When Liu Bei was a teenager, he took Lu Zhi as his teacher, and then participated in activities such as quelling the Yellow Turban Rebellion and rebelling against Dong Zhuo. Although Liu Bei's army was relatively early, because of his limited strength, Liu Bei suffered repeated defeats in the process of the princes' melee, so he successively attached himself to Gongsun Zhan, Tao Qian, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and many other princes. In this process, Liu Bei not only did not have a stable territory for a long time, but even fell into the fate of his wife being captured by others.
Therefore, compared with Cao Cao, Sun Quan and other princes, Liu Bei's number of wives was relatively small. So, the question is, how many wives does Liu Bei have? How did they end up, and who became queen in the end?
First, Mrs. Gan
Mrs. Gan (?) -？ ), the "Chronicle of the Prefecture of Fu" as Ganmei, a native of peiguo (沛国; present-day Huaibei, Anhui). In 194 AD, when Liu Bei was serving as the pastor of Yuzhou, Lady Nagan was a concubine. It is worth noting that before Lady Gan, Liu Bei was widowed many times and the position of the main room was vacant, so Lady Gan presided over family affairs. In other words, Liu Bei had wives before, but because of the lack of historical records, the number and names of these wives are not recorded. On this basis, Lady Gan is generally considered to be Liu Bei's first wife.
In the twelfth year of Jian'an (207), Lady Gan followed Liu Bei to Jingzhou and gave birth to a son, Liu Chan. When the Battle of Changshanpo broke out, Liu Bei left his wife and children on the run, and Liu Chan and Lady Gan survived under the protection of Zhao Yun. Lady Gan later fell ill and died and was buried in Nan Commandery (南郡; present-day northern Jiangling County, Hubei).
In 221, Liu Bei proclaimed himself empress dowager in Chengdu and posthumously honored his deceased concubine Gan Shi as "Lady Huangsi". After Liu Chan ascended the throne, he posthumously honored his birth mother Lady Gan as "Empress Zhaolie". In this regard, in the author's opinion, if she had not died earlier, Lady Gan would have become Liu Bei's empress, after all, his son Liu Chan had long been established as the heir by Liu Bei.
2. Lady Mi
Lady Mi (?) —？ ), a native of Langya Commandery (琅琊郡, in present-day Ganyudun, Jiangsu) and the younger sister of Mi Zhu, a shu Han chancellor during the Three Kingdoms period. In the first year of Jian'an (196), Yuan Shu attacked Liu Bei, and Lü Bu took the opportunity to attack and take Pi, and obtained Liu Bei's family members, that is, including Lady Gan and others.
After Xuzhou was stolen by Lü Bu, Liu Bei stationed his army in Guangling. For Liu Bei at this time, he undoubtedly fell into the bottom of his life. However, the mi zhu and mi fang brothers did not part ways with Liu Bei. At that time, Mi Zhujin offered his sister to Liu Beizuo, which was Lady Mi. In addition, Mi Zhu helped Liu Bei recruit thousands of men and horses, prompting him to reinvigorate.
In the third year of Jian'an (198), Lü Bu again captured Liu Bei's family members. A year later, Liu Bei joined forces with Cao Cao to eliminate Lü Bu. Therefore, both Lady Gan and Lady Mi returned to Liu Bei's side. In the spring of the fifth year of Jian'an (200), the edict of the belt occurred. Cao Cao personally invaded Liu Bei, and Liu Bei was defeated, and Cao Cao captured Liu Bei and her children, captured Guan Yu, and then withdrew his troops and returned to Xu capital. Since then, in historical materials such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there has been no record of Lady Mi. In this regard, in the view of many historians, Lady Mi should have died of illness after following Liu Bei to Jingzhou.
3. Mrs. Sun
Mrs. Sun (?) –c. 223), a native of Fuchun, Wu Commandery (present-day Fuyang District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang), sister of Sun Quan, and wife of the left general Liu Bei. The history book Romance of the Three Kingdoms refers to Lady Sun. Folk drama is called Sun Shangxiang.
After the Battle of Chibi, in order to consolidate Sun Liu's alliance, Sun Quan married his sister to Liu Bei. Lady Sun was quick in intelligence, strong and brave, with the style of her brothers of the same clan, and more than a hundred servants around her, all of whom guarded her with swords. Even figures like Liu Bei, every time they enter the inner chamber, they feel afraid and afraid in their hearts.
In the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211 AD), Liu Bei entered Shu, so Sun Quan sent a large ship to welcome her sister back to Wu, And Lady Sun planned to take Liu Chan with her, but fortunately Zhuge Liang promptly sent the Yamen generals Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei to intercept liu chan together on the river, only to recapture Liu Chan, and she never returned, and there was no news. Three years later (214 AD), after Liu Bei pacified Yizhou, he officially remarried Wu Yi's sister as the main chamber. In this context, the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms also does not record what happened after Lady Sun returned to Eastern Wu, that is, it belongs to the situation where her whereabouts are unknown.
4. Empress Mu of the Wu clan
Empress Mu of the Wu clan (?) –245), whose real name is unknown, was rumored to be "Wu Amaranth", a native of Chen Liu Commandery (༫留郡, in present-day Xiangfu, Henan), the sister of the che general Wu Yi, and empress of Liu Bei, emperor of the Shu Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period. According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms and other historical records, Wu lost his father at an early age, and his father had a deep friendship with Liu Yan before his death, so the whole family followed Liu Yan to Shudi. Later, Liu Yan, the pastor of Yizhou, heard that the Wu clan had a noble appearance, so he married Wu for his son Liu Mao. After Liu Mao's death, Wu became a widow.
In the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211 AD), at the invitation of Liu Zhang, Liu Bei led a large army into Yizhou. A year later, Liu Bei and Liu Zhang broke up, and the Battle of Yizhou officially broke out. In the nineteenth year of Jian'an (214), Liu Bei defeated Liu Zhang and captured the land of Yizhou. It is worth noting that after Liu Bei came to Chengdu, he immediately accepted Wu as his wife.
In this regard, in the author's opinion, Liu Bei's move is undoubtedly to consolidate his occupation of Yizhou. On the one hand, Wu was originally the wife of Liu Yan's son Liu Mao, and Liu Bei is now marrying Wu, reflecting his attitude of not liquidating Liu Yan and Liu Zhang's family; on the other hand, Wu's brothers Wu Yi and Wu Ban are the military generals in charge of the warriors and horses in Yizhou, and by marrying them, they can naturally win the full support of Wu Yi and Wu Ban brothers.
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Liu Bei repelled Cao Cao and captured the land of Hanzhong. Therefore, Liu Bei proclaimed himself the King of Hanzhong and made Wu the Queen of Hanzhong. In the first year of Zhang Wu (221), Liu Bei declared himself emperor, established shu han, and made Wu empress. Of Liu Bei's four wives, only Wu eventually became empress. In the third year of Zhang Wu (223), Liu Bei died, and the crown prince Liu Chan took the throne, and his mother-in-law Wu Shi was made empress dowager. In the eighth year of Yanxi (245), Wu died, and empress Dowager Mu was buried in Liu Bei's Huiling Tomb.