Liu Yan 劉琰

Liu Yan, courtesy name Weishuo, was a man of Lu State. When the First Sovereign, Liu Bei, was in Yu Province, he summoned him and made him an Attendant Official. Because Liu Yan shared the imperial clan surname, had refinement and was good at conversation, the First Sovereign was close to him and treated him generously, and Liu Yan at length followed the First Sovereign wherever he went, always as a guest. Records, Shu 10 §52

When the First Sovereign pacified Yi Province, Liu Yan became Administrator of Guling. When the Later Sovereign, Liu Shan, ascended the throne, he was enfeoffed as Marquis of a Chief District, and in rank and position he always came next after Li Yan. He became Minister of the Guards, Central Military Adviser and General of the Rear, and was promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry. Records, Shu 10 §52

However, he took no part in the government of the state; he merely commanded over a thousand soldiers and followed the Chancellor Zhuge Liang, offering suggestions by indirect hints. His carriages, clothing and food were said to be extravagant, his several dozen maidservants were all skilled in song and music, and he also taught all of them to recite the Rhapsody on the Hall of Numinous Brilliance in Lu. Records, Shu 10 §53

In the 10th year of Jianxing (232), Liu Yan, being on bad terms with the Front Military Adviser Wei Yan, spoke wild and baseless words, and Zhuge Liang rebuked him. Liu Yan wrote a letter of apology to Zhuge Liang. He said that by nature he was empty and frivolous and his conduct shallow, and that he also suffered from the affliction of drunkenness, so that confused criticism had arisen against him since the time of the late emperor, but that the Illustrious Lord had supported him so that he had enjoyed his salary and rank to this day. Recently, he said, he had lost his wits in drink and erred in his speech, yet his life had been spared because he was not handed over to the law, and he swore before the spirits to correct his faults and give his life. Zhuge Liang thereupon sent Liu Yan back to Chengdu, with his office and rank as before. Records, Shu 10 §53–54

Liu Yan lost heart and lived as if dazed. In the 1st month of the 12th year of Jianxing (234), Liu Yan's wife, Lady Hu, entered the palace to offer congratulations to the Empress Dowager, and the Empress Dowager specially kept Lady Hu there, so that she came out only after a month. Because Lady Hu was beautiful, Liu Yan suspected that she had had an affair with the Later Sovereign. Liu Yan summoned his 'five hundred' (wubai) attendants to beat Lady Hu, went so far as to strike her face with a shoe, and then cast her out. Records, Shu 10 §55

Lady Hu accused Liu Yan, laying out the matter in full, and Liu Yan was convicted and imprisoned. The officials in charge deliberated that 'soldiers are not the ones to beat a wife, and a face is not a place to receive a shoe,' and Liu Yan was finally executed in the marketplace. From then on, the custom of the wives and mothers of high ministers entering the court to offer congratulations came to an end. Records, Shu 10 §55

In his assessment at the end of the volume, Chen Shou named Liu Yan together with Liu Feng, Peng Yang, Liao Li, Li Yan, Wei Yan and Yang Yi. He said that Liu Yan, as a long-serving retainer, was, like all of them, esteemed and valued, but that if one examined their conduct and traced the rules by which they bore themselves, the misfortune they invited and the blame they incurred all came from themselves. Records, Shu 10 §74