Qin Yan (秦彥) (died March 2, 888[1][2]), né Qin Li (秦立), was a Chinese military general, warlord and politician during the medieval Tang dynasty, who seized control of Xuanshe Circuit (宣歙, headquartered in modern Xuancheng, Anhui), and thereafter briefly seized control of Yang Prefecture (揚州, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), the capital of Huainan Circuit (淮南), before being defeated by warlord Yang Xingmi.
Qin, along with several other key Huang followers, including Bi Shiduo, Li Hanzhi, and Xu Qing (許勍), surrendered to Gao.
[3] In 882, Qin Yan had his son take several thousand soldiers to make a surprise attack on Xuanshe Circuit's capital Xuan Prefecture (宣州).
[3][5] Dou's staff member Zhang Ji (張佶), despising Qin, left Xuan Prefecture.
[2] However, Yang Xingmi the prefect of Lu Prefecture (廬州, in modern Hefei, Anhui) refused to recognize Qin.
However, on November 18, Lü's former associate Zhang Shenwei (張審威) opened the city gates and welcomed Yang Xingmi's forces in.
Their officer Tang Hong (唐宏), believing that Sun would eventually kill them, decided to save himself by falsely accusing Qin Yan and Bi of working in concert with Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan).