Liu Yu

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This article is about the late Eastern Han Dynasty warlord. For the founder of Liu Song Dynasty, see Emperor Wu of Liu Song. For the late Liu Song Dynasty emperors, see Emperor Ming of Liu Song and Emperor Houfei of Liu Song.

Liu Yu (劉虞/刘虞) was an official of the Later Han Period. According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, during the time of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he was the Governor of You Province in the northeast of China; his call for volunteers to fight the rebellion in his province was the event which led to Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei swearing the Peach Garden Oath and raising their first ever army. (This account, however, was inaccurate, as Liu Yu was actually not commissioned as the governor of You Province until 188, several years after the Yellow Turban Rebellion.)

During the chaos stemming from the tyranny of Dong Zhuo, an alliance of feudal lords formed to challenge Dong Zhuo at first had a plan to declare Liu Yu as Emperor (since he was a Liu, like the Emperors of the Han Dynasty). However, he declined. He was later killed by the warlord Gongsun Zan under false accusations that he did in fact want to be emperor.