Li Jue (Han Dynasty)

Li Jue (died 198), style name Zhiran (稚然), was a descendant of Li Guang, and a military general serving under the warlord Dong Zhuo during the late Han Dynasty era of Chinese history. He later became the leader of the Liang Province faction after Dong Zhuo's death, and was able to overtake the capital of Chang'an and had the emperor kept under control. Despite being adept in military, he was inept at politics: he quarreled with his fellow generals and made the wrong decision to let Emperor Xian escape, which greatly abated his power and led to his downfall.

Service under Dong Zhuo
Originated from Beide commandery of Liang Province, Li Jue entered Dong Zhuo's Liang Province army as one of the earliest recruits. In helping Dong Zhuo in his many campaigns, including the suppression of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the battle of Liang Province, and the war with the coalition against Dong Zhuo, Li Jue had earned himself a military reputation.

After Dong Zhuo relocated the capital from Luoyang to Chang'an, Li Jue, along Guo Si and Zhang Ji, were sent to the frontline against the eastern warlords. At the time the alliance was having internal conflicts and did not unite on fighting Dong Zhou; as a result, the senior imperial officer, Zhu Jun, could only ask his old friend, Tao Qian, to give him a hand in a futile effort to fight the forces under Li Jue. Tao Qian, despite having a general alliance with Dong Zhuo, indeed sent 3,000 elite danyang troops to Zhu Jun to battle Guo Si and Li Jue at Zhongmu, where Zhu Jun was totally crushed. Li Jue and his comrades then performed raids around area of Chenliu and Yingchuan, wherein Cao Cao was unable to stop them, and many residents there were hijacked and enslaved.

Battle of Chang'an
Before Li Jue's return to the capital, Dong Zhuo was assassinated by Lü Bu in the ruse by Wang Yun, and the Liang faction within Chang'an yielded to Lü Bu. Li Jue, along with his comrades Fan Chou, Guo Si, and Zhang Ji, besought Wang Yun to show mercy, but the latter purposefully granted amnesty to all of Dong Zhuo's former generals except for these four on account they were the closest men to Dong. Therefore, the four planned to relinquish their positions and go into hiding. However, Li Jue's chief advisor Jia Xu suggested that they should take this opportunity to launch a strike at Chang'an since the regime was not stabilized after the coup. The four then roused several thousand hardcore followers to attack Chang'an. Wang Yun sent Xu Rong and Hu Zhen (former members of the Liang faction) to fight the Liang force en route, but Xu Rong was killed in the first encounter and Hu Zhen led his troops to join the rebels, inflating the size of the rebel force. Along the way, Liang people joined their course and the expedition force burgeoned to over 100,000 when they surrounded the capital. Lü Bu attempted to break the siege, but was defeated outside the city gate despite he seriously wounded Guo Si in a duel. Li Jue then lied that they would leave if Wang Yun would go with them. Wang Yun, thinking that the four rebels only wanted his life and did not have the ambition to take the city, committed suicide. However, following Wang Yun's death, the rebels continued the siege and breached the city.

Controlling the emperor
Li Jue's forces secured power for themselves within the imperial court by taking Emperor Xian hostage within his own court. The four then demanded high ranks and even thought about assassinating the emperor to take the throne, however was dissuaded from doing so by Jia Xu. With Li Jue as the leader of the Liang army, the four took almost complete control of the court and demoted and promoted anyone they wished. For example, Liu Biao, Yuan Shu, and Li Ru were all promoted by them.

Like his predecessor, Li Jue bullied the emperor and abused his power in the court. He managed to intimidate the emperor into giving him the titles of General of Chariots and Cavalry, Marquis of Chiyang, Director of Retainers and was granted the battle axe of military authority. When Li Jue's power was at its height, even Cao Cao had sent emissaries to pay tribute as a gesture of recognizing his legitimacy.

In the march of 194, a subordinate general and warlord, Ma Teng, requested some private provisions from the Han court but was refused. He then initiated a rebellion in Mei fortress. An imperial emissary from Emperor Xian was sent to broker peace, but was turned down, then Ma Teng's close friend and comrade, Han Sui was sent to dissuade the rebel with an armed force. Once Han Sui arrived at Mei, however, he joined forces with Ma Teng, and secretly contacted Liu Yan's spies inplanted in the court. Liu Yan's spies were discovered before they could make a move, but they succeed in escaping the city and joined Ma Teng's army. Li Jue sent out his nephew Li Li, Guo Si, and Fan Chou to counter the allied force. They dealt a major defeat with a casualty up to ten thousands to the allied forces about 13 miles west to Chang'an. Knowing the allied force was low on grain, Li Li asked Fan Chou to pursuit and wipe the enemy out, but was refused by the former because of his friendship with Han Sui. This incident was reported by Li Li to Li Jue upon the army's return, and Li Jue assembled the officers in a banquet, whereins he had Fan Chou openly executed.

Quarrel with Guo Si
After the murder of Fan Chou, the Liang generals became quite suspicious of Li Jue, but the regime under Li remained unchallenged for some time, wherein Emperor Xian was anxiously waiting for someone capable to get rid of these rebels. Imperial minister Yang Biao, a court official loyal to the Han Dynasty, came up with a plan to drive Li Jue and Guo Si apart, by making Guo Si's jealous wife Lady Qiong believe that her husband was having an affair with Li Jue's wife, and that Li Jue would kill Guo Si. She made Guo Si believe this himself by poisoning food that Li Jue had given to them and feeding it to the dog. When the dog died, Guo Si believed that Li Jue was attempting to poison him. This drove Guo Si and Li Jue to battle with each other. Battles inside the imperial city of Chang'an were fought every day, and the situation ended up with Li Jue kidnapping the emperor and Guo Si kidnapping court officials.

The situation deteriorated with each passing day, and soon descended into full-blown civil war: there were several tens of battles fought per day in the alleys or market at its peak, on one occasion the emperor's own tent being caught in the crossfire. The frequent battles had made Chang'an untenable for its inhabitants. But at the same time, the turmoil provided Emperor Xian with an excuse to ask Li Jue and Guo Si to let him go back to Luoyang under the terms that Li could have Chang'an while Guo and other generals followed him to the dilapidated Luoyang. Jia Xu was asked to present the plan and request a truce between the two, so they temporarily ceased fire upon Jia's persuasion.

Downfall
After Jia Xu and Zhang Ji pleaded Li Jue and Guo Si to cease fire, the fightings were temporarily withheld. However, on the journey eastwards, there were internal disputes, and Yang Feng took this opportunity to rescue the Emperor, with the assistance of Dong Cheng and Xu Huang. Being defeated by Yang Feng, Guo Si returned to Li Jue, and convinced the latter to make a last-ditch effort to recapture their puppet. Unexpected, Li Jue and Guo Si suffered a drawback from Yang Feng, who gained the support from the White Wave Bandits, but the army of Yang Feng was short on supply and in dire situation. Thus, Emperor Xian sent out emissaries to warlords, asking for help; but only a few of them replied with actual assistance. Zhang Yang, among one of the warlords who received the edict, quickly sent his staff to support the emperor with supplies, and the forces of Li Jue and Guo Si were defeated in a decisive battle. Guo Si retreated to Mei fortress thereafter, and was murdered by his subordinate, who brought his remaining troops to Li Jue in Chang'an. In the April of 198, the warlord who now controlled the emperor, Cao Cao, sent an emissary to incite the western warlords and Li Jue's subordinate general, Duan Wei (段煨) to attack Chang'an, where Li and his whole clan were destroyed.

Appointments and titles held

 * General of Chariots and Cavalry (車騎將軍)
 * Director of Retainers (司隸校尉)
 * Marquis of Chiyang (池陽侯)
 * Grand Marshal (大司馬)