Liu Yan faction 劉焉

Liu Yan was a man of Jingling County in Jiangxia Commandery and a descendant of King Gong of Lu of the Han; as a member of the imperial clan he was appointed Gentleman of the Household, and he went on to serve as Prefect of Luoyang, Inspector of Ji Province, Administrator of Nanyang, Minister of the Imperial Clan and Minister of Ceremonies. As the government of Emperor Ling declined and the imperial house was beset by troubles, he proposed that, since inspectors and administrators obtained their posts by bribery and the people were turning against them, upright senior ministers should be chosen as regional governors. Privately he hoped to become Governor of Jiaozhi and escape the troubles of the age, but when the Palace Attendant Dong Fu of Guanghan told him in secret that the capital was about to fall into disorder and that there was the aura of a Son of Heaven in the astral field of Yi Province, he turned his sights to Yi Province. Records, Shu 1 §2–4

Just then complaints over the oppressive taxes of the Inspector of Yi Province, Xi Jian, were heard far and wide, and when inspectors were killed in Bing Province and Liang Province, Liu Yan's plan was put into effect. He went out as Army Supervisor Envoy concurrently holding the post of Governor of Yi Province, was enfeoffed as Marquis of Yangcheng, and was charged with arresting Xi Jian and bringing him to justice. Dong Fu asked to become Chief Commandant of the Western Dependent State of Shu Commandery, and Zhao Wei of Baxi, Prefect of the Grand Granary, also gave up his post and followed him. Lü Chang, the father of Lü Yi, escorted Liu Yan into Shu and, with the road blocked, could not return, and because of the long friendship between his father and Liu Yan, Wu Yi's whole family followed Liu Yan into Shu. Records, Shu 1 §5Records, Shu 9 §39Records, Shu 4 §9

At this time the rebels Ma Xiang, Zhao Zhi and others in Yi Province rose at Mianzhu County calling themselves the Yellow Turbans, broke Luo County and killed Xi Jian; within ten days to a month they had overrun three commanderies, and Ma Xiang styled himself Son of Heaven. Jia Long, an Attendant Officer of the province, gathered over a thousand officials and commoners on the eastern border of Qianwei, routed them within a few days, and selected officials and soldiers to welcome Liu Yan. Liu Yan moved the provincial seat to Mianzhu, soothed those who had fled or rebelled and strove to govern with leniency and kindness, while secretly harboring other designs. Records, Shu 1 §6–7

Because the mother of Zhang Lu, who practiced the Way of Ghosts, often came and went at Liu Yan's house, Liu Yan made Zhang Lu Major Supervising Righteousness and stationed him in Hanzhong. The Biography of Zhang Lu records that Liu Yan had Zhang Lu attack the Administrator of Hanzhong, Su Gu. When Zhang Lu cut the plank roads through the valleys and killed the Han envoys, Liu Yan reported to the throne that the rice bandits had cut the road and it could no longer be passed. Records, Shu 1 §7–8Records, Wei 8 §61

On other pretexts Liu Yan killed more than ten powerful men of the province, including Wang Xian and Li Quan, to establish his authority and punishments. When, as a result, the Administrator of Qianwei, Ren Qi, and Jia Long turned and attacked him, Liu Yan struck back and killed them both. Records, Shu 1 §8

Liu Yan's ambitions grew ever larger, and he had more than a thousand sets of carriages and fittings of the kind used by the Son of Heaven made; Liu Biao, Governor of Jing Province, sent up a memorial saying that there was talk about Liu Yan like that which made Zixia at Xihe be mistaken for a sage. Hearing that a skilled physiognomist had said Wu Yi's younger sister had the features of one destined for great honor, he took her as wife for his son Liu Mao, whom he kept with him. At this time his sons Liu Fan, Liu Dan and Liu Zhang were in Chang'an attending Emperor Xian, and when Emperor Xian sent Liu Zhang to admonish him, Liu Yan kept Liu Zhang with him and did not send him back. Records, Shu 1 §9Records, Shu 4 §9

When Ma Teng, General Who Conquers the West, rebelled while stationed at Mei County, Liu Yan and his son Liu Fan conspired with Ma Teng to lead troops in a surprise attack on Chang'an. The plot leaked: Liu Fan fled to Huaili and Ma Teng was defeated and withdrew to Liang Province; Liu Fan was soon killed, and Liu Dan too was seized and punished. The Consultant Pang Xi, whose family had long been close to Liu Yan's, gathered men and brought Liu Yan's grandsons into Shu. Records, Shu 1 §10

At this time fire from Heaven burned the city where Liu Yan lived, and the carriages and fittings were all destroyed. Liu Yan moved his seat to Chengdu, but with grief over the loss of his sons compounded by the ominous disaster, he died of a malignant ulcer on his back in the 1st year of Xingping (194). Zhao Wei and other senior officials of the province, drawn to Liu Zhang's gentleness and benevolence, jointly submitted a document putting him forward as Inspector of Yi Province, and an edict made Liu Zhang Army Supervisor Envoy concurrently holding the post of Governor of Yi Province and made Zhao Wei General of the Household Who Conquers the East to attack Liu Biao. Records, Shu 1 §11

In his assessment in Records of Shu 1, Chen Shou cited how Wei Bao and Liu Xin put their faith in prophecies yet in the end could not save themselves, to say that the Mandate of Heaven cannot be wantonly hoped for. He then wrote that Liu Yan set his heart on the land of Yi after hearing Dong Fu's words, sought a marriage with the Wu family after listening to a physiognomist, and hastily had the carriages and robes of the Son of Heaven made in an attempt to steal the sacred vessel of rule, so that his delusion was great. Records, Shu 1 §21