Liu Yan (governor)

Liú Yān ( Chinese  劉焉  /  刘焉 ; † 194 ), court name (Zi) Jūnláng ( 君 郎 ), was a provincial governor of the Chinese Han dynasty . When the central government lost control of the provinces in the 1980s, Liu Yan was able to develop his province into an independent territory.

Life

Liu Yan was a member of the imperial family , a descendant of Prince Liu Yu of Lu , son of Emperor Jing . His noble origins and his talents enabled him to quickly rise to the rank of Taichang ( Chinese  太常  - " Master of Ceremonies ") of the emperor. When the government of Emperor Ling began to lose power over the empire at the beginning of the 1980s and fell into internal power struggles, Liu Yan looked for a post away from the court so as not to get caught between the fronts. On the advice of his advisor Dong Fu ( 董 扶 ), he applied for the post of governor of the remote Yi province.

When he got there with his private army, peasant revolts broke out there under Ma Xiang (馬 相) and Zhao Zhi (趙 祗), who joined the Yellow Turbans . With the help of the big landowners and noble families in the province, Liu Yan was able to stifle the uprising. With Yi province firmly in his grip, Liu Yan severed ties with the chaos central government and ruled autonomously. To secure his northern border, Liu Yan sent Generals Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu (張 脩) to take the Hanzhong Fortress, which was controlled by the imperial prefect Su Gu (蘇 固) . However, Zhang Lu first killed Zhang Xiu, then took over his troops and had Su Gu murdered. Then he ruled the Hanzhong area autonomously and formed a buffer between Liu Yan's territory and the provinces that were still subject to the central government.

To strengthen his internal power, Liu Yan broke the power of the aristocratic families in his province by executing their heads. Even a general uprising among the landowner Jia Long (賈 龍) could not stop him. Liu Yan also fended off an attack by the Qiang tribes on the capital Mianzhu (綿竹).

After the death of Chancellor Dong Zhuo (192), who had controlled the emperor in the new imperial capital Chang'an , the weak central power had passed to his generals Li Jue and Guo Si . Liu Yan planned to defeat them and conquer the capital, which would have made him the most powerful warlord of the time. Three of his sons were serving in the capital at the time: Liu Fan (劉 範), Liu Dan (劉 誕) and Liu Zhang . With their help and in alliance with the warlords Ma Teng and Han Sui from Liang Province, Liu Yan attempted to take over the city, but his army and that of his allies were defeated by Li Jue and Guo Si, who persecuted and brutally executed his sons let. Only Liu Zhang escaped to his father. In the summer of that year, the capital of Yi Province burned down after being struck by lightning, and Liu Yan moved the capital to Chengdu . A little later his son Liu Mao (劉 瑁) fell ill and died. Liu Yan also died that same year, allegedly from mourning the loss of three of his sons. His son Liu Zhang took control of Yi Province.

Adaptation

In the classic novel, The Story of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong , Liu Yan is introduced as the governor of You Province fighting the Yellow Turban rebels. There he meets General Liu Bei , who thirty years later is demanding the governor's inheritance from his son.

Remarks

1. ↑ Luo Guanzhong , Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel: No. 1 , translated by Moss Roberts. Page 5. Foreign Languages ​​Press. Tenth Printing 2007. First Edition 1995. Beijing, China 1995. ISBN 978-7-119-00590-4