姚光 / Yao Guang (late Han)

Overview

姚光 / Yao Guang enters the wiki as Xuantu administrator in Hanji 797, first as the official who proposes attacking Goguryeo during royal mourning and later as the victim of a forged-edict revenge plot. The page’s current profile is therefore double-sided: Yao advocates opportunistic frontier punishment, yet his own death exposes how vulnerable local command obedience can be when private enemies counterfeit imperial authority.

Current Profile

Yao Guang’s first role follows Goguryeo’s 121 CE attack on Xuantu and the death of its king. As Xuantu administrator, he asks the court to attack Goguryeo while royal mourning makes the moment look favorable. Many court discussants support the plan.

Chen Zhong opposes Yao Guang’s proposal as unrighteous and recommends a ritual-diplomatic alternative: send condolences, rebuke past crimes, and pardon. Emperor An accepts Chen’s advice, so Yao’s plan becomes the negative case behind 趁丧不伐.

The later forged-edict case gives Yao a different profile. Yao Guang and Feng Huan repeatedly expose bad actors and make enemies. Those enemies fabricate an imperial command condemning both officials and order Liaodong commandery commandant Pang Fen to execute it. Pang Fen executes Yao Guang and arrests Feng Huan before Feng’s son detects the document problem and the court exposes the forgery.

Key Characteristics

• Xuantu administrator positioned at the immediate edge of Goguryeo conflict.
• Frontier official who favors punitive attack during an opponent’s mourning period.
• Foil for Chen Zhong’s argument that ritual legitimacy should constrain military opportunity.
• Official targeted after exposing bad actors, making him part of a local revenge network.
• Victim of forged imperial command, executed before central verification corrects the case.

Evidence

• Xuantu role: Hanji 797 identifies Yao Guang as Xuantu administrator after Goguryeo’s attack and royal succession.
• Attack proposal: Hanji 797 says Yao asks to attack Goguryeo during the king’s mourning, with many court discussants approving.
• Rejected plan: Hanji 797 says Chen Zhong opposes the plan and Emperor An accepts the alternative.
• Enemy formation: Hanji 797 says Yao Guang and Feng Huan repeatedly expose bad actors and make enemies.
• Forged-edict death: Hanji 797 says enemies forge an imperial command and Pang Fen executes Yao Guang.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to Hanji 797. It does not establish Yao Guang’s full career, whether his Goguryeo proposal was reckless in military terms, or how directly the same opponents in the forged-edict case connect to the earlier frontier debate. The source supports a narrower judgment: Yao is important because he sits at the junction of frontier opportunism, central ritual correction, and forged-command vulnerability.

What Changed

• Created a source-bounded Yao Guang page for the Xuantu, Goguryeo, and forged-edict sequence.
• Marked Yao as both a rejected frontier-policy voice and a victim of counterfeit imperial authority.

Relationships

• 高句丽 - frontier opponent Yao Guang wants to attack during royal mourning.
• 陈忠 - court official whose mourning-restraint argument defeats Yao’s proposal.
• 汉安帝 - ruler who accepts Chen Zhong’s alternative rather than Yao Guang’s attack request.
• 冯焕 - fellow official targeted in the same forged-edict revenge case.
• 趁丧不伐 - concept in which Yao’s proposal supplies the rejected option.
• 伪诏地方杀官 - concept grounded by Yao Guang’s execution under a counterfeit command.
• 借公权复私怨 - related pattern because private enemies use state command form against Yao and Feng.