赵彦 / Zhao Yan, Yilang (late Han)

Overview

赵彦 / Zhao Yan is the yilang who, in this source, advises 汉献帝 on current government and is killed by 曹操 in Jian’an 19 / 214 CE.

Current Profile

Zhao Yan’s importance is institutional rather than biographical. His access gives a materially weak emperor an independent policy channel; Cao Cao’s decision to kill him demonstrates that advice itself can be treated as a threat when an overmighty minister controls force but cannot erase the sovereign’s residual legitimacy.

Key Characteristics

• Serves as yilang in Emperor Xian’s court.
• Provides the emperor with policy criticism or proposals.
• Is interpreted by Cao Cao as preparing the emperor to resist him.
• Is killed, turning adviser access into a warning to the remaining court.

Evidence

Adviser access and punishment:

• Hanji 1150 says Zhao Yan regularly discussed government with Emperor Xian and was killed after Cao Cao viewed that advice as hostile preparation.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to Hanji 1150. The exact content of Zhao Yan’s advice, Cao Cao’s reasoning, and the legal procedure remain source-scoped. He is distinct from 赵俨, whose surname and romanized given name normalize similarly but whose Chinese name, career, and identity differ.

What Changed

• Created a disambiguated page for 赵彦 rather than merging him with the existing 赵俨 entity.

Relationships

• 汉献帝 - ruler who receives Zhao Yan’s policy advice.
• 曹操 - powerholder who treats the advice channel as a political threat.
• 受制君主的残余威胁 - concept explaining why independent counsel remains dangerous around a controlled sovereign.