Liu An

Biography & Historical Record

Liu An (刘安, Lưu An) on this slug is the hunter of Romance Chapter 19, the man who kills his own wife and serves her flesh to the fleeing Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị) as “wolf meat.” He is not the Western Han King of Huainan (淮南王刘安, 2nd century BC), author of the Huainanzi. He is not a woman — the catalog line “là vợ của Tí Cắt Nhu Vay” is garbled Vietnamese for the murdered wife, not for him. Chen Shou has no such hunter. The episode is Luo Guanzhong’s fiction, written to show that even a nameless woodsman would ruin his house for the Imperial Uncle, and to let Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo) pay gold for that ruin.

The 汉字 刘安 are common; this post is locked to the Xiaopei–Xu flight of Jian’an 3 (198) in the novel: Liu Bei has lost Xiaopei to Gao Shun (高顺, Cao Thuận), does not know where Guan Yu (关羽, Quan Vũ), Zhang Fei (张飞, Trương Phi), or his family are, and rides with Sun Qian (孙乾, Tôn Càn) toward Cao Cao. Villages feed them because they hear “Liu Yuzhou.” One night the host is a young hunter named Liu An. He cannot find game, kills his wife, and lies. At dawn Liu Bei sees the body in the kitchen, weeps, and leaves. Liu An says he would follow but his old mother is alive. Cao Cao, told the story, sends Sun Qian back with a hundred taels of gold. No later chapter brings the hunter back. Vietnamese Lưu An is correct for both this man and the Han king — the era and the wife-killing scene are what divide them.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 19 (Cao Cao Fights at Xiapi; Lü Bu Dies at the White Gate Tower): The chapter’s famous close is Lu Bu (吕布, Lã Bố) at Xiapi. Before that, Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị) has already lost Xiaopei. Alone on the road, he is overtaken by Sun Qian (孙乾, Tôn Càn), who argues for throwing in with Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo). They starve, then find that every village that hears “the Imperial Uncle” competes to feed them. One night a youth comes out, bows, and gives his name: the hunter Liu An (刘安, Lưu An). Hearing that the Protector of Yu is under his roof, he goes to find wild game, finds none, and kills his wife for the pot. Liu Bei asks what meat it is; “wolf,” Liu An says; Liu Bei eats his fill and sleeps. At dawn, fetching his horse from the yard, he sees a woman dead in the kitchen with the flesh of her arms cut away. He asks; Liu An tells the truth. Liu Bei cannot bear it, weeps, and mounts. Liu An says he had wanted to follow but dares not leave an old mother. Liu Bei thanks him and rides out by Liangcheng into Cao Cao’s dust. He tells Cao Cao of Xiaopei, the missing brothers, the trapped family — and of the hunter. Cao Cao weeps with him and orders Sun Qian to take a hundred taels of gold to Liu An. The White Gate Tower then swallows the rest of the chapter. Liu An is not at the execution.

Liu An (刘安) — Historical & Literary Timeline

For the novel figure, see 刘安 (三国演义) — not the Huainan king.

Key Relationships

Family

• Unnamed wife, murdered to feed Liu Bei (novel only). Unnamed old mother, the reason he will not leave home. No father or children recorded. Catalog text that made him a wife is wrong.

Friends

• Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị): the guest he ruins his house for. Liu Bei weeps and does not take him on the road.
• Sun Qian (孙乾, Tôn Càn): the aide who shares the meal and later carries Cao Cao’s gold back to the hunter.

Enemies

• No personal enemy. The war that drove Liu Bei to his door is Lu Bu (吕布, Lã Bố) and Gao Shun (高顺, Cao Thuận) at Xiaopei — they never meet Liu An.

Other

• Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo): pays a hundred taels after hearing the story, the same morning he weeps for Liu Bei’s lost brothers. Guan Yu (关羽, Quan Vũ) and Zhang Fei (张飞, Trương Phi) are the missing men Liu Bei names in the same speech; they are not in the hunter’s yard.