Life

The Kingdom of Chen (roughly present-day Zhoukou, Henan) was a fiefdom granted to Liu Xian (劉羨), the second son of the Emperor Ming of Han. Liu Chong, son of Liu Cheng (劉承), was a great-grandson of Liu Xian. Liu Chong was described to be an energetic character who was skilled with the crossbow, even authoring a treatise on the subject, Nushe Bifa (弩射袐法).

In 173, Liu Chong and his former chancellor Wei Yin (魏愔) were accused by the new Chen chancellor Shi Qian (師遷) for inappropriately making sacrifices to deities seeking for fortunes beyond their ranks. This was impiety (不道), the most serious of crimes under the Han dynasty and tantamount to treason. Both Wei Yin and his accuser Shi Qian were brought to the capital of Luoyang in cage-carts for questioning. The eunuch Wang Fu presided over the investigations, and found that while the ceremonies made to Huang–Lao had been improper, there were no grounds for charges of impiety against Liu Chong and Wei Yin. Shi Qian had thus falsely accused his lord and was himself guilty of impiety, and in the end both Shi Qian and Wei Yin were executed. Emperor Ling, having just exterminated the family of Liu Kui (劉悝) the Prince of Bohai (渤海王) on similar charges, closed the case against Liu Chong in order to avoid more bloodshed in the imperial household.

When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184, many of Liu Chong's peers were chased out of their fiefs, but Liu Chong raised a force of several thousand archers and fortified himself in his capital. His formidable reputation kept the populace in line, and the Chen state was unscathed by the rebellion. In 190, when a coalition was being formed against the warlord Dong Zhuo, who had taken control of the imperial court, Liu Chong rallied troops in support of the coalition and styled himself the General who Supports the Han (輔漢將軍). He moved his troops north to Yangxia commandery (陽夏; present-day Taikang County) to join the anti-Dong Zhuo blockade, but as the coalition fell apart and its leaders began to fight amongst themselves, Liu Chong returned to Chen. Under the leadership of Liu Chong and his chancellor Luo Jun (駱俊; father of Luo Tong), the kingdom of Chen became an oasis of peace and prosperity as China descended into civil war, taking in over a hundred thousand refugees from neighbouring territories.

In 197, Yuan Shu declared himself emperor in Shouchun, south of Chen across the Huai River. This audacious action made him a target of the other warlords. After being defeated by the forces of Lü Bu, Yuan Shu could not feed his army and requested supplies from the Chen fief. However, he was rebuffed by Luo Jun, and Yuan Shu responded by sending an assassin to kill both Luo Jun and Liu Chong. With the two leading figures dead, the kingdom of Chen fell into ruin.

動漫遊戲

• 《火鳳燎原》（陳某）：於宛城之戰後登場，為龐統出山初期之主公，乘著曹操於宛城兵敗困於舞陰時起兵（同時司馬家亦起兵反曹，但失敗告終），曾打敗曹洪，後死於司馬家手下刺客組織「殘兵」成員三船之手，後來其首級由司馬懿呈送於曹操，為投曹及數十年後奪權之第一步

• 《全面戰爭：三國》：在《受命于天》中登場，不但愛民如子，而且武藝高強。

參考

• 范曄，《後漢書》，卷50孝明八王列傳

• 《資治通鑑·漢紀五十四》