Liu Pi (general)

Liu Pi (died 201) was a Yellow Turban rebel general during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history.

Biography
After the decline of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Liu Pi's men allied themselves with Yuan Shu and Sun Jian in the early 190s. His party thrived in the Yingchuan (穎川) and Runan region, and by the mid-190s they were numbered at by the tens of thousands. In 196, the warlord Cao Cao set out against the Yellow Turban remnants; in the battles that ensued, Liu Pi's colleague Huang Shao (黄邵) was killed and Liu surrendered with the other leaders.

As the northern Yuan Shao declared war on Cao Cao in 200, Liu Pi rebelled against Cao Cao and plundered Xuchang. Yuan sent Liu Bei to support Liu Pi, but the combined forces were defeated by Cao Cao's general Cao Ren; Liu Bei fled back to Yuan Shao and Liu Pi was killed.

The first volume of the Records of the Three Kingdoms contains conflicting accounts about Liu Pi's death: in an earlier passage it states that Liu Pi was killed with Huang Shao during Cao Cao's bandit sweeping campaign in 196, while a later passage in the same volume states he rebelled in 200 and was killed by Cao Ren. Rafe de Crespigny noted that while it was possible that the group under Liu Pi still kept his name after he died, it is more probable that the first account of Liu Pi's death is premature.

In fiction
In Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Pi allied with Gong Du after the fall of the Yellow Turbans and harassed the regions of Yingchuan and Runan. They repelled attacks from Cao Hong and later coordinated with Yuan Shao against Cao Cao. Later, he requested help from Liu Bei and delivered Runan to him as a base of operations. He died in battle while defending Liu Bei from Cao Cao's general, Gao Lan.