Dynasties of ChinaNorthern and Southern DynastiesNorthern Wei Dynasty
Xiping and others · Reign 515—528
He ascended the throne at the age of six, Hutaihou came to court twice, the Six Towns Uprising broke out, the Northern Wei Dynasty collapsed, and he died suddenly at the age of nineteen.
Yuan Xu is the son of Emperor Xuanwu and his biological mother is Hu Chonghua. Emperor Xuanwu died in 515, and six-year-old Yuan Xu came to the throne, Hutaihourule as regent. She believed in Buddhism and built projects such as the nine-story pagoda of Yongning Temple, which cost a lot of money. In 520, the leader Yuan Cha and the eunuch Liu Teng launched a coup, imprisoned Hutaihou, killed Yuanyi, the king of Qinghe, and controlled the government for five years.
In 523, the military and civilians in six towns in the north revolted, and rebellions in Guanlong and Hebei broke out one after another, and the rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty fell into crisis. In 525, Hutaihou returned to the court and favored Zheng Yan, Xu He and others. The conflict between mother and son became increasingly serious. In 528, Emperor Xiaoming secretly summoned Er Zhurong to lead his army to Beijing. He died violently before the matter was accomplished. At the age of 19, it was said that he was poisoned by Hutaihou. Er Zhurong used this as an excuse to march to Luoyang.
PoliticsHutaihou comes to court
After the death of Emperor Xuanwu, six-year-old Yuan Xu came to the throne. Yu Zhong, Yuan Yong and others executed Gao Zhao, and soon Hu Chonghua was honored as the empress dowager, rule as regent, calling herself "I", and handling the government affairs personally.
CultureBuild Yongning Temple Pagoda
Hutaihou built Yongning Temple in Luoyang City. The nine-story wooden pagoda in the temple towered into the clouds. "Luoyang Jialan Ji" said that "you can see it from a distance of a hundred miles away from the capital". It was destroyed by thunder and fire in 534.
Lasting legacyThe Yongning Temple pagoda foundation ruins are located in the ancient city of Luoyang during the Han and Wei dynasties. The ruins of Luoyang City during the Han and Wei dynasties were listed as a World Heritage Site in 2014 as part of the Silk Road's "Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor Road Network."
DiplomacySong Yun travels westward
Hutaihou sent Song Yun and the monk Huisheng to the west to seek Dharma. They passed through Tuyuhun and Khotan and arrived in Wuchang, Qiandala and other countries. In 522, they brought back 170 Mahayana sutras and treatises.
Lasting legacySong YunYi Xing's travel notes were included in "Luoyang Jialan Ji" by Yang Xuanzhi and have been passed down to this day. It is an important document for studying the history of Central Asia and South Asia in the 6th century.
PoliticsYuan Cha imprisoned the Queen Mother
The leading general Yuan Cha and the eunuch Liu Teng launched a coup, falsely accused Yuanyi of Qinghe, imprisoned Hutaihou in the Beigong, and held Emperor Xiaoming hostage to control the government for five years.
SocietySix Towns Uprising
The soldiers and civilians of the six towns in the north were angry because of their reduced status and famine and helplessness. The people of Woye broke the Liuhan Baling Mausoleum and took the lead in raising troops (one theory is 524). Each town responded one after another, and the Northern Wei Dynasty suppressed it with the help of Rouran troops.
PoliticsHutaihou returned to the dynasty
Hutaihou united with Gaoyang Wang Yuanyong and others to get rid of Yuan Cha's control, came to the court again, and soon killed Yuan Cha. She favored Zheng Yan, Xu He and others, and the government became even more corrupt.
SocietyGe Rong Uprising
Xianyu Xiuli raised an army in Hebei, and his general Ge Rong subsequently claimed to be the emperor, with the country name Qi. He captured most of the prefectures and counties in Hebei and supported hundreds of thousands of people. The rule of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Hebei was almost collapsed.
PeopleLi Daoyuan was killed
Xiao Baoyu, the governor of Yongzhou, plotted a rebellion. The imperial court sent Li Daoyuan as the ambassador to Guanyou. When he arrived at Yinpanyi, he was surrounded and killed by Xiao Baoyu's men. His forty volumes of "Shui Jing Zhu" were handed down to later generations.
Lasting legacy"Shui Jing Zhu" records more than 1,200 rivers. It is still the basic classic for studying Chinese history and geography, and has formed a specialized "Li Xue".
PoliticsEmperor Xiaoming died violently
Emperor Xiaoming was dissatisfied with Hutaihou's autocratic power and secretly issued a secret edict to Er Zhurong to lead his army southward, but then issued an edict to stop it. Emperor Xiaoming died suddenly in February, and one theory was that he was poisoned by Hutaihou. Hutaihou first created a baby girl to pretend to be the prince, and then changed the name to a three-year-old Yuan Zhao.
Emperor Xiaoming's biological mother, Emperor Xuanwu, ruled as regent after his death. He was talented but extravagant and worshiped the Buddha. He was in power twice, favored and trusted sycophants, and the country's affairs deteriorated day by day. In 528, Er Zhurong invaded Luoyang and sank her and her young master Yuan Zhao into the Yellow River.
Xiu Rongqi, the chief of the Hu tribe, recruited refugees and strengthened his power during the chaos in the six towns. In 528, he marched into Luoyang in the name of revenge for Emperor Xiaoming, created the Heyin Revolution, and took control of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
An official in the Northern Wei Dynasty, who enforced the law strictly, wrote annotations for "Shui Jing" and wrote forty volumes of "Shui Jing Zhu". In 527, he was killed by Xiao Baoyu's men on his way to Guanzhong as an envoy.
A native of Dunhuang, he and Huisheng went to the Western Regions to seek Dharma on the orders of Hutaihou in 518. They spent several years and brought back 170 Buddhist scriptures, leaving behind precious records about the countries in Central Asia and South Asia.