Lan Han

Biography

Early Background and Family Status

Lan Han was from Jicheng County, Changli Commandery, and was an important in-law of the Later Yan imperial family. He was the maternal uncle of Murong Chui; his sister was in the harem of Murong Huang, making her the biological mother of Murong Chui. Lan Han was the third son in his family, with elder brothers Lan Jian and Lan Di, and a younger brother Lan Jianan. Lan Han was initially enfeoffed as the Prince of Dunqiu, later self-proclaimed as the Prince of Changli. His daughters were married to Murong Kai and Murong Sheng, respectively, so he was closely related to the Later Yan imperial family, serving as both the emperor's maternal uncle and father-in-law.

The Duan Suguo Rebellion and the Fall of Longcheng

In 398 (2nd year of Long'an), Murong Bao intended to recover the Central Plains and led an army on a southern campaign. However, military morale was unstable, and Duan Suguo, Song Chimei, and others, former subordinates of the Prince of Gaoyang Murong Long, launched a rebellion. They killed the Minister of Works Murong Zhou and forced the appointment of Murong Chong as the commander-in-chief. Murong Bao retreated to Longcheng, while Duan Suguo led the rebel troops to besiege the city. Although Lan Han was the father-in-law of Murong Sheng, he secretly colluded with Duan Suguo, helping him capture Longcheng. The rebel troops killed the Duke of Zhongmou Duan Yi, detained Murong Nong, and forced Murong Bao to retreat. Murong Bao and Muyu Teng fled south on light cavalry, and Duan Suguo occupied Longcheng.

Execution of Duan Suguo and Luring of Murong Bao

After Duan Suguo occupied Longcheng, Lan Han, seeing his growing power, became jealous. Lan Han took advantage of Duan Suguo's unpreparedness, gathered followers to attack, and executed Duan Suguo and over a hundred of his close associates within half a day. Subsequently, Lan Han deposed Murong Chong, appointed the Crown Prince Murong Ce as regent, and sent envoys to welcome Murong Bao back to the north. Upon learning of Lan Han's actions in Jizhou, which appeared reasonable, Murong Bao decided to return north. Lan Han sent his brother Lan Jianan with five hundred cavalry to meet him and lured Murong Bao to his death near Suomohan Pass. After Murong Bao's death, Lan Han posthumously named him "Ling" and executed the Crown Prince Murong Ce and over a hundred princes, dukes, and ministers.

Self-Proclamation as Prince of Changli

After Murong Bao's death, Lan Han self-proclaimed himself as Grand Commander-in-Chief, Grand Chanyu, General-in-Chief, and Prince of Changli, changing the era name to Qinglong. He appointed his brother Lan Ti as Defender-in-chief, his brother Lan Jianan as General of Chariots and Cavalry, and enfeoffed the Prince of Hejian Xi as the Duke of Liaodong. During Lan Han's reign, Longcheng suffered a severe drought. He went to the Yan Ancestral Temple daily to pray and bowed to the spirit tablet of Murong Bao to confess his sins, claiming that the disaster was caused by his brothers Lan Ti and Lan Jianan. Lan Ti and Lan Jianan were furious and unauthorizedly led troops to attack the army of Chuni Mu, triggering internal conflict.

Murong Sheng's Coup and the Death of Lan Han

Murong Sheng, hearing of the change from outside, ignored Zhang Zhen's advice and entered the city to attend the funeral. Lan Han, due to the pleas of his wife and daughter, temporarily spared Murong Sheng's life, but Lan Ti and Lan Jianan advocated for a thorough purge. Murong Sheng and Murong Qi plotted revenge, using the opportunity when Lan Mu was campaigning against Lan Ti, with old subordinates like Li Han secretly assisting. After Lan Mu defeated Lan Ti's army and returned to the city, Lan Han and his son were heavily drunk. Murong Sheng took advantage of the night to climb over the wall into the Eastern Palace, killed Lan Mu, and then led his followers into the palace. When Lan Han woke from his drunkenness, his guards had already fled and scattered, and he was executed by Murong Sheng's followers. Lan He, Lan Yang, Lan Ti, Lan Jianan, and other family members were subsequently executed. Murong Sheng restored the throne, and the political situation in Later Yan was restored.

Lan Han was a powerful minister of the Later Yan and a brief usurper, his daughter being empress to the Later Yan emperor Murong Bao and giving him a marriage tie to the Murong house. His elder brother was Lan Di and his younger brother Lan Jianan, the Lan family holding considerable place in the state's military and political life.

The Later Yan fell into disorder after Murong Chui's death; Duan Suguo and others rebelled and Lan Han joined the plot, then killed Duan Suguo and sent his brother Lan Jianan to lure Murong Bao to his death, seizing power. His usurpation came in 398 and he was killed the same year by Murong Sheng, son of Murong Bao, his kin and descendants being destroyed with him. His career is thus confined to the single year 398, an instance of the violent power struggles at the end of the Later Yan.

From Murong Chui's restoration in 384 to the state's fall in 407, conflict within the clan and without was constant: the defeats under Murong Bao, the short regimes of Murong Xiang and Murong Lin, Lan Han's brief usurpation, Murong Sheng's restoration and Murong Xi's misgovernment form a chain of changes. Lan Han's brief tenure falls in its middle, and its speed shows how fragile the Later Yan's basis of rule had become.

Accounts of him come chiefly from the records in the Book of Jin and the relevant volumes of the Comprehensive Mirror, their content tied to the notices of Murong Bao and Murong Sheng with little on Lan Han himself — an arrangement reflecting his place in Later Yan history as a link in a power struggle rather than an independent political figure.

His usurpation came at the crucial point when the Later Yan turned from strength to decline. After Murong Chui's death his son Murong Bao succeeded, and the state suffered defeat after defeat against the Northern Wei, the capital Zhongshan once lost, the clan and the generals each going their own way. Lan Han, as a consort kinsman, held part of the troops at that juncture, and his daughter being Murong Bao's empress gave him a special political position.

Politics about 398 were extremely confused: Duan Suguo rose in revolt and Murong Bao fled; Lan Han first joined Duan's plot, then killed him and sent his brother Lan Jianan to lure Murong Bao to his death. He then styled himself Prince of Changli — some sources say great chanyu and Prince of Changli — and held the government. He reigned less than a year before Murong Sheng, son of Murong Bao, killed him and destroyed his kin and descendants.

After Murong Sheng restored the state it lasted a few more years, until the Northern Yan replaced it in 407. Lan Han's brief regime fills a very small space in the annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms, yet his career concentrates the collapse of the Later Yan's power structure: the mutual slaughter of consort kin, clan and generals brought the state down within a dozen years.

The changes of power at the end of the Later Yan are bound up with the ethnic and regional structure of the time. Its base was the Xianbei following of the Murong house together with the Chinese magnates of Hebei, and under Murong Chui the two were held in balance; after Murong Bao the strife among the clan weakened central authority, and the position of the Lan, Duan and other consort families and tribal chiefs rose accordingly, the conflicts bringing the state down quickly.

That his daughter was Murong Bao's empress shows how the consort families grew in the Later Yan's later years. Similar cases appear in that state and in others of the Sixteen Kingdoms: regimes whose rulers reigned briefly dissolved rapidly amid the contests of consort kin and clan, their survival depending on whether a balance could be kept among those forces.

After the Later Yan fell its lands were held by the Northern Yan and the Northern Wei. The Lan family does not reappear in significant records after his killing, its descent hard to trace — an outcome like the common fate of the clans of the Sixteen Kingdoms regimes after their fall.

After Murong Sheng restored the state its politics did not settle. He killed many clansmen and ministers in his reign and was killed by mutinous troops in 401; his successor Murong Xi was given to excess and was replaced by Murong Yun in 407, ending the Later Yan. This chain of events joins on to the turbulence of Lan Han's time, showing that the state's basis of rule could not be recovered in its last dozen years.

His career is recorded briefly in the chronicle of Murong Bao in the Book of Jin and in the Jin annals of the Comprehensive Mirror, the content on his plot with Duan Suguo, the luring of Murong Bao to his death and his own killing by Murong Sheng being fairly concentrated. These records are the basic material for the last years of the Later Yan, their details to be checked against other sources.

What he relied on in power was chiefly the support of the Lan family and some Xianbei tribes, a very narrow base. That is one reason he was killed by Murong Sheng within a year: the Later Yan clan and old ministers mostly did not acknowledge him, his usurpation itself lacking broad acceptance.

Many short-lived regimes of the Sixteen Kingdoms rose and fell according to whether they could secure a sufficient base of support; his case shows that a marriage tie and a momentary military advantage were not enough to stand in a turbulent political scene. The judgment serves as well for understanding the fate of similar regimes of the period.

The sources for the end of the Later Yan are chiefly the records in the Book of Jin and the Comprehensive Mirror, with the Spring and Autumn of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Book of Wei also touching on it. None treats Lan Han in detail, his career having to be pieced together from the biographies of Murong Bao and Murong Sheng — a common difficulty in studying minor figures of the Sixteen Kingdoms.

The sources differ on the exact title and era name of his usurpation: some say he styled himself Prince of Changli, others great chanyu and Prince of Changli, and his chronology is unclear. The discrepancies reflect the confusion of official record-keeping at the end of the Later Yan and require careful handling.

In the upheavals of its last years the Later Yan lost its hold on Hebei. Lan Han's death and Murong Sheng's restoration let the state go on, but the clan's mutual trust was gone, whence the killings of ministers in Murong Sheng's reign. The vicious circle ended only with the state's fall.

In the history of the Later Yan he is remembered chiefly as a turning point: his usurpation made the Murong clan unite against a consort kinsman, and Murong Sheng's harsh rule afterward worsened relations between the clan and the ministers. The state never recovered its strength in the years that followed, its fall becoming one link in the changes of regimes in the later Sixteen Kingdoms.

After his killing the capital was for a time controlled from Longcheng and politics steadied temporarily in Murong Sheng's hands. His harsh rule made the estrangement of clan and ministers more evident, which became visible quickly once he was assassinated.

Lan Han belonged to the Xianbei Lan clan, whose members held office in the Murong regimes. The marriage tie between the Lans and the Murongs is the key to his position in the political game: it brought him near the center of power and also made him an object of the clan's suspicion, his usurpation and his death both tied to it.

No concrete record of the edicts and appointments of his reign survives; his brief rule was less the working of a government than a series of political events.

The fall of the Later Yan and the rise of the Northern Wei are two sides of northern politics in that period. His usurpation came while Wei was attacking in force, and the internal disorder weakened the state's resistance and eased Wei's advance in Hebei. In that light his affair was not merely an internal matter of the Later Yan but part of the wider change in the politics of the time.

His conduct at the end of the Later Yan is inseparable from the political setting of the time: conflict between clan and consort kin, military pressure from the Northern Wei and the division of Hebei's local forces together make up the background of his usurpation. His failure shows that a usurper in such a setting could not win lasting support.

After the Later Yan fell, part of the Murong clan entered the Northern Wei and part moved elsewhere, while its old ministers were mostly employed by Wei. The Book of Wei and the Book of Jin emphasize different aspects of this period and may be read together.

In the standard histories of the Sixteen Kingdoms his name is mentioned chiefly as the antecedent to Murong Sheng's restoration.

Major Activities

Launching the Longcheng Coup

Lan Han took advantage of Murong Bao's southern campaign to collude with Duan Suguo to capture Longcheng. After Duan Suguo occupied Longcheng, Lan Han quickly executed Duan Suguo and seized control. This coup directly led to the luring and killing of the Later Yan Emperor Murong Bao, allowing Lan Han to briefly hold the highest power in Later Yan.

Usurpation and Change of Era Name

After executing Murong Bao, Lan Han self-proclaimed himself as the Prince of Changli, changed the era name to Qinglong, and established a brief rule. He attempted to appease the people by sacrificing to the Yan ancestors and the spirit tablet of Murong Bao, but internal contradictions intensified, ultimately leading to his execution by Murong Sheng.

Family Purge

After Lan Han's death, Murong Sheng, to consolidate power, executed members of the Lan family, including Lan Mu, Lan He, Lan Yang, Lan Ti, and Lan Jianan. Lan Han's daughter (Murong Sheng's wife) was spared from death due to the intervention of Consort Ding and was sent out of the palace.

Personal Relations

• Brothers**: Lan Jian, Lan Di, Lan Jianan
• Sisters**: Lady Lan (harem of Murong Huang, biological mother of Murong Chui)
• Nephew**: Murong Chui (Emperor Chengwu of Later Yan)
• Sons-in-law**: Murong Kai, Murong Sheng
• Grandson**: Murong Qi
• Children**: Lan Mu (eldest son), Lan He (Duke of Lu), Lan Yang (Duke of Chen), Lady Lan (married to Murong Kai), Consort Lan (married to Murong Sheng)

Historical Assessment

Cai Dongfan evaluated Lan Han in Romance of the Two Jins: "Lan Han, being the emperor's maternal uncle, and with his daughter serving as Consort Changle, was doubly related by kinship and should have shared the same fate. Yet he secretly colluded with external rebels and lured the ruler to his death. Murong Bao did not betray Lan Han; it was Lan Han who truly betrayed Murong Bao. His evil surpasses even that of Wang Mang and Cao Cao." This evaluation points out Lan Han's crimes of betraying the imperial family and usurping the throne by killing the ruler, considering his evil deeds to be even worse than those of Wang Mang and Cao Cao.