Chen Xilie (陳希烈) | 24 Histories

Overview

Chen Xilie was an official.

PeriodSui and Tang

IdentityHistorical · Male

Roles

Found in

Life and dates

Death

AD 757 至德二載
Execution · At Lone Willow Tree 獨柳樹
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 119, passage 21
Granted suicide · At prison 獄中
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 189

Attested activity

AD 756 及朝廷失守
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 117, passage 42
AD 740 to AD 756 大學士陳希烈（少遊崇玄館時期）
Strongly inferred · Old Book of Tang 126, passage 84
AD 742 to AD 756 天寶
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 130, passage 84
AD 754 天寶十三年
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passages 14, 20
AD 756 to AD 758 安、史之亂
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 188-189
AD 756 朝廷失守
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 41

Show 1 more source-backed claim

AD 757 至德二載
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 119, passage 18

Key source chapters

Career and standing

left chancellor 左相
AD 754 天寶十三年 · Held
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 14
grand academician 大學士
Held
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 130, passage 84
Grand Academician 大學士
Held
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 126, passage 84
left chancellor 左相
AD 754 天寶十三年八月 · Replaced
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 20
Beheaded
Execution · At Lone Willow Tree 獨柳樹
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 119, passage 21
Ordered
Granted suicide · At prison 獄中 · Authority Suzong (肅宗)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 189

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 14; Old Book of Tang 126, passage 84
Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Strongly inferred · Old Book of Tang 117, passage 42
Organization same surname clan as Chen Shaoyou 同宗 · Relation Member of
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 126, passage 84

Events and relationships

Awaited judgment as coerced follower
Legal · Defendant
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 188
Family exiled
Legal · Condemned
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 190
Humiliated after Eastern Capital recovery
Legal · Subject · With Cui Qi (崔器)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 119, passage 18
AD 756 及朝廷失守
Political · Official who went to Luoyang · At Luoyang 洛陽
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 117, passage 42
Flight to rebels · Participant · At Luoyang 洛陽
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 41
Relation Patron of · Person Chen Shaoyou (陳少遊)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 126, passage 84

Assessments and attributes

Assessment feared Yang Guozhong and only assented without speaking his mind · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 14
Assessment greatly admired Shaoyou's lecture performance · Mode historian-judgment · With Chen Shaoyou (陳少遊)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 126, passage 84

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 112, passage 14; Old Book of Tang 117, passage 42; Old Book of Tang 126, passage 84; New Book of Tang 56, passage 188

References in the histories

Search passages

History

9 passages

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 112Volume 108 Biographies 58: Wei Jiansu, Cui Yuan, Cui Huan, Du Hongjian · 2 passages

Open chapter

時右相楊國忠用事，左相陳希烈畏其權寵，凡事唯諾，無敢發明，玄宗頗知之，聖情不悅。 The right chancellor Yang Guozhong then dominated the government, while the left chancellor Chen Xilie, fearing Yang's power, merely assented to everything and never spoke his mind. Xuanzong noticed this and was displeased.

其年八月，拜武部尚書、同中書門下平章事，充集賢院學士，知門下省事，代陳希烈。 That August he was made minister of war and grand councilor, appointed a scholar of the Hall of Assembled Worthies, put in charge of chancellery business, and replaced Chen Xilie.

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 117Volume 113 Biographies 63: Miao Jingqing, Pei Mian, Pei Zunqing · 1 passage

Open chapter

及朝廷失守，衣冠流離道路，多為逆黨所脅，自陳希烈、張均已下數十人盡赴洛陽，晉卿潛遁山谷，南投金州。 When the capital fell, officials fled in every direction, many forced into the rebels' service. Dozens of men from Chen Xilie and Zhang Jun on down made their way to Luoyang, but Jingqing slipped into the hills and fled south to Jin prefecture.

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 119Volume 115 Biographies 65: Cui Qi, Zhao Guozhen, Cui Guan, Jing Kuo, Wei Yuanfu, Wei Shaoyou, Wei Boyu, Li Cheng · 3 passages

Open chapter

及收東京，令陳希烈已下數百人如西京之儀。 When the Eastern Capital was retaken, he required several hundred men, including Chen Xilie, to undergo the same humiliation as at the Western Capital.

三司使、梁國公李峴執奏，固言不可，乃六等定罪，多所原宥，唯陳希烈、達奚珣斬於獨柳樹下。 Li Xian, Duke of Liang and commissioner of the Three Offices, submitted a forceful memorial insisting this must not be done. Guilt was then graded into six classes; many were spared, and only Chen Xilie and Daxi Xun were beheaded beneath the Lone Willow Tree.

後蕭華自相州賊中仕賊官歸闕，奏云：「賊中仕官等重為安慶緒所驅，脅至相州，初聞廣平王奉宣恩命，釋放陳希烈已下，皆相顧曰：『我等國家見待如此，悔恨何及。』 Later Xiao Hua, who had held office under the rebels at Xiangzhou before returning to court, memorialized: "Those of us who served in the rebel realm were driven again by An Qingxu to Xiangzhou. When we first heard that the Prince of Guangping proclaimed the imperial grace and released Chen Xilie and the rest, we looked at one another and said, 'The throne has treated us with such mercy—what regret could exceed this?'

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 130Volume 126 Biographies 76: Li Kui, Li Han, Chen Shaoyou, Lu Yue, Pei Xu · 1 passage

Open chapter

所引文句，悉兼他義，諸生不能對，甚為大學士陳希烈所嘆賞，又以同宗，遇之甚厚。 Every passage he cited carried layered meanings his peers could not answer. Grand Academician Chen Xilie was deeply impressed and, finding they shared a clan name, treated him with great favor.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 56Volume 56 Treatises 52: Punishment and Law · 2 passages

Open chapter

安、史之亂，偽官陸大鈞等背賊來歸，及慶緒奔河北，脅從者相率待罪闕下，自大臣陳希烈等合數百人。 During the An-Shi rebellion, puppet officials such as Lu Dajun and others deserted the rebels to submit; when Qingxu fled to Hebei, coerced followers came in succession to the palace gate to await judgment—from Grand Counselor Chen Xilie and others, several hundred in all.

以御史大夫李峴、中丞崔器等為三司使，而肅宗方喜刑名，器亦刻深，乃以河南尹達奚珣等三十九人為重罪，斬于獨柳樹者十一人，珣及韋恆腰斬，陳希烈等賜自盡於獄中者七人，其餘決重杖死者二十一人。 Censor-in-Chief Li Xian and Vice Censor-in-Chief Cui Qi and others were appointed Three Offices commissioners. Suzong was then enamored of harsh law, and Qi was also severe. Thirty-nine men including Henan Intendant Daxi Xun were judged for grave offenses: eleven beheaded at the Lone Willow Tree; Xun and Wei Heng were cut in two at the waist; seven including Chen Xilie were granted permission to kill themselves in prison; the remaining twenty-one were beaten to death.