刘亏 / Liu Kui (Bohai king)

Overview

刘亏 / Liu Kui is a late-Han imperial kinsman whose wiki profile now has a 147 CE Bohai succession-placement layer, an earlier Huan-era warning layer, and a later Emperor Ling-era destruction layer. Hanji 829 says 梁妠 / 梁太后 appoints him as 渤海王国 king after Liu Hong dies sonless; Hanji 864 presents him as 汉桓帝’s younger brother whose unlawful behavior prompts 史弼’s law-first memorial; Hanji 903 later shows him restored through 王甫’s access brokerage and destroyed through forged treason accusation.

Current Profile

Hanji 829 supplies the placement layer. In the autumn of 147 CE, after Bohai Xiao King Liu Hong dies without a son, Liang Na appoints Liu Kui, Huan’s younger brother, as Bohai king and successor to Liu Hong.

The Hanji 864 layer makes Liu Kui a problem of kinship-protected rule. He is moved from a lower title into Bohai after the previous Bohai line lacks an heir, then behaves arrogantly because he is the emperor’s brother. Shi Bi’s memorial treats him as dangerous because ordinary local or kingdom officials cannot safely correct him.

The later layer shows the same protected status turning into exposure. Liu Kui seeks restoration to Bohai through Wang Fu, promises a large payment, and then refuses to pay after the petition succeeds. Wang Fu converts the unpaid access bargain, Liu’s resentment, and Liu’s ties to 郑萨 and 董腾 into a treason case supported by 廉中’s forged evidence. 汉灵帝 accepts the accusation, Liu dies by suicide, and Bohai’s household and officials suffer collateral punishment.

Key Characteristics

• Imperial brother whose royal status creates both protection and heightened political risk.
• 147 CE Bohai successor placed by Liang Na after Liu Hong dies without a son.
• Earlier Huan-era Bohai king whose later misconduct prompts a proposed law-first correction.
• Case where ignoring a moderate procedural repair leaves later royal-kin danger unresolved.
• Later access-brokerage user whose restored title becomes tied to private debt.
• Treason-accusation victim whose fall spreads to family, entertainers, and fief officials.

Evidence

• Initial Bohai placement: Hanji 829 says Liang Na appoints Liu Kui as Bohai king and Liu Hong’s successor after Liu Hong dies without a son.
• Imperial-kin status: Hanji 864 says Liu Kui is Huan’s younger brother, first enfeoffed at Liwu and later moved to Bohai after Liu Hong has no son.
• Early misconduct: Hanji 864 says Liu Kui relies on being the emperor’s brother and behaves arrogantly and unlawfully.
• Missed correction: Hanji 864 says Shi Bi proposes legal handling followed by imperial pardon, but Huan does not act on the memorial.
• Access restoration: Hanji 903 says Liu Kui regains the Bohai kingship through Wang Fu’s palace access after promising fifty million cash.
• Debt conflict: Hanji 903 says Liu refuses payment by claiming the restoration came from imperial kinship rather than Wang Fu’s work.
• Forged treason case: Hanji 903 says Wang Fu uses Liu’s resentment, monitored ties, and Lian Zhong’s forged evidence to frame a plot to install Liu as emperor.
• Collateral purge: Hanji 903 says Liu is forced into suicide and his household, entertainers, and fief officials are destroyed or implicated.

Qualifications

The source spelling 刘亏 is preserved because the existing wiki route uses it; later evidence may require normalization to another historical form. Hanji 829 and Hanji 864 overlap on Liu Kui’s move into Bohai, with Hanji 829 giving the 147 succession-placement wording and Hanji 864 using that placement as background to later misconduct. The interval between the Huan-era Bohai kingship and the later restoration in Hanji 903 remains underdescribed, so the page does not infer the exact demotion or reinstatement mechanics. Hanji 903’s treason charge is treated as a forged accusation in that source’s framing, while Hanji 864’s misconduct warning remains a separate earlier problem.

What Changed

• Added Hanji 829 as the 147 CE Bohai succession-placement layer.
• Added Hanji 864 as the earlier Huan-era layer behind Liu Kui’s Bohai problem.
• Reframed Liu Kui from a one-source access-brokerage victim into a royal-kin case whose danger was warned about before the later forged treason purge.
• Preserved the unresolved interval between early Bohai kingship and later restoration rather than forcing a complete chronology.

Relationships

• 史弼 - official who proposes law-first handling of Liu Kui’s misconduct.
• 先法度后恩宥 - procedural concept created from Shi Bi’s proposed handling of Liu Kui.
• 渤海王国 - royal fief at stake in both Liu Kui’s early warning layer and later purge.
• 梁妠 / 梁太后 - dowager whose 147 CE order places Liu Kui into Bohai.
• 汉桓帝 - elder brother whose ignored warning leaves the Liu Kui problem unresolved.
• 汉灵帝 - later ruler who accepts the forged treason accusation against Liu Kui.
• 王甫 - access broker, creditor, accuser, and beneficiary in Liu Kui’s later restoration trap.
• 内廷通道攀附风险 - mechanism by which Liu Kui’s restored title creates private leverage.
• 谋反指控陷阱 - accusation pattern used to destroy Liu Kui after the brokerage conflict.
• 牵连与连坐 / Collateral Punishment and Guilt by Association - punishment-spillover pattern visible in the Bohai purge.