Qin and Han · Official and Diviner

Li He 李郃

Attested AD 88 - AD 126

Passages: 17
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Li He was an official and Diviner.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Mengjie	孟節	Mengjie

Life and dates

Death

At at home 家 · Age Text: 年八十餘 · Value: 80 · Reckoning: Sui · Comparator: over
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 249

Attested activity

AD 117 元初四年
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 243
AD 88 和帝即位
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passages 221, 226
AD 125 安帝崩，北鄉侯立
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 245
AD 126 明年
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 92, passages 245, 247
AD 92 竇憲納妻
Dated from the passage context · Book of Later Han 92, passages 234, 240

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of Li Jie (李頡)
father 父
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 222
Parent of Li Gu (李固)
son 子
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 253

Career and standing

minister of works 司空
AD 117 元初四年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 243
minister of education 司徒
AD 125 安帝崩，北鄉侯立 · Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 245
clerk of households bureau 戶曹史
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 233
director of the secretariat 尚書令
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 242
gate watchman 幕門候吏
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 225
minister of cults 太常
Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 242

Show 3 more source-backed claims

marquis of Shedu 涉都侯
Declined · Negated true
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 248
marquis of Shedu 涉都侯
Offered
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 248
Entered
AD 121 在位四年，坐請託事免 · Dismissed
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passages 243-244

Places and affiliations

At Nanzheng, Hanzhong 漢中南鄭
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 221

Learning and skills

Studied
Institution Imperial Academy 太學
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 223
Skill Five Classics; River-Luo and stellar winds 五經河洛風星 · Level expert
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passages 223-224

Works and attributed material

Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passages 228, 231, 235-236

Events and relationships

Opposed gifts to Dou Xian
Remonstrance · Remonstrator
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passages 235-236
Plotted to enthrone
Political · Conspirator · With Emperor Shun (順帝)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 246
Read envoy stars
Divination · Diviner
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passages 228, 231
Relation Adviser of opponent to · Person Dou Xian (竇憲)
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 235

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Book of Later Han 92, passage 242

References in the histories

Search passages

History

17 passages

Book of Later Han, Chapter 92Volume 82a: Biographies of Alchemists 1 · 17 passages

李郃字孟節，漢中南鄭人也。 Li He, styled Mengjie, came from Nanzheng in Hanzhong.

郃襲父業，游太學，通《五經》。 He followed his father's scholarship, entered the Imperial Academy, and mastered the Five Classics.

善《河》、《洛》風星，外質樸，人莫之識。 He knew the River-Luo charts and stellar winds, yet seemed so plain that nobody noticed him.

使者二人當到益部，投郃候舍。 Two of them were bound for Yi and put up at Li He's guardhouse.

時，夏夕露坐，郃因仰觀，問曰：「二君發京師時，寧知朝廷遣二使邪？」 At the time, on a summer evening sitting in the dew, He therefore looked up at the sky and asked, 'When you two gentlemen set out from the capital, did you know the court had dispatched two envoys?'

郃指星示云：「有二使星向益州分野，故知之耳。」 He traced two 'envoy' stars sliding toward Yi's celestial field—that was his proof.

後三年，其使者一人拜漢中太守，郃猶為吏。 Three years later one of those men became governor of Hanzhong while Li He remained a petty clerk.

郃進諫曰：「竇將軍椒房之親，不修禮德，而專權驕恣，危亡之禍可翹足而待。 Li He warned, 'Dou Xian is imperial in-law yet flouts virtue and bullies the realm—his fall is a toe's length away.

願明府一心王室，勿與交通。」 He begged the governor to cleave to the throne and send no gift.'

太守固遣之，郃不能止。 The governor insisted; Li He could not block him.

請求自行，許之。 He asked to carry the gift himself and was allowed.

郃遂所在留遲，以觀其變。 He dawdled at every stop to see what would happen.

郃歲中舉孝廉，五遷尚書令，又拜太常。 That same year Li He won filial-incorrupt rank, climbed five steps to director of the secretariat, then became minister of cults.

安帝崩，北鄉侯立，復為司徒。 When Emperor An died and the Beixiang marquis mounted the throne, Li He returned as minister of education.

及北鄉侯病，郃陰與少府河南陶範、步兵校尉趙直謀立順帝，會孫程等事先成，故郃功不顯。 When the boy emperor sickened, Li He conspired with Tao Fan and Zhao Zhi to enthrone Emperor Shun, but eunuch Sun Cheng moved first, so his plot never surfaced.

將作大匠翟酺上郃「潛圖大計，以安社稷」，於是錄陰謀之功，封郃涉都侯，辭讓不受。 The master of works Zhai Pu memorialized that He 'secretly framed a great plan to secure the altars of soil and grain,' and therefore his merit in the hidden plot was recorded and He was enfeoffed marquis of Shedu, but he declined and would not accept.

郃子固，已見前傳。 His son Li Gu appears in an earlier chapter.