liu Bei smiled bitterly and admitted he was no match.

Zhuge Liang pressed the point. If Liu Biao was weaker than Cao Cao, and Liu Bei was weaker than Cao Cao, would they simply wait in Jingzhou to die?

His proposal was to register the refugee households in Jingzhou. Many northerners had fled south but were not recorded in official registers, so the government could not properly use their labor, taxes, or military potential. If they were registered, Jingzhou's strength would grow.

Only then did Liu Bei realize this young man was unusual and ask his name. He answered: Zhuge Kongming.

This version differs from the three visits story. After so much time, every detail cannot be fixed with certainty.

But the result is the same. In Jingzhou, Liu Bei met Zhuge Liang. From that point on, his cause had a new direction.

The next episode follows Liu Biao's death and Jingzhou's surrender, which forces Liu Bei into flight and sets the stage for Red Cliffs.