燕王刘旦 / Liu Dan, Yan King (Western Han)

Overview

燕王刘旦 / Liu Dan, Yan King enters the wiki through Hanji 402-1 as the royal rebel whose anti-霍光 action becomes the charge background for 桑弘羊’s final destruction. Hanji 399 backfills his coalition-building role: Liu Dan sends repeated gifts and envoys to Chang’an, and his name becomes the mask for a forged memorial accusing Huo of possible treason. Hanji 400-1 then backfills the later conspiracy itself: Liu Dan eagerly joins the plan to kill Huo, depose 汉昭帝刘弗陵, and make him emperor, but the plot leaks and Han Zhao’s edict drives him to suicide.

Current Profile

The combined sources now show Liu Dan as more than a later legal label. Hanji 399 presents him as a remote royal claimant who cultivates Chang’an partners through gifts, jewelry, horses, and repeated envoy contact before conspirators use a memorial in his name to attack Huo Guang. Hanji 400-1 then presents him as a claimant who already sees himself as plausible successor material: he stresses that he is the late emperor’s eldest surviving son, interprets Chang’an unrest as evidence that Huo Guang is vulnerable, and believes vacancies or weakness among senior officials make the moment favorable. His own Yan chancellor Ping warns him that unreliable partners and past failure should make him cautious, but Liu Dan orders preparation instead.

The same episode also shows Liu Dan’s vulnerability inside the coalition. 上官安 secretly plans to kill him after using him and then install 上官桀, so Liu Dan is both claimant and disposable instrument. Once the conspiracy is exposed through Yan Cang, Yang Chang, and 杜延年, Liu Dan considers immediate rebellion but is dissuaded by his chancellor. Han Zhao’s formal rebuke leaves him no political exit; he holds a farewell feast and uses the royal seal cord to kill himself. Hanji 402-1 then shows the downstream legal afterlife: the rebellion remains the context for Sang Hongyang’s execution and the harsher treatment of rebellion-adjacent actors.

Key Characteristics

• Western Han Yan king and royal claimant in the Han Zhao regency field.
• Remote coalition-builder whose gifts and envoys connect Yan ambition to Chang’an anti-Huo actors before his name is used as the mask for a forged memorial against Huo Guang.
• Anti-Huo rebel who joins a plan to kill Huo Guang and depose Han Zhao.
• Ambitious interpreter of political signs, treating senior lineage, Chang’an unrest, and official vacancies as opportunity.
• Poor coalition reader whose supposed allies plan to use and eliminate him.
• Suicide case after imperial rebuke, while his son Liu Jian is spared death and reduced to commoner status.
• Charge background for Sang Hongyang’s execution and later legal-political case expansion.

Evidence

Royal-claimant ambition:

• Hanji 399 says Liu Dan sends more than ten batches of people with gold, valuables, and horses to connect with Gai Chang Gongzhu, Shangguan Jie, Sang Hongyang, and others.
• Hanji 399 says conspirators forge a Yan king memorial in Liu Dan’s name to accuse Huo Guang and present Liu Dan as a protector willing to enter court.
• Hanji 400-1 says Liu Dan is excited by the conspiracy, exchanges messages by relay, promises Shangguan Jie a kingship, and contacts commandery and kingdom strongmen.
• Hanji 400-1 says Liu Dan argues that his status as the former emperor’s eldest son will make the realm trust him.
• Hanji 400-1 says Chancellor Ping warns him against trusting Liu Ze-like and Shangguan-like partners, but Liu Dan insists conditions are favorable.

Coalition fragility:

• Hanji 400-1 says the public plan is to install Liu Dan after killing Huo Guang and deposing Han Zhao.
• Hanji 400-1 says Shangguan An separately plans to lure and kill Liu Dan, then install Shangguan Jie.

Collapse and punishment:

• Hanji 400-1 says Liu Dan asks whether to raise troops after the plot is exposed, but Chancellor Ping warns that the key court conspirators are already dead and public opinion has turned.
• Hanji 400-1 says Han Zhao’s edict rebukes Liu Dan and that Liu Dan kills himself with his royal seal cord.
• Hanji 400-1 says Liu Dan’s son Liu Jian is spared death and reduced to commoner status.

Sang Hongyang’s liability:

• Hanji 402-1 says Sang Hongyang participated in anti-Huo rebellious activity and had plotted with Yan king Liu Dan.
• Hanji 402-1 makes Liu Dan’s rebellion the political context in which old fiscal merit no longer protects Sang Hongyang.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to Hanji 399, Hanji 400-1, and Hanji 402-1. It does not reconstruct Liu Dan’s full lineage, complete earlier conspiracy with Liu Ze, every Yan-state official, the full legal procedure against his household, or later treatment of Liu Jian beyond these episodes. Hanji 400-1 frames Han Zhao’s edict as forcing Liu Dan into a political dead end; it does not separately prove every private motive inside Liu Dan’s final decision.

What Changed

• Added Hanji 399’s coalition-building and forged-memorial layer before Hanji 400-1’s claimant and suicide profile.

Relationships

• 霍光 / Huo Guang (Western Han) - regent targeted by the conspiracy Liu Dan joins.
• 汉昭帝刘弗陵 / Emperor Zhao of Han - younger ruler whose rebuke leaves Liu Dan no political exit.
• 桑弘羊 / Sang Hongyang (Western Han) - minister whose later destruction is tied to Liu Dan’s rebellion.
• 上官桀 / Shangguan Jie (Western Han) - senior conspirator whom Liu Dan promises reward but who becomes the alternative intended emperor.
• 上官安 / Shangguan An (Western Han) - conspirator who plans to kill Liu Dan after using him.
• 盖长公主 / Gai Chang Gongzhu (Western Han) - co-conspirator whose banquet access is part of the planned Huo assassination.
• 案件扩大化政治清洗 / Case-Expansion Political Purge - downstream pattern because the rebellion case later widens through Sang Qian, Hou Shiwu, and judicial officials.