Yan Keqiu

Yan Keqiu (嚴可求) (died November 19, 930) was a key official of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Wu, as the chief strategist for the Wu regent Xu Wen and each of Wu's three rulers, Yang Wo, Yang Longyan, and Yang Pu.

It is not known when Yan Keqiu was born. His family was from Tong Prefecture (同州, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), but his father Yan Shi (嚴實) had served as an assistant to a Tang Dynasty director for Yangtze River-Huai River shipping, and therefore settled at the future Wu capital Guangling (廣陵, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), which was then the capital of Tang's Huainan Circuit (淮南). It was said that Yan Keqiu was intelligent and capable of strategies in his youth, and became a guest of the Huainan officer Xu Wen, then serving under Huinan's military governor (Jiedushi) Yang Xingmi. Through Xu's relationship with Yang, Yan became a member of Yang's staff and often offered advice to Yang.

Even though Yan Keqiu was directly serving under Yang Xingmi, he remained closely allied with Xu Wen. In 903, when Yang's brother-in-law and subordinate Zhu Yanshou the military governor of Fengguo Circuit (奉國, headquartered in modern Lu'an, Anhui) was planning to join the rebellion started by two other Yang subordinates, Tian Jun the military governor of Ningguo Circuit (寧國, headquartered in modern Xuancheng, Anhui) and An Renyi (安仁義) the military prefect (團練使, Tuanlianshi) of Run Prefecture (潤州, in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), it was Yan who suggested to Xu a plan to trick Zhu into a trap, which Xu then suggested to Yang and which Yang then accepted — that Yang would pretend to be blind to his wife (Zhu's sister) Lady Zhu and be preparing to offer the command of Huainan to Zhu. When Zhu believed so and went to Guangling to accept Yang's offer, Yang had Xu seize and execute him. After Zhu's death, Yang promoted both Xu and Yan.

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