李陵 / Li Ling (Western Han)

Overview

李陵 / Li Ling enters the wiki through Hanji 398 as the surrendered former Han officer whom Xiongnu sends to persuade 苏武 to submit. The episode uses him as Su Wu’s tragic contrast: Li Ling can state the realistic case for surrender, recognize Su Wu’s righteousness, and still remain unable or unwilling to return to Han.

Current Profile

The source presents Li Ling as morally compromised but not emotionally flat. He initially avoids seeing Su Wu because his own surrender makes the meeting shameful. When ordered by the chanyu to persuade Su Wu, he uses arguments that would have real force for a captive: Chang’an is unreachable, invisible loyalty may have no audience, Su Wu’s family has been shattered, and Han Wudi’s late politics could destroy innocent officials and families.

Li Ling’s tragedy is that he understands both sides of the argument. Su Wu’s refusal moves him enough that he calls Su Wu a righteous man and compares his own and Wei Lü’s guilt unfavorably. Later, when Su Wu is about to return, Li Ling says he might have repaid Han if his family had been spared, but after clan destruction he sees return as a second humiliation. His profile in this source is therefore failed return rather than simple opportunism.

Key Characteristics

• Former Han peer of Su Wu who has surrendered to Xiongnu before the episode’s persuasion scene.
• Reluctant persuader who feels shame about facing Su Wu but is used by Xiongnu because of their old relationship.
• Makes a realistic surrender argument grounded in isolation, family loss, and Han Wudi-era political danger.
• Recognizes Su Wu’s righteousness when persuasion fails and openly contrasts Su Wu’s integrity with his own guilt.
• Later frames his own non-return around family destruction, shame, and refusal to suffer renewed humiliation.
• Functions as the episode’s tragic counterpoint to Su Wu’s uninterrupted loyalty.

Evidence

• Persuasion role: Hanji 398 says Li Ling and Su Wu had both been attendants in Han, that Li Ling is ashamed to see Su Wu after surrendering, and that the chanyu sends him because of their old relationship.
• Moral reaction: Hanji 398 says Li Ling cites Su Wu’s hopeless situation and family losses, but after Su Wu refuses, Li Ling calls him a righteous man and says his own and Wei Lü’s guilt is greater than the sky.
• Failed return: Hanji 398 says Li Ling congratulates Su Wu on returning and later refuses Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie’s attempt to draw him back because a great man cannot be humiliated again.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to Hanji 398 and does not reconstruct Li Ling’s full campaign, surrender circumstances, family punishment, later Xiongnu life, poetry attributed to him, or broader historiographical debate. The current source preserves Li Ling as a tragic contrast to Su Wu, not as a full legal or military evaluation.

What Changed

• Created the page from Hanji 398’s Su Wu persuasion scene and Li Ling’s later farewell and failed-return branch.

Relationships

• 苏武 - old Han peer whose refusal exposes Li Ling’s shame and moral loss.
• 匈奴 - receiving power after Li Ling’s surrender and the power that sends him to persuade Su Wu.
• 汉武帝 - ruler whose late punishments form part of Li Ling’s persuasion logic and personal grievance field.
• 霍光 - later regent who tries to draw Li Ling back to Han in the episode’s account.
• 持节守节式流亡忠诚 - contrast concept because Li Ling understands Su Wu’s loyalty but cannot replicate it.