Liu Yan (chancellor) - During Emperor Dezong's Reign

During Emperor Dezong's Reign

Emperor Daizong died in 779 and was succeeded by Li Kuo (as Emperor Dezong). At that time, Han Huang was in charge of the financial matters of the western half of the empire (Diwu Qi having been removed from that post in 770). Emperor Dezong, hearing that Han was harsh and excessive, removed Han from his post and gave the responsibilities for the financial matters of the entire empire to Liu Yan. It was said that he improved the salt monopoly system that Diwu had instituted and increased the earnings tenfold, without any additional impositions on the people.

However, Liu was soon in a precarious position. Yang Yan, a protégé of Yuan's, had become the most powerful chancellor and was well-trusted by Emperor Dezong. Yang had previously served under Liu as deputy minister of civil service affairs, and they did not get along with each other; further, Yang blamed Liu for Yuan's death. At that time, there were rumors that Liu had, during Emperor Daizong's reign, suggested to him that he create his favorite concubine, Consort Dugu, empress. (As Consort Dugu was not Emperor Dezong's mother and had her own son, Li Jiong (李迥) the Prince of Han, it was believed that such a move would have potentially endangered Emperor Dezong's position.) Further, many people had been jealous of Liu's long hold on financial matters. Yang, wanting to avenge Yuan, thus took this opportunity to accuse Liu of having endangered Emperor Dezong's position, along with the official Li Gan (黎幹) and the eunuch Liu Zhongyi (劉忠翼) — both of whom had been executed in 779 under the same accusations of having supported Consort Dugu. Yang's chancellor colleague Cui Youfu opposed further investigation of Liu Yan, but still, in spring 780, at Yang's suggestion, Liu Yan was stripped of his special director status, and the financial responsibilities were returned to the bureaus under the ministry of census, which had previously been responsible for such matters. Subsequently, Emperor Dezong demoted Liu to be the prefect of Zhong Prefecture (忠州, in modern Chongqing).

In fall 780, at Yang's inducement, Liu's superior Yu Zhun (庾準) submitted an accusation that Liu had written a letter to the general Zhu Ci, asking for Zhu's help, and that in the letter to Zhu he wrote many complaints about Emperor Dezong. Yu further accused Liu of having requested additional soldiers for his prefecture with the intent to start a rebellion. Yang urged Emperor Dezong to execute Liu. Emperor Dezong agreed, and he sent eunuchs to Zhong Prefecture to secretly strangle Liu to death, before issuing an edict publicly ordering Liu to commit suicide. It was said that the entire empire mourned Liu's death and believed him to be innocent. His family was exiled to the Lingnan region, and his assets were confiscated. (When his assets were booked in order to be confiscated, it was discovered that Liu had been so honest that as an official that he lacked any real wealth, and those who saw this were further impressed by him.) The warlord Li Zhengji, who had been looking for excuses to complain about imperial governance, submitted a petition stating that Liu had been innocently killed and requested that his family be allowed to return to Chang'an — a petition that Emperor Dezong ignored. Nevertheless, because Liu had been careful at selecting officials, particularly those with financial talents, it was said that for decades following his death, the officials in charge of financial affairs were mostly Liu's old subordinates.

In 784, Emperor Dezong, beginning to believe that Liu was in fact innocent, allowed him to be reburied in his home prefecture. In 789, he further made Liu's sons Liu Zhijing (劉執經) and Liu Zongjing (劉宗經) officials. When Liu Zhijing offered to yield his posts in exchange for Liu Yan to be posthumously honored, Emperor Dezong posthumously honored Liu Yan Situ (司徒, one of the Three Excellencies).

Liu Xu, the lead editor of the Book of Tang, commented thus about Liu Yan:

Throughout the generations, not one of the officials in charge of financial matters would fail to oppress the people to provide for the emperor; to harm others to provide for himself; to change laws to abuse power; and to create hatred to bring disaster to himself. Someone like Liu Yan, who coordinated the supplies, used talented and capable people, such that the empire was wealthy but the people were not burdened and that he himself was frugal and allowed the people to benefit, was almost otherwise not known in history. Some might question the authenticity of the records and ask, "As for Zi Chan of Zheng, his subordinates were unable to defraud him. As for Mi Zi of Song, his subordinates did not have the heart to defraud him. As for Ximen Bao of Wei, his subordinates did not dare to defraud him. These three gentlemen were among the most capable of antiquity, but their subordinates did want to defraud him — just that they were unable, did not have the heart, or did not dare to defraud him. How was it that Liu Yan's subordinates, no matter near or far, did not even consider defrauding him?" My response would be, "Because Liu Yan selected proper individuals and allowed them to fully exercise their abilities." Could this not be shown from how, after his death, his subordinates continued to control the financial affairs for over 20 years? The Biographies of Economists in the Records of the Grand Historian stated, "Suppressing food prices and making sure that there were no lack of goods are the ways to allow the state to be calm." When Liu Yan was in charge of the taxations, the prices were flat, with nothing particularly expensive and nothing particularly cheap. How can those who just talk about how to rule the nation and comfort the state compare to him? It was out of faithfulness that Liu Yan recommended Yan Zhenqing; it was out of fairness that he decreased Wang Jin's punishment. Both his faithfulness and fairness exceeded his colleagues. However, if there was a particularly large tree in the forest, the winds would eventually destroy it. He first suffered jealousy from Chang Gun and later false accusations from Yang Yan, and this causes me to sigh. There were also those who satirized Liu Yan and stated that he sealed the mouths of those who attacked him with money. However, without sealing these harmful, accusatory mouths, how could Liu Yan have received his power, and without his power, how could he have exercised his talent and saved the empire? This was only his power-play and no reason to satirize him.