Liu Ye (170s - 234), courtesy name Ziyang, was an adviser to the warlord Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. After the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, he served as an official in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, serving under Cao Pi and Cao Rui. He was a member of the House of Liu, the imperial clan of the Han dynasty, and a direct descendant of Emperor Guangwu, via Guangwu's seventh son Liu Yan. He had two sons: Liu Yu () and Liu Tao (). Early life Liu's mother died when he was six. On her deathbed, she told him and his brother Liu Huan to kill a dangerous and treacherous servant belonging to his father Liu Pu once they were older. Liu killed the servant six years later. Liu Pu was angry and asked his son the reason for the murder. Liu Ye replied that he was just following his mother's last wish and was ready to take punishment. After hearing the explanation, Liu Pu had a change of heart, and forgave Ye. While Xu Shao was at Yangzhou, he praised Liu Ye as someone with the ability to help a sovereign govern his realm. Due to his family background and act of killing the servant, Liu already had a great reputation when he was in his early twenties. During this time, some local rich landowners had formed their own private armies. Among them, Zheng Bao (郑宝) was the strongest and he wanted to force people living in Huainan to move to another prefecture. Zheng wanted to take advantage of Liu's reputation to assist with the eviction; Liu Ye was unwilling to do so. Around this period, an emissary from Cao Cao came to visit Liu Ye to discuss current state of affairs; Liu Ye persuaded the emissary to stay with him for a few days. Zheng Bao wanted to meet Cao Cao's emissary, so he went to Liu's home with hundreds of soldiers, bringing along cows and wine. Liu Ye then entertained Zheng with a feast. During the feast, he killed Zheng during a toast and threatened the now-leaderless soldiers to withdraw by claiming that by Cao Cao's orders, anyone who attacked would be guilty of the same offences as Zheng. After the feast, Liu went to Zheng Bao's military camp with several servants. At the camp, Liu