Li Bie

Biography & Historical Record

Li Bie (李别, Lý Biệt) is Luo Guanzhong’s name for Li Li (李利, Lý Lợi), nephew of Li Jue (李傕, Lý Thôi) of Beidi. The catalog’s “fictional” tag is half right: the 汉字 李别 are the novel’s, the man is the historical nephew who, after the 194 chase of Han Sui (韩遂, Hàn Toại), told his uncle that Fan Chou (樊稠, Phàn Trù) had talked with the enemy and let him go. Li Jue used a banquet and killed Fan Chou. Jiuzhou chunqiu (Pei on Dong Zhuo) and the Hou Hanshu Dong Zhuo chapter tell that tale under 李利. The novel keeps the denunciation in Chapter 10 and adds a death the histories do not: in Chapter 14 Li Bie and Li Xian (李暹, Lý Tiêm) ride to snatch Emperor Xian back from Cao Cao and Xu Zhu (许褚, Hứa Chử) cuts both down.

So this page is Li Jue’s nephew, not a free-floating “Three Kingdoms era” ghost. Native commandery is Beidi (the Li Jue clan). Courtesy name is unknown. The catalog Vietnamese Lý Biết follows 别; Lý Biệt is the same reading. He is not Li Jue’s son, not Li Ru, and not the later Li Li (李利) of other decades. After Fan Chou’s death the histories leave him; the novel spends him on the Xu road.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 10 (Ma Teng Raises Troops for the Sovereign; Cao Cao Avenges His Father): Ma Teng (马腾, Mã Đằng) and Han Sui (韩遂, Hàn Toại) have failed at Chang’an. Zhang Ji (张济, Trương Tế) hunts Ma Teng; Fan Chou (樊稠, Phàn Trù) hunts Han Sui to Chencang. Han Sui calls him a fellow townsman; Fan Chou answers that orders are orders, then turns his horse and lets Han Sui go. Li Bie (李别, Lý Biệt), Li Jue’s nephew, sees it, rides home, and tells his uncle. Li Jue wants a punitive army. Jia Xu (贾诩, Giả Hủ) says the capital is still unsettled and a second civil war would be worse: invite Zhang Ji and Fan Chou to a victory feast and take Fan Chou at the table. Li Jue does that. Mid-wine he accuses Fan Chou of trafficking with Han Sui; the axe-men come out; Fan Chou dies at the mat; Zhang Ji is told he is a trusted man and is given Fan Chou’s troops. The chapter then turns to the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans and Cao Cao’s new name. Li Bie’s work in this chapter is the whisper that kills a colleague.

Chapter 14 (same move of the emperor as Liu Ai’s omen): when Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo) escorts the court and Yang Feng bars the road, Li Jue still tries to claw the emperor back. He sends Li Xian and Li Bie. Xu Zhu (许褚, Hứa Chử) meets them and beheads both on horseback. That death is novel-only; Chen Shou does not kill Li Li on the Xu road.

Li Bie (李别) — Historical & Literary Timeline

Historical name Li Li: Pei note on Sanguozhi Wei 6 (Dong Zhuo / Li Jue).

Key Relationships

Family

• Nephew of Li Jue (李傕, Lý Thôi) (novel 侄; history 兄子). Kin of the Beidi Li officers Li Xian (李暹, Lý Tiêm) and others of that camp. No spouse or children recorded.

Friends

• Li Jue (李傕, Lý Thôi): the uncle he reports to and fights for. Jia Xu (贾诩, Giả Hủ) turns that report into the banquet murder — an ally of the faction, not of Fan Chou.
• Guo Si (郭汜, Quách Dĩ) and Zhang Ji (张济, Trương Tế): the other Chang’an directors of the same weeks.

Enemies

• Fan Chou (樊稠, Phàn Trù): the general he denounced for letting Han Sui go; Fan Chou dies at Li Jue’s feast.
• Han Sui (韩遂, Hàn Toại) and Ma Teng (马腾, Mã Đằng): the western army of Chapter 10.
• Xu Zhu (许褚, Hứa Chử) and Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo): novel Chapter 14 — Xu Zhu is the killer.

Other

• Emperor Xian (刘协, Lưu Hiệp): the prize of the Chapter 14 ride. Yang Feng (杨奉, Dương Phụng) fights on that same road from the other side.