#yafu is a name I borrowed for my fic

[burningthegallows]

Zhou Yafu and Huo Buyi

Zhou Yafu, 周亞夫, was a minister in the early/mid Han period. His father was the paragon of military virtues, he made a name for himself fighting the Xiongnu with economic and military strategy, and he was responsible for ending the Rebellion of the Seven Princes in less than three months.

While Ling Buyi's character relies on a lot of tropes, there are also some particular historical figures that are being played with.

(There's a certain sense of humor to it in lltg (can't speak for the books) like making Ban Jia terribly sheltered and easily lost--snerk)

Some interesting things about Zhou Yafu:

He worked mostly under Emperor Wen's successor, Emperor Jing

The Rebellion of the Seven States was shut down under Emperor Jing

He was given the title "Defender-in-Chief" for, among other things, actually training his armies

He, like Huo Buyi, was General of the Cavalry and Chariots and deputy minister of the household

His older brother was executed for committing murder, thus he inherited his father's title and fief

Emperor Jing would eventually lose faith in Zhou Yafu and he would be fired and later imprisoned

When his son was discovered to be stealing from the Imperial Armory, they were both accused of treason, and he starved himself in prison

He tried starving himself once before in prison, but css his wife talked him out of it

Today he is thought of as some paragon of principled, martial virtue

There aren't a ton of direct parallels, but something about the details when Wendi was talking about his sworn brother, Huo Chong, reminded me of Zhou Bo, Yafu's father.

I'm sure it colored my research, but after I decided that lby was based on Zhou Yafu, I started thinking about the show as an au retelling. Like, history, but what if Zhou Bo and all of lby's siblings were murdered during the Lü Contention.

[As a further aside, even if I do think that Zhuo Yafu was the historical inspiration for Hou Buyi, Emperor Jing is not the third prince. Third prince is Emperor Ming]