Warlords: History & Biographies

The Kingdom of Yan

Location
The Kingdom of Yan occupied the far northern border of the Qin Empire, with its southern border along the Yellow River, which at the time of the Qin and before emptied out into the gulf of Bohai. The ancient Kingdom of Yan equates to the modern day provinces of Beijing Shi, Hebei, Tianjin, and northeast Shanxi.

Pre-Qin Empire
The kingdom of Yan, though far from populous, played an important role in the Warring states period. Having conquered the Kingdom of Dai early in its existence, Yan used barbarian mercenaries to regularly raid and harass the kingdoms of Zhan and Wei to its south, and the Emperors of the Zhou Dynasty courted the Lords of Yan, using them to keep the Kings of Zhao, Qi and Wei from displacing them.

When Zhou fell to the Qin and Wei and Zhao began to feel pressure from the Kingdom of Qin, one of the Zhou princes fled to Yan, where he became an implacable foe of the Qin King. From his actions sprung the famous assassination attempt against the King of Qin by Jing Ke. This attempt, however, earned Yan the hatred of the Qin King, and when Yan fell in 222 BC, the people of the region paid dearly in blood on the Qin King’s construction projects.

Post-Qin Empire
Much like its neighbor Dai, as the rebellions started against the Qin, Yan became a pawn for other rulers who wished to expand their holdings, thought it never experienced the utter chaos Dai suffered through. The King of Zhao Wu Chen sent his general Han Guang to Yan to conquer it for Zhao, but once he had freed it from its Qin governors, Han instead declared himself the King of Yan. Han Guang remained King of Yan until general Zang Tu, whom he had sent to aid Chu against the Qin returned from the war. Zang Tu had gained great favor with Xiang Yu, and Yu had decided to replace Han Guang as King of Yan and Zang Tu came armed with orders for Han Guang to move to Liaodong and become King of that distant region instead. Han Guang refused, and Zang Tu attacked and killed him, making himself King of Yan and Liaodong.

Zang Tu ruled in Yan throughout the war between Han and Chu, and although he submitted to the Han, he did so bloodlessly and retained his title. But once the war was over, Zang Tu felt slighted by Liu Bang’s administrators and rebelled against the newly formed Han Empire. Liu Bang moved on Yan and killed Zang Tu, and left a pair of generals to put down some other rebellions in the region. Several months later, he named Lu Wan King of Yan. Lu Wan remained in power until near the end of Liu Bang’s life, where he incurred the wrath of the imperial court by refusing a summons and pleading illness. When Liu Bang died, Lu Wan fled to the Xiong Nu, knowing the new Emperor’s court would want to make an example of him. Yan was broken up into various provinces, and the region ceased to be a Kingdom.

Kings Han Guang Zang Tu Lu Wan	Major Officers Fan Kuai Zhou Bo	Important Officers Luan Bu

All information derived from the Burton Watson translation of Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian

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