Yan Guang was a native of Yuyao, who was originally surnamed Zhuang, but Emperor Ming of Han's name was Liu Zhuang, and in order to avoid secrecy, he had to change his surname to Yan.
Yan Guang was once a classmate of Liu Xiu, the Guangwu Emperor, and a close friend of Liu Xiu. Yan Guang was known for his talent and intelligence when he was a teenager, and in the process of Liu Xiu's struggle for the world, Yan Guang repeatedly advised Liu Xiu. However, after Liu Xiu became emperor, Yan Guang hid his name and lived in seclusion in Fuchun Mountain.
Yan Guang himself is talented, but he is not concerned about fame and fortune, during his seclusion, Liu Xiu has repeatedly invited Yan Guang to come out of the mountains to assist himself, but they have eaten the closed door. Yan Guang's indifferent mind to fame and fortune was particularly admired by later generations of literati, and countless literati hermits were fascinated by it, and it is said that Fan Zhongyan once wrote a "Record of Mr. Yan's Ancestral Hall" to praise Yan Guang, which praised Yan Guang for "high mountains and long waters".
Liu Xiu first invited Yan Guang in the first year of Jianwu, when the Eastern Han Dynasty had just been established, and the country was in ruins and waiting to be rebuilt, which was extremely scarce for talents, so Liu Xiu thought of a person, that is, his old classmate Yan Guang. However, at that time, Liu Xiu and Yan Guang had long lost contact for many years, and he did not know where this old friend lived, so he ordered his subordinates to search according to Yan Guang's physical characteristics.
Soon after, his men returned to report that they had found a strange man in the Fuchun River in Tonglu, wearing a sheepskin fur and fishing by the river, as was the case every day. Liu Xiu had a premonition, thinking that this person was Yan Guang, so he sent someone to send a generous gift to see Yan Guang, but he waited for a long time and did not receive a reply, so he was very anxious.
So Liu Xiu invited Yan Guang to Luoyang as a guest many times, and finally Yan Guang was really unable to resist this old classmate, so he had to agree to Liu Xiu's request, but after arriving in Luoyang, no matter how Liu Xiu persuaded, Yan Guang did not agree to Liu Xiu.
At that time, there was a man named Hou Ba, who held the position of Situ in the imperial court. Hou Ba and Yan Guang were also old classmates, and when they heard that Yan Guang was in Luoyang, they were naturally overjoyed, and when they heard that His Majesty had persuaded Yan Guang bitterly, Yan Guang failed to agree to Liu Xiu's request, refused to become an official, and decided to send someone to lobby Yan Guang to share his worries for His Majesty.
Hou Ba wrote a letter and sent someone to Yan Guang, in which he first revealed his identity as an old classmate, and then apologized for not being able to see Yan Guang in person, saying that he held an important position in the DPRK and had many affairs, plus it would be taboo to meet in such a hasty manner, and finally persuaded Yan Guang at the end of the letter.
However, Yan Guang did not appreciate it, and did not give much face to this old classmate of the past, so after hastily reading it, he threw the letter into the waste paper pile next to him. The next person on the side looked at it in his eyes, felt unhappy, and said to Yan Guang that he hoped that Yan Guang could write a reply, one was to make himself a good friend, and the other was not to destroy the friendship of the same window for many years.
At the request of the next person, Yan Guang had to write a reply letter, but in the letter, he did not make a family with Hou Bala, but directly put forward some suggestions to Hou Ba, the general content of which was: I hope that Hou Ba will rule the world with benevolence and righteousness during his reign, and that he will stay away from villains in the DPRK, and he will listen to those who are flattered and flattered, and easily believe that the rumors of villains will be in different places.
Seeing this reply, Hou Ba's heart was naturally unhappy, and he directly complained about this matter to Liu Xiu, and as a result, Liu Xiu laughed after hearing it: "Ziling is still the same as before", and then he gave Hou Ba some good words and persuasion, and then sent Hou Ba?
Later, Liu Xiu found that sending someone to see Yan Guang had not achieved any results, so he decided to go out on his own.
Liu Xiu personally went to see Yan Guang, pushed open the door and found yan Guang sleeping. Liu Xiu was not angry because of Yan Guang's contempt, but instead stayed by his side, and after seeing Yan Guang's movement, he touched Yan Guang's stomach with his hand, just like when he was still in the same window for many years. He said, "Ziling, won't you help me do things?", but yan Guang refused again, by listing the allusions that Father Chao immediately washed his ears after hearing that Tang Yao wanted to ask him to become an official. Liu Xiu sighed after hearing this and had to leave.
Although Yan Guang's request to Liu Xiu during his visit in Luoyang was not to enter the oil and salt, and his attitude was frivolous, which made some people in the DPRK unhappy, Liu Xiu treated this close friend as if he had been in the same window for many years, and it seemed that the feelings between the two sides had not disappeared much over the years.
It is said that once, Liu Xiu invited Yan Guang to the palace to talk, and after talking very late, plus drinking some wine, Liu Xiu directly slept in the same bed with Yan Guang. But Yan Guang's sleeping position was notoriously indecent, and he directly placed his leg on Liu Xiu's stomach in the middle of the night and pressed it all night.
The next day, Taishi rushed into the palace to advise, saying that he had watched the sky last night, found that the emperor star was collided, and calculated that the source was Yan Guang, a recent guest, Liu Xiu was furious after hearing it, and angrily rebuked Taishi: "I slept with my old friend, what's the matter?" After hearing this, Taishi immediately knelt down and pleaded guilty, and left in sorrow.
These days when Yan Guang was living in Luoyang, Liu Xiu also understood Yan Guang's idea, and it was not difficult for him to force people, so he had to let Yan Guang leave.
It is said that Yan Guang later lived in seclusion on Mount Fuchun and continued to be his hermit, fishing on the Fuchun River every day until Yan Guang died at the age of eighty. Liu Xiu was devastated after hearing this, and buried Yan Guanghou in Kexing Mountain.
Reference: The Book of the Later Han Dynasty