峴 Xiàn

Li Xian

Li Xian was a grandson of Ke, Prince of Wu. He humbled himself before men of worth and excelled at administration. In the Tianbao period he rose step by step to Governor of Jingzhao. Every year Xuanzong went to the hot springs, and the counties of the capital region vied in ingenious provisions to please the emperor; Xian alone offered nothing, and the emperor thought this remarkable. Yang Guozhong had his retainers Qian Ang and He Ying expose An Lushan's secret doings, and hinted to the Jingzhao office to make arrests at Lushan's residence. They seized An Dai, Li Fanglai and others, together with evidence of rebellion with Lushan, and strangled them. Lushan was angry and sent up a memorial in his own defence. The emperor, fearing an uprising, sent Xian out as Governor of Lingling Commandery. Xian's government won the people's hearts. At that time the price of rice in the capital soared, and the common people made up a rhyme together: "If you want grain cheap, bring back Li Xian." Soon he was transferred to Changsha. When the Prince of Yong became Grand Area Commander-in-chief of Jiangling, he made Xian his acting Administrator. At the beginning of Zhide, Suzong summoned him and appointed him Governor of Fufeng and concurrently Censor-in-Chief. The next year he was raised to Governor of Jingzhao and enfeoffed as Duke of Liang. Edit

In the second year of Qianyuan, as Vice Director of the Secretariat, he was made Joint Manager of Affairs with the Secretariat-Chancellery. At that time Lü Yin, Li Kui and Diwu Qi were assisting in the government together with him, but Xian was the most senior in rank and reputation and decided many matters on his own, which Yin and the others resented. Li Fuguo held power, and edicts and decrees sometimes did not issue from the Secretariat, yet none of the offices dared to question them. Xian knocked his head on the ground before the emperor and spoke at length of Fuguo's wickedness. The emperor understood and placed some restraint on him, and Fuguo therefore resigned the post of Army Marshal; but he bore Xian a deep grudge. An escort officer of the Seven Horse Pastures of Fengxiang robbed people, and Xie Yifu, Magistrate of Tianxing, killed him. Fuguo prompted the officer's wife to lodge a complaint of injustice, and an edict ordered the Investigating Censor Sun Ying to try the case; he found Yifu in the right. The wife complained again, and an edict ordered the Vice Censor-in-Chief Cui Boyang, the Vice Minister of Justice Li Ye and the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review Quan Xian to try it as the Three Offices; their findings were no different. The wife would not accept this, and Fuguo supported her, so the Attendant Censor Mao Ruoxu was ordered to review the case. Ruoxu laid the blame on Yifu and said that the censors had applied the law improperly. Boyang was angry and wanted to confront him, but Ruoxu galloped into the palace and gave himself up to the emperor, who kept Ruoxu behind the curtain. Presently Boyang and the others arrived and impeached Ruoxu for siding with the eunuch and erring in his judgement, which was a crime. The emperor angrily rebuked them, demoted Boyang to Sheriff of Gaoyao and Quan Xian to Sheriff of Duyang, banished Li Ye to Lingnan, and exiled Sun Ying to Bo Prefecture. Xian thought the punishments too heavy and went in to say to the emperor: "Ruoxu applied punishment to suit your wishes and has thrown the laws of the state into disorder. If Your Majesty trusts him to decide what is heavy and what is light, it shows there is no Censorate." The emperor was angry, Li Kui did not dare to argue, and Xian was sent out as Prefect of Shu Prefecture. At that time the Right Cavalier Attendant-in-ordinary Han Zemu came in for an audience, and the emperor said: "Does Xian want to monopolise power? He even says that employing Mao Ruoxu shows there is no Censorate. I have now sent him out, and still I regret that the penalty is too lenient." Zemu said: "Xian's words were upright; he would not dare to monopolise power. If Your Majesty is lenient with him, it will only add to your great virtue." Edit

When Daizong came to the throne, Xian was transferred to be Military Commissioner of Jingnan and put in charge as Commissioner for Selection and Appointment in Jiang and Huai. He entered the capital as Minister of Rites and concurrently Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Clan. When the emperor's carriage was at Shan Prefecture, he went to where the emperor was by way of Mount Shang. When the emperor returned to the capital, Xian was appointed Vice Director of the Chancellery and Joint Manager of Affairs with the Secretariat-Chancellery. By established practice, the Hall of Government Affairs received no visitors, but ever since Yuan Zai became chief minister, the eunuchs who brought edicts had been led up into the hall, and a couch was set out for them to wait on. As soon as Xian arrived, he ordered the clerks to remove the couch. He also memorialised that the regular court attendants should recommend men of talent fit to serve as remonstrance officials and censorial officials, with no limit on their number. Within a month he was slandered by those in powerful positions close to the emperor, lost favour, and was dismissed as chief minister and made Supervisor of the Household of the Heir Apparent. He was promoted to Minister of Personnel, again put in charge of selection in Jiang and Huai, and then transferred to Acting Minister of War and concurrently Prefect of Qu Prefecture. He died at the age of fifty-eight. Edit

Earlier, when the Eastern Capital was recovered, several hundred people including Chen Xilie were awaiting punishment, and those who deliberated on it meant to put them all to death. The emperor too wished to make an example to the realm, so Cui Qi and others went along with this and argued for harsh application of the law. Xian, who was then one of the Three Offices, alone said: "The law distinguishes leaders from followers, and circumstances differ in gravity. If all are sentenced to death without distinction, that is not Your Majesty's intention of making a new beginning with the realm. Moreover, when the Jie barbarian overturned the proper order, who was not abused and defiled? The officials and gentry fled for their lives, each looking to his own survival; can they all be condemned? If the sons and grandsons of Your Majesty's new relatives by marriage and of the old meritorious families all bloodied the executioner's block in a single day, could that still be called humane and forgiving? The Book of Documents says, 'Destroy the chief culprits; those who were coerced into following shall not be punished.' What is more, the officials forced to submit by the remnant rebels north of the Yellow River are still many. If we do not open a road for them to reform but kill them all, we will harden the hearts of the rebels and make them fight to the death for the bandits. Even a trapped beast will fight; how much more tens of thousands of men?" At that time Cui Qi and Lü Yin were both petty-minded clerkly officials who held to conventional views and did not grasp the larger picture, and they still argued stubbornly, wagging their jaws; only after several days was Xian's view accepted. That the officials and gentry received a new life, and that the bandits could not make people turn their resentment against the Son of Heaven, was Xian's doing. Edit

Xian's elder brothers were Gen and Yi. Gen had followed the Retired Emperor, while Xian had helped to raise up and support Suzong, and they vied with each other in merit and ability. At the same time both were Censors-in-Chief and both took charge of the affairs of the Censorate, and they were enfeoffed as dukes in the same decree. Yi was Vice Minister of Revenue and Grand Master of Imperial Entertainments with Silver Seal and Blue Ribbon. They lived together in a residence in the Changxing Ward, with three sets of halberds displayed at their gate. Edit