Liu Yan (龑) | 24 Histories

Overview

Liu Yan was an emperor of Southern Han.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Posthumous name	Great Thearch of Heaven	天皇大帝
Temple name	Gaozu	高祖

Life and dates

Death

AD 942 十五年
Age Value: 54 · Reckoning: Sui
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 90

Age

54
Reckoning Sui · At death
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 90

Attested activity

AD 932 五年
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
AD 942 十五年
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 90
AD 937 十年
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passages 88-89

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Parent of Liu Hongcao (洪操)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongya (洪雅)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongze (洪澤)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongzheng (洪政)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongbi (洪弼)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Guitu (龜圖)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongchang (洪昌)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongjian (洪建)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongji (洪濟)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongwei (洪暐)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongdu (洪度)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongmiao (洪邈)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongjian (洪簡)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongxi (洪熙)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Honggao (洪杲)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongyi (洪益)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Yaoshu (耀樞)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongzhao (洪昭)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Parent of Liu Hongdao (洪道)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85
Spouse of Lady Zhao Zhaoyi (趙昭儀)
Zhaoyi consort 昭儀 · Concubinage
Strongly inferred · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 100

Kinship Role sons · Count 19
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passage 85

Works and attributed material

Speech · Speaker · With Wang Fan (王翻)
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 65, passages 94-95

References in the histories

Search passages

History

8 passages

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 65Volume 65: Hereditary House of Southern Han · 8 passages

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龑封洪操交王，出兵白藤以攻之。 Yan enfeoffed Hongcao as Prince of Jiao and sent troops from Baiteng to attack.

龑以兵駐海門，權已殺公羨，逆戰海口，植鐵橛海中，權兵乘潮而進，洪操逐之，潮退舟還，轢橛者皆覆，洪操戰死，龑收余眾而還。 Yan stationed his army at Haimen. Quan had already killed Gongxian and met them in battle at Haikou, planting iron stakes in the sea. Quan’s troops advanced with the tide; Hongcao pursued. When the tide ebbed the boats fell back, and every vessel that struck the stakes capsized. Hongcao was killed in battle; Yan gathered the survivors and withdrew.

十五年，龑卒，年五十四，謚天皇大帝，廟號高祖，陵曰康陵。 In the fifteenth year Yan died, at the age of fifty-four. His posthumous title was Great Thearch of Heaven; his temple name was Gaozu; his tomb was called Kangling.

龑子耀樞、龜圖皆早死，玢次當立。 Yan’s sons Yaoshu and Guitu had both died young; Bin was next in line to succeed.

龑病臥寢中，召右僕射王翻與語，呼洪度、洪熙小字曰：「壽、俊雖長，然皆不足任吾事，惟洪昌類我，吾欲立之。 Yan lay ill in his chamber and summoned Right Vice Director Wang Fan to speak with him. Calling Hongdu and Hongxi by their childhood names, he said, "Shou and Jun are older, yet neither is fit to bear my affairs — only Hongchang is like me, and I wish to make him heir.

翻為龑謀，出洪度以邕州，洪熙容州，然後立洪昌為太子。 Fan devised a plan for Yan: send Hongdu out to Yongzhou and Hongxi to Rongzhou, then establish Hongchang as heir apparent.

議已定，崇文使蕭益入問疾，龑以告之，益諫曰：「少者得立，長者爭之，禍始此矣！」 When the plan was settled, Palace Secretariat Commissioner Xiao Yi came in to inquire after his health. Yan told him, and Yi remonstrated, "When the younger is made heir, the elder will contend — disaster begins here!"

龑在殯，召伶人作樂，飲酒宮中，裸男女以為樂，或衣墨缞與倡女夜行，出入民家。 While Yan still lay in state, Bin summoned entertainers, drank in the palace, amused himself with naked men and women, and sometimes dressed in black mourning garb and went out at night with singing girls, entering and leaving commoners’ homes.