Liu Ping

Historical Record

Liu Ping was a general of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. During the reign of Sun Hao, the last emperor of Wu, he held the post of General Who Conquers the West. The direct records of Liu Ping in the histories are relatively limited, but the role he played in a particular historical event still sketches out one side of him as a court minister. In the second year of Ganlu (257 CE), the lord of Wu, Sun Hao, held a great banquet for his ministers, during which an event occurred that shocked the court and the realm. At the time, Ding Zhong had returned from an embassy to Jin, and Sun Hao set the banquet to entertain him. At the feast, the senior court minister Wang Fan, having drunk to excess, became thoroughly intoxicated and behaved improperly. Deeply displeased, Sun Hao ordered Wang Fan removed from the hall. However, after Wang Fan was led out, his drunkenness had not abated, and his bearing remained as composed as ever, showing not the slightest sign of remorse or fear. Seeing this, Sun Hao flew into an uncontrollable rage and at once ordered Wang Fan beheaded below the hall. At this critical juncture, the Guard General Teng Mu and the General Who Conquers the West, Liu Ping, stepped forward and together pleaded for Wang Fan, trying to turn back Sun Hao's murderous intent ^c:2878. However, their efforts came to nothing; Sun Hao's mind was made up, and in the end Wang Fan was still put to death. This event reflects Sun Hao's brutal rule, and also shows that Liu Ping, as a court minister, could still maintain a certain moral stance in the face of his sovereign's atrocity, daring to remonstrate and plead. Though the plea failed, the act itself embodies to some degree his sense of responsibility as a subject and his concern for his colleague. The histories do not record Liu Ping's life thereafter in detail, but his appearance in the Wang Fan affair is enough to leave a mark on the political stage of late Wu.

In the Novel

In *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, Liu Ping's image differs from history, and his end is more tragic. The novel portrays Liu Ping as a loyal and forthright general who finally died for remonstrating with Sun Hao. In Chapter 120 of *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, the lord of Wu, Sun Hao, after changing the era name to Jianheng, by the first year of Fenghuang grew daily more immersed in wanton excess and reckless warmongering, so that resentment rose throughout the court and the realm. At that time the Chancellor Wan Yu, the general Liu Ping, and the Grand Minister of Agriculture Lou Xuan—three men—seeing Sun Hao's misrule and the state in imminent peril, disregarded their own safety and remonstrated bluntly and earnestly ^c:2879. They tried to persuade Sun Hao to cultivate virtue and be sparing with punishments, to make stabilizing the realm his priority rather than indulging in warmongering. However, Sun Hao found their loyal words grating; not only did he refuse to heed them, but flew into a rage and in the end had all three loyal ministers killed together. The novel especially stresses that during his reign of more than ten years, Sun Hao killed over forty loyal ministers, and that when he went out and came in he was always escorted by fifty thousand mailed cavalry, so that the ministers were all terrified and dared no longer voice dissent. Liu Ping's end in the novel is as a victim of Sun Hao's tyranny, his death attributed directly to blunt remonstrance—which echoes the historical episode of his pleading for Wang Fan, but the novel postpones the time of his death and depicts its cause more directly and tragically, aiming to highlight Sun Hao's brutality and Liu Ping's loyalty and righteousness. The novel does not mention Liu Ping's specific conduct in the Wang Fan affair, but instead shapes him into a typical loyal minister who, in the last years of Wu, gave his all for the state and went bravely to his death alongside Wan Yu and Lou Xuan.

Key Relationships

* Wang Fan (friend_of): In history, Liu Ping, together with the Guard General Teng Mu, pleaded for Wang Fan, whom Sun Hao had ordered beheaded ^c:2878. Although the plea failed to succeed, this act suggests that there may have been a certain collegial friendship between Liu Ping and Wang Fan, or at least that it arose from an unwillingness to see a colleague suffer and a concern over the sovereign's atrocity. This event is one of the most prominent of Liu Ping's actions in the histories, embodying his stance at a critical moment.
* Sun Hao (dies_in): In both history and the novel, Sun Hao is the key figure who decided Liu Ping's fate. In history, Liu Ping tried to dissuade Sun Hao from killing Wang Fan, but failed ^c:2878. In *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, Liu Ping was directly killed by Sun Hao for remonstrating against his misrule ^c:2879. Sun Hao's brutal rule and arbitrary willfulness led directly to Liu Ping's tragic end, making him a victim of Sun Hao's tyranny. This relationship is the most central point of conflict in Liu Ping's life and the basis on which his image of loyalty and righteousness is shaped.

Signature Scenes

* Pleading for Wang Fan: In the second year of Ganlu, at Sun Hao's great banquet for his ministers, Wang Fan, having behaved improperly while drunk, angered Sun Hao and was ordered beheaded. The General Who Conquers the West, Liu Ping, together with the Guard General Teng Mu, stepped forward to plead for Wang Fan, trying to turn back Sun Hao's murderous intent ^c:2878. Although in the end this failed and Wang Fan was still put to death, this scene is the most vivid display of Liu Ping's image in the histories, embodying his moral sense as a court minister and his concern for his colleague. It is an important stroke left by Liu Ping in the histories, displaying his courage before his sovereign's atrocity.
* Blunt Remonstrance with Sun Hao and Death: In *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, Liu Ping, together with the Chancellor Wan Yu and the Grand Minister of Agriculture Lou Xuan, out of dissatisfaction with Sun Hao's warmongering and misrule, remonstrated bluntly and earnestly. At this Sun Hao flew into a rage and had all three killed together ^c:2879. This scene is Liu Ping's final destination in the novel and the climax of his image as a loyal minister. It emphasizes Liu Ping's loyalty and righteousness and his character of not fearing power, making him a representative of the many loyal ministers under Sun Hao's tyranny. This scene has no explicit record in the histories and is the novel's literary shaping of the character's fate (novel only).

Liu Ping

Historical Record

In the Novel

Key Relationships

Signature Scenes

3 relationships

Friends1

Enemies1

Other1

史 ch.65

演 ch.120