Liu Yi

Biography & Historical Record

Liu Yi (刘廙, Lưu Di), courtesy name Gongsi (恭嗣, Cung Tự), 180–221, was a Nanyang Anzhong (南阳安众; southeast of today’s Zhenping, Henan) scholar-official of a Changsha-prince cadet line. Do not confuse 恭嗣 with Liu Shan (刘禅, Lưu Thiện)‘s courtesy 公嗣, nor this 刘廙 with other “Liu Yi” slugs. At about age ten, Sima Hui (司马徽, Tư Mã Huy), courtesy Decao (德操, Đức Thao), tapped his head in the lecture hall and quoted “yellow-centre, penetrating principle” (黄中通理) — an early mark that he belonged with Jing’s famous teachers, not with Shu’s later court.

His elder brother Liu Wangzhi (刘望之, Lưu Vọng Chi) was a noted name whom Liu Biao (刘表, Lưu Biểu) appointed engaging attendant. After Liu Biao killed two of Wangzhi’s friends on slander, Wangzhi resigned. Liu Yi warned him with the Zhao Jianzi / Confucius turning-the-carriage omen and urged a Fan Li-style flight; Wangzhi stayed and was murdered. Liu Yi fled through Yangzhou and joined Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo), who made him a Chancellor’s clerk and then literary officer to the General of the Gentlemen of the Household for All Purposes — that is, to Cao Pi (曹丕, Tào Phi). When Cao Cao became Duke of Wei (213) Liu Yi was Gentleman Attendant at the Palace Gate (黄门侍郎). He memorialized against empty “King Wen” theatre and for timed defence and agriculture; Cao Cao answered that a subject must know his lord, and that he would not sit still playing Wen Wang. Cao Pi valued his draft-script hand. After a household scandal involving a brother, Liu Yi wrote the famous “ash rekindled, dead wood flowers again” thanks when Cao Cao spared and even promoted him. He wrote several dozen essays and debated punishment-versus-ritual with Ding Yi (丁仪, Đinh Nghi). In 220 Cao Pi, as King of Wei, made him Palace Attendant and Marquis Within the Passes. He joined the 220–221 abdication chorus. He died in Huangchu 2 (221) at forty-two; having no son, a brother’s child Liu Fu (刘阜, Lưu Phụ) succeeded the fief.

Role in Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 79 (A Brother’s Pressure Makes Cao Zhi Compose Verse; A Nephew’s Trap Dooms Liu Feng): After the seven-step poem, Cao Pi (曹丕, Tào Phi) tightens the screw on Emperor Xian (刘协, Lưu Hiệp). Auspicious omens are recited. Then a bloc of more than forty civil and military men — Hua Xin (华歆, Hoa Hâm), Wang Lang (王朗, Vương Lãng), Jia Xu, Liu Yi (刘廙, Lưu Di), Liu Ye (刘晔, Lưu Diệp), Chen Qun (陈群, Trần Quần) and others — enter the inner palace to request the Han-to-Wei abdication rite. The novel gives Liu Yi no private speech; it places the historical Palace Attendant in the exact court that ends the Han. The same chapter’s other half (Meng Da’s defection, Liu Feng (刘封, Lưu Phong)‘s doom) is Shu business — Liu Yi does not cross that cut.

Liu Yi (刘廙) — Historical & Literary Timeline

Biography: 刘廙.

Key Relationships

Family

• Elder brother Liu Wangzhi (刘望之, Lưu Vọng Chi): Liu Biao’s engaging attendant; murdered after refusing to flee. Historical; not a separate site post.
• Heir Liu Fu (刘阜, Lưu Phụ): brother’s son who succeeded the marquisate because Liu Yi died without a son.

Friends

• Sima Hui (司马徽, Tư Mã Huy): early teacher who singled him out as a child.
• Cao Pi (曹丕, Tào Phi): patron as Five-Office literary officer, then King/Emperor; promoted him to Palace Attendant.
• Cao Cao (曹操, Tào Tháo): took him in after Jing; spared him after a household case; received the “dead wood flowers” memorial.
• Ding Yi (丁仪, Đinh Nghi): co-author on punishment and ritual — later killed by Cao Pi in the same Chapter 79 arc that lists Liu Yi among the abdication officials (novel vs history: Ding Yi dies; Liu Yi serves).

Enemies

• Liu Biao (刘表, Lưu Biểu): killed Liu Wangzhi and Wangzhi’s friends; the reason Liu Yi abandoned Jing for Cao Cao.

Other

• Hua Xin (华歆, Hoa Hâm), Wang Lang (王朗, Vương Lãng), Liu Ye (刘晔, Lưu Diệp), Chen Qun (陈群, Trần Quần): named with him in the Chapter 79 abdication deputation. Liu Ye is 刘晔, a different Liu.
• Cao Zhi (曹植, Tào Thực): the seven-step victim of the same chapter; Liu Yi is not in that hall scene, only in the later court list.