李由 / Li You
李由 / Li You enters the wiki through Qinji 129-1 as 李斯’s son and the Qin official defending 荥阳 against 吴广. The source identifies him as governor of 三川 commandery.
Li You’s role in this episode is positional rather than biographical. By holding Yingyang, he blocks Zhang Chu’s western pressure and keeps a strategic route and granary-adjacent military point in Qin hands. Wu Guang’s inability to dislodge him creates the immediate setting for 田臧’s killing of Wu Guang.
Qinji 130-4 turns that positional role into a family-political vulnerability. 赵高 tells 胡亥 / 秦二世 that Li You governs 三川, that rebels associated with 陈胜 have local ties to 李斯, and that Li You may have let rebels pass or exchanged letters with them. The episode treats this as a constructed accusation surface against Li Si rather than as settled proof of Li You’s conduct.
Qinji 131-1 makes the constructed nature of the accusation clearer. The source says Hu Hai’s envoy investigates Li You in Sanchuan and reports that there is no rebellion evidence, but Zhao Gao tells Hu Hai the opposite. Li You therefore remains important here less as an independent actor than as the family handle through which Zhao Gao can make Li Si’s forced confession look plausible.
Connections
- 李斯 - father named by the source.
- 荥阳 and 三川 - battlefield and commandery office.
- 吴广, 田臧, and 张楚政权 - rebel attackers and internal crisis produced by the failed siege.
- 秦国 and 胡亥 / 秦二世 - regime and ruler context.
- Qinji 130-4 and 赵高 - accusation that converts Li You’s commandery office into pressure against Li Si.
- Qinji 131-1 and 逼供认罪陷阱 - envoy report and Zhao Gao’s false summary to Hu Hai.