Murong Yanchao (慕容彥超)

Overview

The translated histories identify Murong Yanchao as a general, military officer, rebel, and royal family member. This record brings together 66 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	Murong Yanchao	慕容彥超	Murong Yanchao
Surname	Murong	慕容	Mùróng
Surname	Murong	慕容	Murong
Surname	Murong	慕容
Personal name	Murong Yanchao	慕容彥超	Mùróng Yànchāo
Personal name	Murong Yanchao	慕容彥超	Murong Yanchao
Personal	Murong Yanchao	慕容彥超	Mùróng Yànchāo
Alternate name	Yan	閻	Yan
Changed	Yan	閻氏	Yán
Nickname	Yan Kunlun	閻崑崙	Yán Kūnlún
Nickname	Yan the Kunlun	閻昆侖	Yan Kunlun
Given name	Yanchao	彥超	Yanchao
Personal	Yanchao	彥超	Yanchao
Personal name	Yanchao	彥超
Given	Yanchao	彥超	Yànchāo

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · jiuwudaishi:102:s0113, jiuwudaishi:105:s0036, xinwudaishi:018:s0011
Sex: male
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:130:s0040, xinwudaishi:011:s0052, xinwudaishi:053:s0050

Roles

General
Military Officer
Rebel
Royal Family Member
Tribal Leader
Warlord

Life and dates

Death

Cause: threw himself into a well
Explicit · xinwudaishi:011:s0127
Manner: threw themselves into a well / 投井死 · With Person Id: Wife of Murong Yanchao (慕容彥超之妻)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0102

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 乾祐三年 · Western Year: AD 950
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:105:s0036
Source Date: Text: 乾祐三年十一月；戰敗 · Western Year: AD 950
Explicit · xinwudaishi:010:s0122, xinwudaishi:010:s0125
Source Date: Text: 乾祐三年十一月 · Western Year: AD 950
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:011:s0042, xinwudaishi:011:s0046, xinwudaishi:011:s0057
Source Date: Text: 乾祐二年 · Western Year: AD 949
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:102:s0113
Source Date: Text: 乾祐至廣順初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 948 · End: AD 951
Explicit · xinwudaishi:018:s0011
Source Date: Text: 廣順二年十二月 · Western Year: AD 952
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:011:s0088
Source Date: Text: 慕容彥超 · Western Interval: Start: AD 926 · End: AD 952
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:053:s0050, xinwudaishi:053:s0053
Source Date: Text: 慕容彥超 · Western Year: AD 952
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:050:s0014, xinwudaishi:050:s0022
Source Date: Text: 慕容彥超叛於兗州 · Western Interval: Start: AD 952 · End: AD 953
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:130:s0040
Source Date: Text: 明年五月，太祖親征 · Western Year: AD 952
Explicit event contextual date · xinwudaishi:053:s0102
Source Date: Text: 是年兗州慕容彥超反 · Western Year: AD 951
Explicit event contextual date · jiuwudaishi:130:s0125, jiuwudaishi:130:s0126

Family

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

Sibling of Gaozu of Han (漢高祖)
Kinship Term: younger brother of the same mother / 同產弟 · Parentage: biological · Shared Parentage: full · Subject Relative Age: younger · Subject Role: younger-brother · Object Role: elder-brother · Intermediary Person Ids: Mother of Liu Zhiyuan (劉知遠母)
Kinship Term: uterine younger brother / 同產弟 · Shared Parentage: maternal-half · Subject Relative Age: younger · Subject Role: younger-brother · Object Role: elder-brother · Parentage: biological
Child of Mother of Han Gaozu and Murong Yanchao (漢高祖與慕容彥超之母)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son · Line: maternal
Child of Mother of Liu Zhiyuan (劉知遠母)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son
Parent of Murong Jixun (慕容繼勛)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Spouse of Wife of Murong Yanchao (慕容彥超之妻)
Kinship Term: wife / 妻 · Union Category: marriage · Relationship State: active

Origins and identity

Ethnicity: Tuyuhun / 吐谷渾
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0051
Label: Tuyuhun tribes / 吐谷渾部
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0051

Career and standing

Label: military governor of Zhenning / 鎮寧軍節度使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0055
Label: military governor of Yan Prefecture / 兗州節度使 · Action: held
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:130:s0104
Label: military officer / 軍校 · Action: held
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0053
Label: prefect / 刺史 · Action: held
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0053
Label: Taining military commissioner / 泰寧軍節度使 · Action: held
Explicit · xinwudaishi:011:s0052
Label: military governor of Taining / 泰寧 · Action: transferred
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0065
Status: rebel · Action: became
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0078
Status: exile · Action: entered
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0054
Label: exile to Fangzhou / 流於房州 · Action: sentenced
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0054

Places and affiliations

Polity Name: Later Han / 漢 · Relation: royal-kin
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:130:s0104
Place: Yan / Yanzhou / 兗州 · Relation: posted-to
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0067, xinwudaishi:053:s0076

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Hou Yi (侯益)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0069, xinwudaishi:053:s0070
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Emperor Yin (隱帝)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0073, xinwudaishi:053:s0074, xinwudaishi:053:s0075
Kind: speech · Role: speaker
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:130:s0107, jiuwudaishi:130:s0139, xinwudaishi:053:s0099

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: deputy-commander · Action: campaign against Du Chongwei at Wei; urged failed assault
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0056, xinwudaishi:053:s0063
Kind: legal · Role: judge · Action: captured-thief-via-donkey
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:130:s0121, jiuwudaishi:130:s0124
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated-by · Other Person Id: Guo Wei (郭威) · Place: northern suburb / 北郊
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:105:s0036
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated · Place: Liuzipo / 劉子陂
Explicit · xinwudaishi:018:s0011
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: fought Guo Wei and was defeated · Other Person Id: Guo Wei (郭威)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:010:s0125
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: fought Zhou forces at Qili; defeated and fled to Yan
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0073, xinwudaishi:053:s0076
Kind: military · Role: rebel · Action: rebelled against Later Zhou at Yan
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0078, xinwudaishi:053:s0082
Kind: military · Role: rebel · Action: rebelled
Explicit · xinwudaishi:011:s0088
Kind: rebellion · Role: leader · Place: Yan Prefecture / 兗州 · Action: rebelled
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:130:s0040, jiuwudaishi:130:s0126
Relation: deputy-to · Person Id: Gao Xingzhou (高行周)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0056
Relation: rival-of · Person Id: Gao Xingzhou (高行周)
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0057, xinwudaishi:053:s0059

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: cunning, deceitful, and greedy for wealth · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0096
Kind: physical-description · Statement: dark-skinned and pockmarked (black body, hemp-pitted face)
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:130:s0105
Kind: physical-description · Statement: swarthy with a foreign beard / 黑色胡髯
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0052
Item: iron-core silver / 鐵胎銀 · Relation: forged-and-stored
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:130:s0142, jiuwudaishi:130:s0148
Item: iron-core silver / 鐵胎銀 · Relation: produced
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0098

Source notes

From: Murong / 慕容 · To: Yan / 閻 · Statement: once passed himself off under the Yan surname
Explicit · jiuwudaishi:130:s0105
From: Murong / 慕容 · To: Yan / 閻氏 · Note: once falsely took the surname Yan
Explicit · xinwudaishi:053:s0052

References in the histories

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

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 102Volume 102 Book of Later Jin 4: Emperor Yin Annals 2 · 1 passage

Open chapter

己未，許州劉信加兼侍中，開封尹侯益進封魯國公，鄆州慕容彥超、青州劉銖並加兼侍中。 On jiwei, Liu Xin of Xu Prefecture was given the additional title of Palace Attendant, Kaifeng intendant Hou Yi was advanced to Duke of Lu, and Murong Yanchao of Yunzhou and Liu Zhu of Qing Prefecture were both given the additional title of Palace Attendant.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 105Volume 105 Book of Later Jin 7: Biographies 2: Imperial Family · 1 passage

Open chapter

郭威既敗慕容彥超於北郊，隱帝遇弒，威入京師，謂諸大臣密相推戴，及見宰相馮道等，道殊無意。 After Guo Wei routed Murong Yanchao north of the capital and Emperor Yin was murdered, Wei entered the city and asked the chief ministers to back him in secret; when he met Feng Dao and the rest, Dao showed no inclination whatsoever.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 130Volume 130 Book of Later Zhou 32: Biographies 10: Wang Jun, Murong Yanchao, Yan Honglu, Cui Zhoudu · 21 passages

Open chapter

時慕容彥超叛於兗州，已遣侍衛步軍都指揮使曹英、客省使向訓率兵攻之。 Murong Yanchao had rebelled at Yan Prefecture; the court had already sent Palace Guard infantry commander Cao Ying and guest-bureau commissioner Xiang Xun to attack him.

峻意欲自將兵討賊，累言於太祖曰：「慕容劇賊，曹英不易與之敵耳。」 Jun wanted to take the field himself. Again and again he told the emperor, "Murong is a ferocious rebel—Cao Ying will not easily stand against him."

慕容彥超， Murong Yanchao,

為兗州節度使，彥超即漢高祖之同產弟也。 He served as military governor of Yan Prefecture; Yanchao was a younger brother of the same mother as the Han founder Liu Zhiyuan.

嘗冒姓閻氏，體黑麻面，故謂之閻昆侖。 He had once passed himself off under the Yan surname; dark-skinned and pockmarked, men called him "Yan the Kunlun."

彥超鎮兗州，漢隱帝欲殺周太祖，召彥超，方食，釋匕箸而就道。 While Yanchao governed Yan Prefecture, Emperor Yindi of Later Han plotted to kill Guo Wei and summoned him. Yanchao was in the middle of a meal but set down his utensils and set out at once.

周兵犯京師，隱帝出勞軍，太后使彥超衛帝，彥超曰：「北兵何能為，當於陣上唱坐使歸營。」 When Zhou troops marched on the capital, Yindi went out to review the army. The empress dowager ordered Yanchao to protect the emperor. Yanchao said, "What can northern soldiers do? I will stand on the field and call the commissioner to return to camp."

彥超敗，奔兗，隱帝遇弒。 Yanchao was beaten, fled to Yan, and Yindi was murdered.

周太祖時，彥超進呈鄆州節度使高行周來書，其書意即行周毀讟太祖結連彥超之意，帝覽之，笑曰：「此必是彥超之詐也。」 Under the Zhou founder, Yanchao submitted a letter purportedly from Gao Xingzhou, military governor of Yun Prefecture, whose wording suggested that Xingzhou had slandered the emperor and was conspiring with Yanchao. Guo Wei read it and laughed: "This must be Yanchao's trick."

彥超即率軍府賓佐，步出州西門三十里致祭，迎於開元寺，塑像以事之，謂之「菩薩」，日至祈禱，又令民家豎黃幡以禳之。 Yanchao led his staff on foot thirty li beyond the west gate to offer sacrifice, welcomed the omen at Kaiyuan Temple, and set up an image to worship, calling it the "Bodhisattva." He prayed daily and ordered households to raise yellow banners to ward off ill fortune.

及城陷，彥超方在土星院燃香，急乃馳去。 When the city fell, Yanchao was still burning incense in the Saturn Courtyard; he galloped away in alarm.