廉丹 / Lian Dan (Xin general)

Overview

廉丹 / Lian Dan enters the wiki as a Xin general caught in late-新朝 military failure. Hanji 655 gives an earlier Yizhou setback and Yi revolt notice. Hanji 660-2 then sends him with 王匡 to suppress 赤眉 and other eastern rebels, where official army abuse damages the regime’s popular standing and 冯衍 warns him about collapsing Xin legitimacy.

Current Profile

Hanji 655 first presents Lian Dan as failing to secure Yizhou commandery, after which local Yi groups revolt and frontier pressure adds to Wang Mang’s wider crisis. The source does not yet make him the center of the story, but it places him inside Xin’s inability to convert named generalship into frontier control.

Hanji 660-2 then presents Lian Dan as part of a large Xin military response. Wang Mang sends him and Wang Kuang east with major forces, but the army fails the civilian-discipline test: soldiers are allowed to harm people along the route, producing the saying that meeting Chimei is better than meeting the official commanders.

The episode then narrows to Lian Dan’s decision point. Wang Mang blames scarcity, empty treasuries, and public crisis on the need for furious suppression, demanding that Lian Dan risk death in the field. Feng Yan advises him to recognize that heroes never sincerely accepted Xin and that people remember Han, but Lian Dan refuses. The page therefore treats him as a late-Xin loyalist trapped inside a failing command and legitimacy environment.

Key Characteristics

• Xin-side general whose current profile begins with a Yizhou setback before his eastern anti-rebel deployment.
• Paired with Wang Kuang in an anti-rebel army whose civilian abuse backfires.
• Receives a severe Wang Mang edict demanding battlefield sacrifice.
• Hears Feng Yan’s Han-restoration public-sentiment warning but rejects it.
• Loyalty case whose resolve may worsen survival under a collapsing regime.

Evidence

• Yizhou setback: Hanji 655 says Lian Dan’s Yizhou campaign does not succeed and local Yi groups rebel.
• Anti-rebel deployment: Hanji 660-2 says Wang Mang sends Wang Kuang and Lian Dan east with a large army.
• Civilian abuse: Hanji 660-2 says the commanders do not restrain troops, producing popular fear of official armies.
• Severe edict: Hanji 660-2 says Wang Mang issues a harsh instruction pressing Lian Dan to fight.
• Feng Yan warning: Hanji 660-2 says Feng Yan urges Lian Dan to hold troops and avoid destruction in the field.

Qualifications

The page is bounded to Hanji 655 and Hanji 660-2 and does not reconstruct Lian Dan’s full career or death. Hanji 655 gives only a brief Yizhou notice, while Hanji 660-2 supports the eastern anti-rebel and Feng Yan warning layer. The exact motives, command authority, and later battlefield result are reserved for subsequent source notes.

What Changed

• Added Hanji 655 as the earlier Yizhou setback and frontier-pressure notice.
• Preserved Hanji 660-2 as the eastern anti-rebel, Wang Mang pressure, and Feng Yan warning layer.

Relationships

• 王匡 - paired Xin commander in the eastern anti-rebel deployment.
• 王莽 - ruler whose severe edict constrains Lian Dan’s choices.
• 冯衍 - adviser who urges Lian Dan to read Han-restoration public sentiment.
• 赤眉 - rebel force against which Lian Dan is deployed.
• 官军扰民反噬 - civilian-abuse pattern that makes the official army politically self-defeating.
• 汉室人心回归 - political-sentiment pattern Feng Yan invokes.