Liu Kai (947-1000) was born at Daming in modern southernmost

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

. He was known to be a highly accomplished scholar as well as a ruthless commander.

Jiang Shaoyu Jiang may refer to: * ''Jiang'' (rank), rank held by general officers in the military of China *Jiang (surname), several Chinese surnames **Jiang Zemin (1926–2022), as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party *Jiang River, an ancient riv ...

(fl. 1115-1145) accused him of cannibalism and eating the minced livers of human beings, but this is likely a literary expression meant to evoke imagery of savageness rather than something to be taken literally. Liu Kai passed the

jinshi ''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...

examination at the age of 26 in 973 and spent his time afterwards as an administrator for public order (''sikou canjun'') at

Songzhou Songzhou or Song Prefecture () was a ''Zhou (country subdivision), zhou'' (prefecture) in history of China, imperial China centering on modern Shangqiu, Henan, China. It existed (intermittently) from 596 to 1006. The Song dynasty was named after t ...

in modern eastern

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

. He was promoted to grand master admonisher (''zanshan dafu'') by 979 and served primarily in a provincial civilian capacity. When Liu Kai requested Emperor Taizong of Song (r. 976-997) to send him to the battlefront against the

Khitan Liao dynasty The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...

, he was given the office of attendant palace censor (''dianzhong shi yushi'').

References

Bibliography

*{{citation, last=Di Cosmo, first=Nicola, year=2009, title=Military Culture in Imperial China, publisher=Harvard University Press Military history of the Song dynasty 947 births 1000 deaths People from Handan Song dynasty people