His family was originally from Baxi Commandery (巴西郡; around present-day Langzhong, Sichuan) but moved to Qinzhou (秦州, modern eastern Gansu) and assimilated with the Di people.
He was talented from a young age, earning the respect of the Colonel of Eastern Qiang tribes He Pan, who made Li Liu his Director.
In 296, A Di chieftain named Qi Wannian rebelled around Li Liu's home, coinciding with a terrible famine and military occupation.
[5] Li Te was now in control of Yizhou but with Jin forces led by Luo Shang heading his way, he decided to establish friendly relationships.
[6] However, Li Te's attempts at making peace with Luo Shang was met with issues as the court in Luoyang demanded that refugees who fled from the north return to their respective provinces.
The refugees did not want to leave the south, as they heard that the north was still in chaos, so Li Te begged Luo Shang for months to extend their stay.
Li Liu and the others fought hard against the invaders, but the situation worsened when the Di leaders, Fu Cheng (苻成) and Kui Bo (隗伯) betrayed him.
Despite the odds, Li Liu drove out both the invaders and traitors from his camp before quickly putting Chengdu under siege to place pressure on Luo Shang.
Jin reinforcements led by Zong Dai (宗岱) and Sun Fu (孫阜) were approaching while his brother Li Han was pushing for surrender.
Luckily, Luo Shang had a fall-out with his subordinate Xu Yu (徐轝), who wanted him to ally with the hermit Fan Changsheng but was turned down.
Li Xiong would drive out Luo Shang and the Jin forces out from the regions of Ba and Shu the following year, establishing his own state of Cheng (later renamed Han in 338).