Li Xian

Biography & Historical Record

Li Xian (李暹, Lý Xiêm), ?–197/198, of Beidi (北地; the Ningxia–Shaanxi edge the catalogs give as Wuzhong), was a brother’s son of Li Jue (李傕, Lý Thôi), courtesy Zhiran (稚然, Trĩ Nhiên) — Dong Zhuo’s former Liang officer who, with Guo Si (郭汜, Quách Dĩ), Fan Chou, and Zhang Ji, took Chang’an after Wang Yun’s fall. The Xiandi qiju zhu quoted by Pei on Sanguozhi Wei 6 says that when Li Jue and Guo Si split, Li Jue sent this nephew (副车中郎将) with several thousand men to surround the palace and load Emperor Xian (刘协, Lưu Hiệp) and Empress Fu into carriages — three carts in the note (emperor, empress, and Jia Xu (贾诩, Giả Hủ) with Zuo Ling), two in the novel. He then watched the imperial couple in the Meiwu stockade while food rotted. After Cao Cao’s later order destroyed the Li Jue remnant (197–198), the clan was wiped out. Some later retellings have Xu Chu kill Li Xian in the field; Chen Shou’s core notice is the kidnapping and the family’s end with Li Jue, not a famous duel.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 13 (Li Jue and Guo Si Fight a Great Battle; Yang Feng and Dong Cheng Together Save the Emperor): Guo Si’s wife poisons a gift feast and turns the two warlords on each other in the streets of Chang’an. Li Xian (李暹, Lý Xiêm) rings the palace with troops, puts the emperor in one cart and Empress Fu in another, and has Jia Xu and Zuo Ling escort the train out the rear gate. Guo Si’s arrows kill countless palace women; Li Jue drives the carriages into his own camp; Guo Si loots the harem and burns the halls. Next day Li Jue, having the emperor, moves the couple to Meiwu and sets the nephew to keep them, cutting envoys and starving the suite. The emperor asks for five hu of rice and five sets of ox bones; Li Jue sends rotten meat and mouldy grain. The rest of the chapter is Yang Feng, Dong Cheng (董承, Đổng Thừa), and the flight toward Hongnong — Li Xian remains the jailer of that stolen court.

Li Xian (李暹) — Historical & Literary Timeline

Wei 6 (Dong Zhuo / Li Jue) and Hou Hanshu 72; the cart detail is Pei’s Xiandi qiju zhu.

Key Relationships

Family

• Uncle (or father’s brother) Li Jue (李傕, Lý Thôi): the warlord who sends him into the palace and then sets him over Meiwu.
• The wider Liang cousinage — Guo Si is ally-turned-enemy, not blood. No spouse or children named.

Friends

• The Li Jue staff who share the kidnap: Jia Xu (贾诩, Giả Hủ) (escort on the third cart in the note) and Zuo Ling (左灵, Tả Linh).

Enemies

• Guo Si (郭汜, Quách Dĩ): the other kidnapper, shooting into the same train Li Xian is trying to steal for his uncle.
• Dong Cheng (董承, Đổng Thừa) and Yang Feng: the men who later tear the emperor out of Li Jue’s hands.
• Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo): the eventual destroyer of the Li house (197–198).

Other

• Emperor Xian (刘协, Lưu Hiệp) and Empress Fu: the prisoners of his two carts and of the Meiwu watch.
• Do not confuse 李暹 with Han Xian (韩暹, Hàn Tiêm), the White Wave commander summoned in the same chapter’s flight — different 汉字.