Li Yan (李嚴) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Li Yan as an administrator, diplomat, envoy, and military officer. This record brings together 50 passages from 8 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Li Yan	李嚴	Li Yan
Personal name	Li Yan	李嚴	Li Yan
Title	Minister Li	李司空
Alternate	Rangkun	讓坤	Rangkun

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · jiuwudaishi:037:s0090, jiuwudaishi:057:s0116, jiuwudaishi:070:s0091, jiuwudaishi:074:s0006, xinwudaishi:044:s0116
Sex: male
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:051:s0051, jiuwudaishi:062:s0130
Value: male
Explicit · xinwudaishi:026:s0104

Roles

Administrator
Diplomat
Envoy
Military Officer
Official

Life and dates

Death

Manner: seized and executed · Authority Person Id: Meng Zhixiang (孟知祥) · Place: Xichuan / 西川
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0122, jiuwudaishi:070:s0124
Manner: executed · Other Person Id: Meng Zhixiang (孟知祥) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 知祥擒斬 · Western Year: AD 933
Explicit · xinwudaishi:026:s0144
Manner: executed in Western Chuan / 西川解斬
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:062:s0130

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: AD 925-933 · Western Year: AD 925
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:026:s0104
Source Date: Text: 三年 · Western Year: AD 925
Explicit · xinwudaishi:044:s0116
Source Date: Text: 同光三年 · Western Year: AD 925
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:051:s0048, jiuwudaishi:051:s0051, jiuwudaishi:074:s0006
Source Date: Text: 同光中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 923 · End: AD 926
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:070:s0093
Source Date: Text: 天成元年十月 · Western Year: AD 926
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:037:s0090
Source Date: Text: 李嚴使西川回 · Western Year: AD 925
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:057:s0116
Source Date: Text: 西川斬李嚴時 · Western Year: AD 926
Strongly inferred · jiuwudaishi:062:s0130
Source Date: Text: 長興初 · Western Year: AD 930
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:070:s0121

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Child of Mother of Li Yan (李嚴之母)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: mother

Career and standing

Label: commissioner of the Reception Bureau / 客省使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0093
Label: defender of Sizhou / 泗州防禦使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0120
Label: military inspector of Xichuan / 西川兵馬都監 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0121
Label: pacification commissioner of the Three Rivers / 三川招撫使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0115
Label: Si defense commissioner / 泗州防禦使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:037:s0090
Label: Three Rivers Suppression Commissioner / 三川招討使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · xinwudaishi:026:s0126
Label: Commissioner of the Guest Bureau / 客省使 · Action: held
Explicit · xinwudaishi:026:s0105
Label: Pacification commissioner / 招撫使 · Action: held
Explicit · xinwudaishi:044:s0116
Label: Grand Guardian / 太保 · Action: posthumously-granted
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0125

Places and affiliations

Place: Youzhou / 幽州
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0091, xinwudaishi:026:s0104

Learning and skills

Skill: archery and horsemanship / 弓馬 · Level: adept
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0092
Skill: oratory / 口辯 · Level: ready
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0092

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Song Guangsi (宋光嗣) · Quoted: true
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0098, jiuwudaishi:070:s0099, jiuwudaishi:070:s0100, jiuwudaishi:070:s0101, jiuwudaishi:070:s0102, jiuwudaishi:070:s0103, jiuwudaishi:070:s0104, jiuwudaishi:070:s0105, jiuwudaishi:070:s0108, jiuwudaishi:070:s0110, jiuwudaishi:070:s0111, jiuwudaishi:070:s0112
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Song Guangsi (宋光嗣)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:026:s0109, xinwudaishi:026:s0115, xinwudaishi:026:s0117

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: charged · Place: Sanquan / 三泉
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:051:s0051
Kind: diplomatic · Role: envoy · Action: embassy-to · Place: Shu / 蜀 · Other Person Id: Wang Yan (王衍)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0094
Kind: political · Role: planner · Action: proposed-conquest-of · Place: Shu / 蜀
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0114
Kind: political · Role: advocate · Action: urged campaign against · Place: Shu / 蜀 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 決議伐蜀 · Western Year: AD 925
Explicit · xinwudaishi:026:s0122, xinwudaishi:026:s0125
Kind: diplomatic · Role: envoy · Action: visited · Place: Shu / 蜀 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 同光三年 · Western Year: AD 925
Explicit · xinwudaishi:026:s0107

Source notes

Former Name: Rangkun / 讓坤 · Current Name: Li Yan / 李嚴
Explicit · xinwudaishi:026:s0104
From: Rangkun / 讓坤 · To: Li Yan / 李嚴
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:070:s0091

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 37Volume 37 Book of Later Tang 13: Mingzong Annals 3 · 1 passage

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庚寅，以客省使李嚴領泗州防禦使，以河中節度副使李鈴為太子賓客。 On gengyin Li Yan of Guest Reception became Si defense commissioner and Li Ling of Hezhong became crown prince mentor.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 51Volume 51 Book of Later Tang 27: Biographies 3: Imperial Family · 1 passage

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時偽蜀主王衍率親軍五萬在利州，令步騎親軍三萬逆戰於三泉，康延孝、李嚴以勁騎三千犯之，蜀軍大敗，斬首五千級，餘皆奔潰。 The Shu pretender Wang Yan was then at Lizhou with fifty thousand household troops. He sent thirty thousand foot and horse of his personal guard to meet the Tang advance at Sanquan. Kang Yanxiao and Li Yan charged with three thousand elite cavalry; the Shu force was shattered, five thousand heads were taken, and the survivors fled in disorder.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 57Volume 57 Book of Later Tang 33: Biographies 9: Gao Chongtao · 2 passages

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會客省使李嚴使西川回，言王衍可圖之狀，莊宗與崇韜議討伐之謀，方擇大將。 About then Guest Affairs Commissioner Li Yan returned from his mission to the West River circuit and reported that Wang Yan's realm was ripe for conquest. Emperor Zhuangzong and Guo Chongtao debated the campaign and were still choosing a commander.

乃令李嚴、康延孝先馳書檄，以諭偽鳳州節度使王承捷。 He then ordered Li Yan and Kang Yanxiao to ride ahead with letters and proclamations to summon the puppet Fengzhou military commissioner Wang Chengjie.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 62Volume 62 Book of Later Tang 38: Biographies 14: Meng Fangli, Zhang Wenli, Dong Zhang · 1 passage

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隻如西川解斬客省使李嚴，謂我不能斬公耶！」 Western Chuan executed the envoy Li Yan—do you think I cannot do the same to you!"

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 70Volume 70 Book of Later Tang 46: Biographies 22: Yuan Xingqin, Xia Luqi, Yao Hong, Li Yan, Li Renju, Kang Sili, Zhang Jingda · 16 passages

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李嚴，幽州人，本名讓坤。 Li Yan was a native of Youzhou; his birth name was Rangkun.

嚴復聲韻清亮，蜀人聽之愕然。 Yan recited it again in a clear, ringing voice, and the men of Shu listened in stunned silence.

時蜀偽樞密使宋光嗣召嚴曲宴，因以近事訊於嚴。 Song Guangsi, the bogus Shu commissioner of the Bureau of Military Affairs, invited Yan to a private banquet and questioned him about recent affairs.

嚴對曰：「吾皇前年四月即位於鄴宮，當月下鄆州。 Yan replied, "Our Emperor took the throne at the Ye palace in the fourth month of the year before last and that same month marched on Yanzhou.

嚴曰：「子言契丹之強盛，孰若偽梁？」 Yan said, "You speak of Khitan might—compared with what? The false Liang?"

嚴曰：「吾國視契丹如蚤虱耳，以其無害，不足爬搔。 Yan said, "Our realm looks on the Khitan as fleas and lice. They do no harm, so they are not worth troubling over.

時王衍失政，嚴知其可取，使還具奏，故平蜀之謀，始於嚴。 Wang Yan's rule was failing, and Yan saw that Shu could be taken. He returned and reported in full, and thus the plan to conquer Shu began with Yan.

郭崇韜起軍之日，以嚴為三川招撫使，嚴與先鋒使康延孝將兵五千，先驅閣道，或馳以詞說，或威以兵鋒，大軍未及，所在降下。 When Guo Chongtao took the field, Yan was made pacification commissioner of the Three Rivers. Yan and the vanguard commander Kang Yanxiao led five thousand men ahead along the mountain roads, winning some places by persuasion and others by force. Before the main army arrived, city after city surrendered.

延孝在漢州，王衍與書曰：「可請李司空先來，餘即舉城納款。」 Yanxiao was at Hanzhou when Wang Yan wrote to him: "Please ask Minister Li to come first, and I will surrender the city at once."

眾咸以討蜀之謀始於嚴，衍以甘言，將誘而殺之，欲不令往。 The troops all said the Shu campaign had begun with Yan, that Wang Yan's flattering words were a trap to lure and kill him, and they wanted to keep him from going.

嚴聞之喜，即馳騎入益州，衍見嚴於母前，以母、妻為托。 Yan was delighted to hear it and rode at once into Yizhou. Wang Yan received him before his mother and entrusted his mother and wife to Yan's care.

蜀平班師，會明宗即位，遷泗州防禦使兼客省使。 After Shu was pacified the army withdrew. Mingzong then took the throne, and Yan was made defender of Sizhou while keeping his post as commissioner of the Reception Bureau.

長興初，安重誨謀欲控製兩川，嚴乃求為西川兵馬都監，庶效方略。 Early in the Changxing era, An Chonghui schemed to control the Two Chuan, and Yan asked to be made military inspector of Xichuan so he could put his plans into effect.

孟知祥覺之，既至，執而害之。 Meng Zhixiang saw through him, and when Yan arrived he seized and executed him.

〈（《九國誌·王彥銖傳》：李嚴之為監軍也，密懷異謀，知祥數其過，命彥銖擒斬之，嚴之左右無敢動者。）〉 (From the Biography of Wang Yanyin in the Records of the Nine Kingdoms: When Li Yan served as military inspector, he secretly plotted rebellion. Zhixiang listed his offenses and ordered Yanyin to seize and execute him, and none of Yan's attendants dared stir.)〉

初，嚴將赴蜀，母曰：「汝前啟破蜀之謀，今又入蜀，將死報蜀人矣！ When Yan was about to depart for Shu, his mother said, "You first proposed the plan to destroy Shu, and now you enter Shu again. You will die repaying the people of Shu!

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 74Volume 74 Book of Later Tang 50: Biographies 126: Kang Yanxiao, Zhu Shouyin, Yang Li, Dou Tingwan, Zhang Qianzhao, Yang Yanwen · 2 passages

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水深無舟楫可渡，延孝謂招撫使李嚴曰：「吾懸軍深入，利在急兵。 The river was too deep and there were no boats to ferry them across. Yanxiao said to the pacification commissioner Li Yan, "We have driven a detached force deep into enemy country. Our advantage lies in striking fast.

因與李嚴乘馬浮江，於是得濟者僅千人，步軍溺死者亦千餘人。 He and Li Yan then rode their horses across the swollen river. Only about a thousand men made it over; more than a thousand foot soldiers drowned.

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 26Volume 26 Later Tang Biographies 6: Fu Xi, Wu Zhen, Kong Qian, Zhang Yanlang, Li Yan, Li Renju, Mao Zhang · 25 passages

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李嚴，幽州人也，初名讓坤。 Li Yan came from Youzhou; he was first called Rangkun.

嚴為人明敏多藝能，習騎射，頗知書而辯。 Bright and quick, he mastered many crafts, rode and shot well, read widely, and spoke with force.

衍樞密使宋光嗣召嚴置酒，從容問中國事。 Wang Yan’s chief of military affairs, Song Guangsi, called Yan to wine and, at ease, asked how things stood in the Central Realm.

嚴對曰：「前年天子建大號於鄴宮，自鄆趨汴，定天下不旬日，而梁之降兵猶三十萬，東漸於海，西極甘涼，北懾幽陵，南逾閩嶺，四方萬里，莫不臣妾。 Yan answered: “Two years ago the Son of Heaven took the great title at Ye. From Yunzhou he drove on to Bian and settled the realm in less than ten days—and Liang’s surrendered troops still numbered three hundred thousand. East to the sea, west to Gan and Liang, north to You and Ling, south beyond Min Ridge: for ten thousand li in every direction, all bowed as subjects.

嚴曰：「契丹之強，孰與偽梁？」 Yan said: “Tell me—which is stronger, Khitan or false Liang?”

嚴曰：「唐滅梁如拉朽，況其不及乎！ Yan said: “Tang broke Liang like pulling rotten timber. These are less still!

蜀人聞嚴應對，愈益奇之。 Shu listeners who heard Yan’s answers thought him stranger and more formidable than before.

嚴自蜀還，具言可取之狀。 When Yan came back from Shu, he laid out in detail how the state could be taken.

初，莊宗遣嚴以名馬入蜀，市珍奇以充後宮，而蜀法嚴禁以奇貨出劍門，其非奇物而出者，名曰「入草物」，由是嚴無所得而還，惟得金二百兩、地衣、毛布之類。 Zhuangzong had first sent Yan into Shu with fine horses to buy treasures for the inner palace. Shu forbade precious goods from passing Sword Gate; anything ordinary enough to leave was called “grass-bound goods.” Yan came back with almost nothing—two hundred taels of gold, moss cloth, hair-felt, and little else.

冬，魏王繼岌西伐，以嚴為三川招討使，與康延孝以兵五千先行，所過州縣皆迎降。 That winter the Prince of Wei marched west on Shu. Yan was named Three Rivers suppression commissioner and with Kang Yanxiao took five thousand men ahead. Every prefecture and county they reached opened its gates.

延孝至漢州，王衍告曰：「得李嚴來即降。」 When Yanxiao reached Han prefecture, Wang Yan sent word: “Send Li Yan and I surrender at once.”

眾皆以伐蜀之謀自嚴始，而衍怨嚴深，不宜往。 Everyone said the war on Shu had begun with Yan, and Wang Yan hated him bitterly—he should not go.

嚴聞之喜，即馳騎入益州。 Yan heard and was glad. He galloped straight into Yizhou.

衍見嚴，以妻母為托，即日以蜀降。 Wang Yan met Yan, entrusted wife and mother to his care, and that day Shu surrendered.

嚴還，明宗以為泗州防禦使，客省使如故。 When Yan returned, Mingzong made him defense commissioner of Sizhou and kept him as guest bureau commissioner.

其後孟知祥屈強於蜀，安重誨稍裁抑之，思有以制知祥者，嚴乃求為西川兵馬都監。 Later Meng Zhixiang grew bold in Shu. An Chonghui reined him in where he could and looked for a man to hold him in check. Yan asked to be made military inspector of Xichuan horse and foot.

嚴不聽。 Yan would not hear her.

初，嚴與知祥同事莊宗，時知祥為中門使，嚴嘗有過，莊宗怒甚，命斬之，知祥戒行刑者少緩，入白莊宗曰：「嚴小過，不宜以喜怒殺人，恐失士大夫心。」 Long ago Yan and Zhixiang had served Zhuangzong together. Zhixiang was then middle gate attendant. Yan once offended, and Zhuangzong in fury ordered his head. Zhixiang told the executioners to hold, went in, and said: “Yan’s fault is small. A ruler should not kill in heat and lose the scholar-officials’ hearts.”

莊宗怒稍解，命知祥監笞嚴二十而釋之。 Zhuangzong’s rage cooled. He had Zhixiang oversee twenty strokes and set Yan free.

知祥雖與嚴有舊恩，而惡其來。 Zhixiang owed Yan an old debt of life, but he hated seeing him come.

蜀人聞嚴來，亦皆惡之。 When Shu heard Yan was coming, the hatred was general.

嚴至，知祥置酒從容問嚴曰：「朝廷以公來邪？ Yan arrived. Zhixiang poured wine and asked, calmly: “Did the court send you?

嚴曰：「君命也。」 Yan said: “The ruler’s command.”

即擒斬之，明宗不能詰也，知祥由此遂反。 He seized Yan and killed him. Mingzong could not call him to account. From that day Zhixiang turned rebel.

璋怒，率衙兵露刃之傳舍，仁矩惶恐，不襪而靴走庭中，璋責之曰：「爾以西川能斬李嚴，謂我獨不能斬爾邪！」 Zhang in fury marched his guard, blades bare, to the relay station. Renju in terror ran into the courtyard in boots but no stockings. Zhang raged at him: “Because Xichuan killed Li Yan, you think I cannot kill you?”

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 44Volume 44 Miscellaneous Biographies 24: Liu Zhijun, Ding Hui, He Delun, Yan Bao, Kang Yanxiao · 2 passages

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延孝謂招撫使李嚴曰：「吾遠軍千里，入人之國，利在速戰。 Yanxiao told Pacification Commissioner Li Yan: “We are a thousand li from home in another man’s land. Speed is everything.

因與嚴乘馬浮江，軍士隨之濟者千餘人，遂入鹿頭關，下漢州，居三日，後軍始至。 He and Yan forded the river on horseback; a thousand men swam after them. They took Lutou Pass and Han, camped three days, and only then did the main body come up.