李肃 / Li Su (Nan Commandery, late Han)

Overview

李肃 / Li Su is a source-bounded late-Han Nan Commandery administrator in the 162 CE Jingzhou crisis. This page is distinct from the later Li Su associated with Lü Bu and Niu Fu; this Li Su is defined by panic, office abandonment, the killing of 胡爽, and execution under 汉桓帝.

Current Profile

Li Su enters Hanji 856 after southern unrest has widened from Changsha and neighboring commanderies into a Wuling Man attack toward Jiangling. When Ma Mu and Liu Du have already fled after defeat, Li Su chooses flight rather than local defense. His chief clerk Hu Shuang blocks the departure and argues that Nan Commandery still has enough neighboring cities and signal capacity to summon help.

The decisive feature is not only flight but the violent rejection of correction. Li Su kills Hu Shuang and flees, so the episode treats fear as a sequence: military pressure produces internal disorder, internal disorder becomes dereliction, and dereliction becomes violence against the person trying to restore duty. Emperor Huan executes Li Su in the marketplace, while Ma Mu and Liu Du receive reduced penalties.

Key Characteristics

• Nan Commandery administrator during the 162 CE Jingzhou crisis.
• Panics after regional defeats and tries to abandon office rather than organize local aid.
• Rejects Hu Shuang’s duty remonstrance instead of using nearby commandery resources.
• Kills the remonstrating chief clerk, turning official flight into punishable violence.
• Executed by Emperor Huan, making him the harshest punished figure in the southern failure chain.

Evidence

• Distinct setting: Hanji 856 places this Li Su in Nan Commandery during Huan-era Jingzhou unrest, not in the later Dong Zhuo/Lü Bu sequence.
• Attempted flight: Hanji 856 says Li Su prepares to flee while Wuling Man forces are threatening the Jiangling region.
• Hu Shuang killing: Hanji 856 says Hu Shuang tries to stop him and Li Su kills him before fleeing.
• Punishment: Hanji 856 records Li Su’s execution and separates his punishment from the reduced penalties for Ma Mu and Liu Du.

Qualifications

This page is intentionally disambiguated because LiSuLateHan.md already refers to a different late-Han figure. The transcript phrase “南洋太守” is normalized to Nan Commandery because the public-domain narrative places Li Su in 南郡 amid the Wuling/Jiangling crisis. No broader biography is inferred from this one episode.

What Changed

• Created a disambiguated Nan Commandery Li Su page from Hanji 856.
• Kept this actor separate from the later Lü Bu/Niu Fu Li Su route.

Relationships

• 胡爽 - chief clerk who remonstrates against Li Su’s flight and is killed by him.
• 马睦 - earlier failed envoy in the same southern crisis chain.
• 刘度 - Jingzhou inspector whose flight parallels Li Su’s dereliction but receives lighter punishment.
• 南郡 - commandery setting for Li Su’s office and failure.
• 荆州 - provincial crisis field linking the Changsha, Lingling, Wuling, and Nan Commandery branches.
• 情绪不外露的战略纪律 - negative case where fear becomes visible flight and violence against corrective advice.