Li Gui

Biography & Historical Record

Li Gui (李珪, Lý Quý) is a literary staff officer (幕官) in Liu Biao’s Jingzhou government. He has no courtesy name, no commandery, and no Sanguozhi biography. Luo Guanzhong gives him one speech and a death. That is enough to show how Jingzhou was stolen: not by Cao Cao’s first arrow, but by a forged paper and a beheading in the mourning hall.

Liu Biao dies in the novel at the opening of Chapter 40. Lady Cai, Cai Mao, and Zhang Yun write a false testament for the second son Liu Cong, then announce the death. Cong — fourteen and not a fool — asks the assembled officers what they will say if Liu Qi comes from Jiangxia and Liu Bei from Xinye to punish an illegal succession. The hall hesitates. Li Gui does not. He tells them to send the mourning notice to Jiangxia, invite the elder son to take Jingzhou, and ask Liu Bei to share the government: that way they can face Cao Cao to the north and Sun Quan to the south.

Cai Mao’s answer is rank, not argument: who is this man to reverse a last will? Li Gui names the crime — inner and outer Cai plot, false will, elder discarded, nine commanderies sliding into Cai hands — and calls the dead governor’s spirit to witness. Cai Mao has him hauled out and killed. He dies cursing. After that there is no one left in the hall to defend Liu Qi. The Cai clan takes the troops; Cong and Lady Cai move to Xiangyang to watch the two men they have just wronged; and when Cao Cao’s banners appear, Fu Xun, Kuai Yue, and Wang Can can argue surrender in a court that has already murdered its own objection.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 40 (Lady Cai Discusses Ceding Jingzhou; Zhuge Liang Burns Xinye): The chapter has two movements. The first is the coup and Li Gui’s death; the second is Cao Cao’s march, Liu Cong’s surrender, Liu Bei’s flight, and Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng) burning Xinye. Li Gui belongs entirely to the first. Same-chapter figures after he is dead: Fu Xun (傅巽, Phó Tốn) urging surrender, Kuai Yue (蒯越, Khoái Việt) agreeing, Wang Can (王粲, Vương Xán) reciting Cao Cao’s victories, Lady Cai stepping from behind the screen to close the debate. Liu Qi is never even told his father has died.

Li Gui (李珪) — Historical & Literary Timeline

Literary figure; Chapter 40 text and the historical Liu Biao notices in Sanguozhi / Hou Hanshu 74B.

Key Relationships

Family

• No parents, spouse, or children in novel or history. He is a one-scene officer.

Friends

• Liu Qi (刘琦, Lưu Kỳ): The elder son Li Gui wants on the Jingzhou seat.
• Liu Bei (刘备, Lưu Bị): Named in Li Gui’s complete plan as co-governor.
• Liu Biao (刘表, Lưu Biểu): The dead master whose spirit Li Gui invokes.

Enemies

• Cai Mao (蔡瑁, Thái Mạo): Orders the beheading. Courtesy Degui (德珪, Đức Khuê) — do not confuse with Li Gui’s 珪.
• Lady Cai (蔡夫人, Thái Phu Nhân): Liu Biao’s second wife. Do not link /lady-cai/ — that post is Huang Chengyan’s wife.
• Zhang Yun (张允, Trương Doãn): Cai Mao’s partner in the false testament.

Other

• Liu Cong (刘琮, Lưu Tông): The fourteen-year-old who asks the right question and then accepts the Cai answer after Li Gui is dead.
• Fu Xun (傅巽, Phó Tốn), Kuai Yue (蒯越, Khoái Việt), Wang Can (王粲, Vương Xán): The surrender voices later in the same chapter. Kuai is 蒯 (Khoái), never 蔡.
• Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮, Gia Cát Lượng) and Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo): Xinye fire and the beneficiary of the coup.