李毅 / Li Yi (Eastern Han)

Overview

Li Yi is the Eastern Han Wei Hou sent by Emperor Zhang to escort Wusun envoys westward and who becomes the slanderer in the Ban Chao episode. His profile is currently source-bounded to Hanji 753, where fear at the frontier turns into a damaging accusation against the commander already holding Shule.

Current Profile

Li Yi reaches Yutian/Khotan while Qiuci is attacking Shule, becomes afraid to advance, and writes back that the Western Regions project cannot succeed. He also attacks Ban Chao’s motives by claiming that Ban Chao is settled abroad with his wife and children and no longer misses the Han center.

Zhangdi rejects the accusation because it conflicts with the behavior of the Han troops still following Ban Chao despite their own homesickness. After Zhangdi tells Ban Chao he may use Li Yi if useful, Ban Chao sends Li Yi back east with the Wusun hostage prince instead of keeping him as a subordinate or punishing him for private satisfaction.

Key Characteristics

• Mission failure becomes slander: Li Yi’s fear in Yutian/Khotan is narrated as the immediate source of his pessimistic memorial and personal accusation.
• Motive accusation targets family attachment: his charge tries to reframe Ban Chao’s household presence abroad as proof of disloyal comfort.
• Negative test case for evidence judgment: Zhangdi measures the accusation against observable troop behavior rather than accepting Li Yi’s report at face value.
• Catalyst for non-retaliation: Ban Chao’s handling of Li Yi becomes an example of public duty taking priority over private grievance.

Evidence

• Mission failure and motive accusation: Hanji 753 describes Li Yi reaching Yutian/Khotan, fearing the Qiuci attack on Shule, and reporting both the failure of the Western Regions effort and Ban Chao’s supposed attachment to life abroad.
• Evidence-based rejection: Hanji 753 has Zhangdi ask why the soldiers would still follow Ban Chao if the slander were true.
• Public-duty handling: Hanji 753 presents Ban Chao sending Li Yi back with the Wusun hostage prince, precisely because Li Yi had slandered him and keeping him would satisfy private feeling rather than loyal service.

Qualifications

• The current page is not a full biography of Li Yi; it records only the role documented in the Hanji 753 source note.
• Li Yi’s official title, the Wusun escort mission, and his relationship to Xu Gan remain source-scoped until additional evidence appears.
• The page treats Li Yi as an accusation case, not as proof that all negative field reports are false.

What Changed

• Created this Zhang-era Li Yi page from Hanji 753.
• Classified the episode as a slander and evidence-testing case rather than a standalone frontier-policy biography.

Relationships

• 班超 / Ban Chao (Eastern Han) - slanders Ban Chao and becomes the object of Ban Chao’s non-retaliatory handling.
• 汉章帝 / Emperor Zhang of Han - reports to Zhangdi and is rebuked when the emperor compares accusation against troop behavior.
• Behavioral Evidence Loyalty Judgment / 以行动证忠 - functions as the negative case that prompts Zhangdi’s behavioral evidence test.
• Public Duty Over Private Grievance / 对事不对人式公义 - provides the grievance Ban Chao refuses to convert into personal retaliation.
• 于阗国 / Khotan Kingdom (late Han) - reaches Yutian/Khotan before turning back from the worsening Western Regions situation.
• 龟兹 / Qiuci Kingdom - Qiuci’s attack on Shule supplies the immediate danger that triggers Li Yi’s fear.
• 疏勒 / Shule Kingdom - the threatened command center whose defense context makes the accusation operationally serious.