Li Chong

Biography & Historical Record

Li Chong (李崇, Lý Sùng) was a Secretariat Gentleman (zhongshu lang, 中书郎) of Eastern Wu (东吴, Đông Ngô), the officer Sun Chen (孙綝, Tôn Lâm) sent in 258 to take the seal-cords from the deposed emperor Sun Liang (孙亮, Tôn Lượng). He is a real Wu clerk in Chen Shou, not a Chapter 3 man. The import stub’s “appears from Chapter 3; official of Eastern Wu” glued a late-Wu office onto the 189 eunuch coup. Luo Guanzhong’s Chapter 3 is He Jin, the Ten Attendants, and Dong Zhuo (董卓, Đổng Trác) — Wu does not exist yet, and Li Chong is not in that palace. Novel encyclopedias mark him “no Romance notice.” This page is the historical clerk and an honest note that the chapter tag is wrong.

Two dated acts survive. In Sun Quan’s last years (Taiyuan, 251–252) the court received a “god” Wang Biao (王表, Vương Biểu) from Luoyang county; Li Chong was among those sent to bring the spirit-medium to Jianye — a superstition scene the novel gives to Sun Quan without naming this messenger. In Taiping 3 (258), after Sun Liang plotted with Princess Quan, Quan Shang, and Liu Cheng to kill Sun Chen, the regent struck first, surrounded the palace, and ordered the Grand Coachman Meng Zong to announce the deposition. Sun Chen then “sent the Secretariat Gentleman Li Chong to seize the seal and sash.” The Master of Writing Huan Yi refused the order and was killed. Sun Xiu was brought in. Li Chong’s birthplace, courtesy name, and death are unknown; he is not the Northern Wei / Sui Li Chong of later centuries. Vietnamese Lý Sùng is correct.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3 is not his chapter. Nothing in the Mao text of the eunuch coup names a Wu clerk 李崇. Treat the catalog as a mis-file.

Chapter 108 and the later Wu court (context only): Chapter 108 kills Sun Quan (孙权, Tôn Quyền), installs Sun Liang (孙亮, Tôn Lượng), and begins Zhuge Ke’s regency. The novel later has Sun Chen (孙綝, Tôn Lâm) depose Sun Liang and set up Sun Xiu — the historical week Li Chong was sent for the seals. Luo Guanzhong does not pause to name the messenger. The scene belongs to Sun Chen, Meng Zong, Huan Yi, and the palace cordon. Li Chong is the unnamed pair of hands on the imperial sash in that history, not a speaking part on the page. Readers who want the coup should read those later Wu chapters for Sun Chen and Sun Liang; this article is the clerk the histories bother to name and the novel does not.

Li Chong (李崇) — Historical & Literary Timeline

For the 258 coup, see Sun Chen and the Wu annals of Sun Liang / Sun Xiu.

Key Relationships

Family

• No father, mother, spouse, or children in Chen Shou. Not the Sui general Li Chong and not a kinsman of Li Jue’s Beidi clan.

Friends

• Sun Quan (孙权, Tôn Quyền): the emperor whose Taiyuan court sent Li Chong to receive the medium Wang Biao — service, not a sworn brotherhood.
• Sun Chen (孙綝, Tôn Lâm): the regent whose 258 order he carried when he took Sun Liang’s seals. A superior, not a friend in the novel sense.

Enemies

• The deposed emperor Sun Liang (孙亮, Tôn Lượng) is the man whose seals he is sent to take. The hostility is Sun Chen’s; Li Chong is the messenger.

Other

• Sun Chen (孙綝, Tôn Lâm): the regent who gives the order. Sun Quan (孙权, Tôn Quyền): the late emperor of the Wang Biao year. Huan Yi (桓彝, Hoàn Di): the Master of Writing killed for not cooperating — plain text, do not confuse with other Huan Yi posts. Meng Zong announces the deposition. Sun Xiu is the replacement sovereign.