Li Yijian

Li Yijian (756 – October 13, 822 ), courtesy name Yizhi , was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Xianzong.

Background Li Yijian was born in 756. He was a member of Tang dynasty's imperial Li clan, being a great-great-grandson of Li Yuanyi the Prince of Zheng, a son of Tang's founding emperor Emperor Gaozu. Li Yijian's grandfather Li Chayan was not the oldest son of Li Yijian's great-grandfather Li Jing , who had inherited the title of Prince of Zheng, and therefore did not inherit the title and was not listed with any offices. Li Yijian's father Li Zixian served as a prefectural secretary general. Li Yijian appeared to be Li Zixian's oldest son and had at least three younger brothers, Li Yiliang , Li Yize , and Li Yifan . Because of Li Yijian's heritage, he was, at the start of his official career, made the secretary general of Zheng County (鄭縣, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi). He sent an emissary that was going through Hua Prefecture (華州, in modern Weinan), which Zheng County belonged to, and the official in charge of defense, Li Yi , did not dare stopping Zhu's emissary. However, Li Yijian opined that Zhu would soon turn against Emperor Dezong and pointed out that some of the Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing) army that previously served under Zhu had been sent to Xiangcheng (襄城, in modern Xuchang, Henan) to help defend it against the warlord Li Xilie; he believed that Zhu was summoning them to Chang'an to assist him. Li Yi thus quickly headed for Tong Pass to have Zhu's emissary searched, and indeed, an order to summon the Lulong soldiers was found. Li Yi reported this to the defender of Tong Pass, Luo Yuanguang , who executed Zhu's emissary and submitted Zhu's order to Emperor Dezong. Emperor Dezong thus made Luo the prefect of Hua Prefecture, but as Luo took the entire credit for the incident, LI Yijian was not rewarded. Meanwhile, Li Yijian was made deputy minister of census and acting director of finances.

During Emperor Muzong's reign After Emperor Xianzong died in 820 and was succeeded by his son Emperor Muzong, the officials were discussing what Emperor Xianzong's temple name should be. Li Yijian submitted a suggestion that because Emperor Xianzong had great accomplishments during his reign, he should be given a temple name that referred to him as Zu rather than Zong . Other officials disagreed, however, and Emperor Xianzong's temple name was eventually fixed as Xianzong. After some time, Li Yijian requested retirement, but the central government considered Li Yijian to be still healthy, and therefore did not accept his retirement request; instead, he was recalled to serve as You Pushe , one of the heads of the executive bureau (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng), but he declined. He was then made an advisor to the Crown Prince, but had his office at the eastern capital Luoyang. He died in 822 and was given posthumous honors.

Notes and references

New Book of Tang, vol. 131. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 238, 240.