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Overview Names Identity Roles Life and dates Family Career and standing Places and affiliations Works and attributed material Events and relationships Assessments and attributes References in the histories
Overview The translated histories identify Li Tan as an administrator, general, military officer, and rebel. This record brings together 37 passages from 2 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.
Names Type English Chinese Pinyin
Personal
Li Tan
李璮
Lǐ Tán
Surname
Li
李
Li
Personal name
Li Tan
李璮
Lǐ Tán
Personal
Li Tan
李璮
Li Tan
Childhood
Songsou
松壽
Songsou
Personal name
Tan
璮
Tán
Given
Tan
璮
Tan
Identity
Historicity Historical
Identification Named
Sex Male Roles Administrator General Military Officer Rebel Warlord Life and dates Death Attested activity Source Date: Text: 八年戊午…夏四月Regnal Year: 8Season: summerLunar Month: 4Western Year: AD 1258
Source Date: Text: 八年戊午…八月辛丑Regnal Year: 8Lunar Month: 8Sexagenary Day: 辛丑Western Year: AD 1258
Source Date: Text: 中統三年Western Year: AD 1262
Source Date: Text: 中統元年Western Year: AD 1260
Source Date: Text: 憲宗七年Western Year: AD 1257
Family
Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.
Child of Li Quan (李全) Kinship Term: adopted as son / 養之為子Parentage: adoptiveSubject Role: adoptive-fatherObject Role: adoptive-sonKinship Term: son / 子Parentage: biologicalSubject Role: fatherObject Role: son
Child of Father of Li Tan (Xu) Kinship Term: father / 父Parentage: biologicalSubject Role: fatherObject Role: son
Spouse of Favorite concubine of Li Tan (愛妾) Kinship Term: favorite concubine / 愛妾Union Category: concubinageSubject Role: husbandObject Role: concubine
Parent of Li Yanjian (彥簡) Kinship Term: son / 子Parentage: biologicalSubject Role: fatherObject Role: son
Spouse of Daughter of Wang Wentong (女) Kinship Term: wife / 妻Union Category: marriageSubject Role: wifeObject Role: husband
Career and standing Label: Grand Commander of the Jianghuai region / 江淮大都督Action: appointed
Label: head of the Yidu Branch Secretariat / 益都行省Action: heldDate Context: Source Date: Text: 八年戊午…夏四月Regnal Year: 8Season: summerLunar Month: 4Western Year: AD 1258
Label: Pacification Commissioner of Yidu / 益都行省Action: inherited
Status: rebelAction: entered
Places and affiliations Polity: Song / 宋Relation: defected-to
Polity: Yuan / 元Relation: served
Place: Weizhou / 濰州
Place: Jinan / 濟南Relation: occupied
Place: Yidu / 益都Relation: ruled
Works and attributed material Kind: speechRole: speakerQuoted: trueDate Context: Source Date: Text: 八年戊午…夏四月Regnal Year: 8Season: summerLunar Month: 4Western Year: AD 1258Statement: 「益都南北要衝，兵不可撤。」 — argued that Yidu was the vital junction between north and south and its troops could not be withdrawn; the plea was grantedEv: s0164, s0165
Kind: memorialRole: author
Explicit ·
yuanshi:206:s0011 ,
yuanshi:206:s0012 ,
yuanshi:206:s0015 ,
yuanshi:206:s0016 ,
yuanshi:206:s0017 ,
yuanshi:206:s0018 ,
yuanshi:206:s0021 ,
yuanshi:206:s0022 ,
yuanshi:206:s0023 ,
yuanshi:206:s0024 ,
yuanshi:206:s0025 ,
yuanshi:206:s0026 ,
yuanshi:206:s0027 ,
yuanshi:206:s0028 Events and relationships Kind: militaryRole: defenderAction: besieged-at-Jinan
Kind: militaryRole: commanderAction: captured-Lianshui-cities
Kind: militaryRole: commanderAction: fought the Song on xinchou day and slaughtered their army nearly to the last manDate Context: Source Date: Text: 八年戊午…八月辛丑Regnal Year: 8Lunar Month: 8Sexagenary Day: 辛丑Western Year: AD 1258
Kind: political ·
Role: petitioner ·
Action: had his plea to keep the Yidu garrison in place granted ·
Date Context: Source Date: Text: 八年戊午…夏四月Regnal Year: 8Season: summerLunar Month: 4Western Year: AD 1258 ·
Other Person Id: Möngke (蒙哥) ·
Outcome: grantedKind: rebellionRole: leaderAction: rebelledDate Context: Source Date: Text: 中統三年Western Year: AD 1262
Kind: militaryRole: commanderAction: returned and attacked Haizhou, Lianshui and other placesDate Context: Source Date: Text: 八年戊午…夏四月Regnal Year: 8Season: summerLunar Month: 4Western Year: AD 1258
Kind: suicide-attemptRole: actorAction: threw-himself-into-Daming-Lake
Assessments and attributes References in the histories Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.
History of Yuan, Chapter 3 Volume 3 Annals 3: Xianzong · 3 passages
History of Yuan, Chapter 206 Volume 206 Biographies 93: Contrary Ministers · 34 passages
李璮小字松壽，濰州人，李全子也。
Li Tan, whose childhood name was Songsou, was from Weizhou and was the son of Li Quan.
或曰璮本衢州徐氏子，父嘗為揚州司理參軍，全蓋養之為子云。
Some accounts hold that he was originally a Xu from Quzhou, whose father had served as judicial administrator in Yangzhou and whom Li Quan adopted as his son.
璮遂襲為益都行省，仍得專制其地。
Tan then inherited the Yidu commission and continued to rule the territory as he saw fit.
憲宗七年，又調其兵赴行在，璮親詣帝言曰：「益都乃宋航海要津，分軍非便。」
In Xianzong's seventh year the court again ordered his forces to the capital. Tan went in person and said, "Yidu is a critical Song maritime choke point; splitting the army would be unwise."
帝然之，命璮歸取漣海數州。
The emperor agreed and ordered him to go back and take several prefectures in the Lianhai region.
璮遂發兵攻拔漣水相連四城，大張剋捷之功。
He marched out, seized four linked cities including Lianshui, and loudly advertised his triumphs.
中統元年，世祖即位，加璮江淮大都督。
In the first year of Zhongtong, when Shizu ascended the throne, Tan was made Grand Commander of the Jianghuai region.
璮言：「近獲生口，知宋調兵將攻漣水。
Tan reported, "We have lately taken prisoners who say the Song are massing troops to attack Lianshui.
詔出金符十、銀符五授璮，以賞將士有功者，且賜銀三百錠，降詔獎諭。
The court issued ten gold tallies and five silver tallies for Tan to reward meritorious troops, granted three hundred ingots of silver, and sent a commendatory edict.
璮復揚言：「宋呂文德合淮南兵七萬五千，來攻漣水，且規築堡以臨我。
Tan again spread word: "Song's Lü Wende has combined seventy-five thousand Huainan troops to attack Lianshui and moreover plans to build forts to press upon us.
璮乃上言：「臣所領益都，土曠人稀，自立海州，今八載，將士未嘗釋甲，轉輓未嘗息肩，民力凋耗，莫甚斯時，以一路之兵，抗一敵國，衆寡不侔，人所共患。
Tan then memorialized: "The Yidu circuit I hold is thinly peopled. For eight years since we took Haizhou my men have never doffed their armor and the transport trains have never stopped; the people are exhausted as never before. One circuit's army against an entire enemy state is a hopeless mismatch, as everyone knows.
二年正月，璮言于行中書省，以宋人聚兵糧數十萬，列艦萬三千艘于許浦，以侵內郡，而宣撫司轉輸不繼，恐一旦水陸道絕，緩急莫報。
In the first month of the second year Tan told the Branch Secretariat that the Song had massed hundreds of thousands of troops and rations and lined up thirteen thousand ships at Xupu to raid inner districts, while Pacification Commission supply lines were failing; he feared that if land and sea routes were cut he could not report emergencies.
庚寅，璮輒發兵修益都城塹，且報宋人來攻漣水，詔遣阿朮、哈剌拔都、愛仙不花等悉兵赴之，仍諭度宜益兵赴調。
On the gengyin day Tan mobilized on his own to repair Yidu's walls and reported a Song attack on Lianshui. The court sent Azhu, Harabatu, Aixianbuhua, and others with full forces and further instructed that troops be increased for the mobilization as appropriate.
璮遂請節制諸道所集兵馬，且請給兵器，中書議與矢三萬，詔給矢十萬。
Tan then asked to command troops gathered from all circuits and for weapons; the Secretariat proposed thirty thousand arrows, but the edict granted one hundred thousand.
蓋璮專制山東者三十餘年，其前後所奏凡數十事，皆恫疑虛喝，挾敵國以要朝廷，而自為完繕益兵計，其謀亦深矣。
Tan had ruled Shandong autonomously for more than thirty years. Dozens of memorials he sent were bluffs and threats, using the Song to extort the court while he fortified and armed himself—his designs ran deep.
璮遂反，以漣、海三城獻于宋，殲蒙古戍兵，引麾下具舟艦，還攻益都。
Tan then rebelled, surrendered the three Lian-Hai cities to the Song, wiped out the Mongol garrisons, and led his fleet back to attack Yidu.
民聞璮反，皆入保城郭，或奔竄山谷，由是自益都至臨淄數百里，寂無人聲。
When the people heard of the rebellion they fled into walled towns or scattered into the hills, and for several hundred li from Yidu to Linzi the countryside fell silent.
癸卯，帝聞璮反，遂下詔暴其罪。
On the guimao day the emperor learned of the rebellion and issued an edict listing Tan's crimes.
甲辰，命諸軍討璮。
On the jiachen day he ordered all armies to suppress Tan.
己酉，以璮故，戮中書平章王文統。
On the jiyou day, because of Tan's rebellion, Grand Councillor Wang Wentong of the Secretariat was executed.
壬子，璮盜據濟南。
On the renzi day Tan seized Jinan.
璮帥衆出掠輜重，將及城，官軍邀擊，大敗之，斬首四千級，璮退保濟南。
Tan led his men out to raid supply trains near the city; government troops intercepted him, inflicted a crushing defeat with four thousand heads taken, and Tan fell back to defend Jinan.
璮自是不得復出，猶日夜拒守，取城中子女賞將士，以悅其心；
Tan could no longer break out but still held day and night, giving the city's sons and daughters to his officers as rewards to keep their loyalty;
至是，人情潰散，璮不能制，各什伯相結，縋城以出。
By then morale collapsed beyond Tan's control; men banded in tens and hundreds and lowered themselves from the walls to escape.
璮知城且破，乃手刃愛妾，乘舟入大明湖，自投水中，水淺不得死，為官軍所獲，縛至諸王合必赤帳前。
Knowing the city would fall, Tan killed his favorite concubine with his own hand, took a boat onto Daming Lake, and threw himself into the water; the lake was shallow and he survived, was captured, bound, and brought before Prince Habichi's tent.
遍干諸侯，無所遇，乃往見李璮。
He petitioned lords everywhere without success, then went to see Li Tan.
璮與語，大喜，即留置幕府，命其子彥簡師事之，文統亦以女妻璮。
Tan was delighted at their talk, kept him in his headquarters, had his son Yanjian study under him, and Wentong gave his daughter to Tan in marriage.
又明年二月，李璮反，以漣、海三城獻于宋。
In the second month of the following year Li Tan rebelled and surrendered the three Lian-Hai cities to the Song.
先是，其子彥簡，由京師逃歸，璮遣人白之中書。
Earlier his son Yanjian had escaped from the capital; Tan sent word to the Secretariat.
及反書聞，人多言文統嘗遣子蕘與璮通音耗。
When news of the rebellion arrived, many said Wentong had sent his son Rao to exchange messages with Tan.
世祖召文統問之曰：「汝教璮為逆，積有歲年，舉世皆知之。
Shizu summoned Wentong and said, "You taught Tan to rebel; everyone has known it for years.
會璮遣人持文統三書自洺水至，以書示之，文統始錯愕駭汗。
Just then Tan's messenger arrived from Ming River with three letters from Wentong; when they were shown him, Wentong turned pale and broke into a sweat.
文統對曰：「李璮久蓄反心，以臣居中，不敢即發，臣欲告陛下縛璮久矣，第緣陛下加兵北方，猶未靖也。
Wentong answered, "Li Tan long planned rebellion but dared not act while I was at court. I meant to tell Your Majesty to arrest him, but you were still campaigning in the north.
焉知李璮之同謀，潛使子蕘之通耗。
Yet he conspired with Li Tan and sent his son Rao to pass secret messages.