Li Li

Biography & Historical Record

Li Li (李利, Lý Lợi) was a junior kinsman of Li Jue (李傕, Lý Thôi) — specifically the son of Li Jue’s elder brother, a Beidi man from the same Liang officer-class that followed Dong Zhuo (董卓, Đổng Trác) into Luoyang and then wrecked Chang’an. He is not Li Jue’s younger brother, though later lists sometimes blur the generation. Other nephews in the same camp include Li Xian (李暹, Lý Tiêm), the man who later dragged Emperor Xian into Li Jue’s fortified yard.

In the spring of 194 Ma Teng and Han Sui came east, while Ma Yu, Du Bing, and Liu Fan tried to open Chang’an from inside. Li Jue sent Guo Si, Fan Chou, and Li Li. They wiped the inner rising at Huaili and broke the Liang column at Changpingguan. Fan Chou then drove Han Sui as far as Chencang. The two old Liang acquaintances talked in the open and rode apart. Li Li, who had not fought hard and had been abused for it, took that conversation to his uncle as proof that Fan Chou was selling the regime. Li Jue already disliked a general the troops liked. He called a meeting and killed Fan Chou. The histories are unusually clear that the nephew’s report was the spark and the uncle’s jealousy the tinder.

The novel does not keep the graph 利. It writes Li Bie (李别, Lý Biệt) for the slander and then has Xu Chu kill Li Bie and Li Xian during the Emperor’s flight (Chapter 14). That sword-stroke is fiction. Li Li’s documented crime is the destruction of Fan Chou, which wrecked the last triangle holding Chang’an together and freed Li Jue and Guo Si to turn on each other. This page is the historical nephew; /li-bie/ is the novel’s extra name. Do not merge them into one slug.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 13 (Li Jue and Guo Si make havoc in Chang’an): After Wang Yun’s fall the four Liang officers — Li Jue, Guo Si, Fan Chou, Zhang Ji — hold the capital. Ma Teng and Han Sui come in; the inner plot fails; Fan Chou dies because a kinsman says he talked too long with Han Sui. The speaker in the book is Li Bie; the speaker in Pei’s note is Li Li. Same-chapter figures: Jia Xu advising Li Jue, the Emperor as hostage, the first cracks between Li and Guo.

Chapter 14 (Cao Cao moves the Emperor to Xu): The novel spends the extra nephew by sending Li Bie with Li Xian after the cortege; Xu Chu kills both. History keeps Li Xian as the man who seized the Emperor for Li Jue and does not kill Li Li on that road. Read the chapter for the flight; read this page for the Fan Chou murder.

Li Li (李利) — Historical & Literary Timeline

Pei note on Sanguozhi Wei 6 (Jiuzhou chunqiu); Hou Hanshu 72. Novel counterpart at Li Bie.

Key Relationships

Family

• Li Jue (李傕, Lý Thôi): Father’s brother — uncle and commander. Li Li’s report is what Li Jue wanted to hear.
• Li Xian (李暹, Lý Tiêm): Another brother’s son; historical seizer of the Emperor. Novel pairs him with Li Bie in Chapter 14. Plain text if no dedicated post.
• Li Ying / Li Wei, Li Huan, Hu Feng: other Li-clan names in the Chang’an tables (cousins, a sister’s son). Not linked unless a verified slug exists.

Friends

• No sworn friend recorded. He rides in Li Jue’s column; that is faction, not friendship.
• Guo Si (郭汜, Quách Dĩ): Colleague at Changpingguan, later Li Jue’s enemy — not Li Li’s patron.

Enemies

• Fan Chou (樊稠, Phàn Trù): The general he slandered to death after Changpingguan.
• Ma Teng (马腾, Mã Đằng) and Han Sui (韩遂, Hàn Toại): Opponents at Changpingguan; Han Sui’s Chencang talk is the pretext.

Other

• Jia Xu (贾诩, Giả Hứa): Li Jue’s adviser who put the clique into Chang’an — the political brain of the regime Li Li served.
• Dong Zhuo (董卓, Đổng Trác): The dead master whose officers became Li Li’s uncle’s junta.
• Li Bie (李别, Lý Biệt): Novel rename of this man. Keep the two posts; do not treat 21676 as a license to edit 21669’s identity the other way.
• Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo) and Xu Chu: Chapter 14’s literary killers of Li Bie — not Li Li’s documented death.