Chapter 26 The subjugated "Supreme Emperor" died in a foreign land

The Northern Qi Dynasty established its capital in Yecheng (now southwest of Linzhang, Hebei), with Jinyang (now Taiyuan, Shanxi) as its other capital.But Jinyang is very important to Northern Qi.Jinyang has a difficult terrain, located in the valley of the Fen River, surrounded by mountains as barriers, and has a geographical advantage in military affairs.If you advance, you can go south to take the Central Plains. If you retreat, you can rely on the city to hold on and wait for help.So starting from Gao Huan, generations of Northern Qi emperors have attached great importance to the management of Jinyang City.Gao Huan finally died in Jinyang.The Northern Qi emperors after Gao Yang spent a long time every year handling political affairs in Jinyang Palace.Many changes of emperors in the Northern Qi Dynasty were also carried out in Jinyang, and Gao Wei ascended the throne in Jinyang Beigong.Jinyang became the actual political and military center of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and its status was extremely important.

Therefore, when Gao Wei fled all the way to Jinyang, whether this important town can hold on will be related to the life and death of Northern Qi. When Gao Wei came to Jinyang, he was scared out of his wits, so he took a short rest and left Ander Wang Gao Yanzong and others to stay in Jinyang, and fled to Turkic by himself.The ministers and soldiers tried hard to persuade him to stay and calm down, but he refused to listen.The people under him did not want to abandon their hometown and go to the Turks to live under others, and they fled one after another along the way, and even his favorite ministers such as Mu Dipo surrendered to the Northern Zhou Dynasty.In the end, Gao Wei had only a dozen or so horsemen around him, so he had to return to the capital, Yecheng.

The soldiers and civilians in Jinyang City saw that the emperor abandoned them irresponsibly and ran away, so they supported Gao Yanzong, the king of Ande who was ordered to stay behind, as emperor and changed Yuan Dechang.When Gao Wei learned of this, he said angrily: "I would rather let Jinyang City be delivered to Zhou Jun than King Ande be emperor there." The beauties in the harem were rewarded to the soldiers, who led the army and the people to defend Jinyang.After the Northern Zhou army surrounded Jinyang, he personally took the lead in Shiyu and led 40,000 troops out of the city to fight.For a while, the Northern Zhou army was killed and defeated, and even Emperor Wu of Zhou was almost captured.But after the victory, the soldiers of the Northern Qi Dynasty were ecstatic and poured into the neighborhoods to drink and celebrate. Many people lay drunk on the long street, which made it impossible for Gao Yanzong to regroup the army.Therefore, in the early morning of the next day, the army of the Northern Zhou Dynasty took advantage of the surprise of the defenders of the Northern Qi Dynasty and attacked Jinyang from the east gate in one fell swoop.

At this time, Gao Wei was dying in Yedu.He had sent his family to Beishuozhou (now Shuo County, Shanxi Province) in advance.Now that his mother, Queen Mother Hu, is back, he ignores him.But when concubine Shu Feng Xiaoling arrived, Gao Wei dug open the city wall to the north of Yecheng and went out ten li to meet her.The minister persuaded him to deliver a speech to the soldiers defending the city in person, and also wrote a speech for him about fighting hard to defend the city, asking him to shed tears of gratitude during the speech to motivate the soldiers.But when the playful emperor faced hundreds of thousands of solemn and solemn soldiers who had the heart of mourning and winning, he suddenly forgot the words on the speech and burst out laughing.The soldiers were furious and said, "The emperor is like this, why are we in a hurry." They had no fighting spirit.Although Gao Wei didn't take the military spirit seriously, he was very superstitious and took God's instructions very seriously.The fortuneteller in the palace said that there was a change in astronomy, and there should be signs of a change of dynasty.Following his father's example, he gave the seat of Zen to the eight-year-old prince Gao Heng, who was changed to Yuan Chengguang, and became the "Supreme Emperor" himself.

However, God could not bless him. Gao Wei had just been the Supreme Emperor for 25 days when the Northern Zhou army broke through Yecheng, the capital of the Northern Qi Dynasty.So Gao Wei ran to Jizhou with his wife, children, and children. At this time, only more than a hundred followers followed him.Then he fled to Qingzhou in a hurry. If Bei Zhou still pursued him, he was going to go south from Qingzhou to the enemy country Chen Guo for refuge.And his favorite, Gao Anagong, saw that Gao Wei had already perished and had no future with him, so he planned to use their father and son as his own advancement.He secretly sent someone to send a message to Emperor Wu of Zhou, planning to cooperate inside and outside to capture Gao Wei and his son alive.But Gao Wei didn't know anything about it, so he asked Gao Anaku to pay close attention to Bei Zhou's movements. Gao Anaku lied to him: "The bridges along the way have been demolished, and Bei Zhou won't be able to come for a while. The emperor should rest assured." ” Gao Wei believed it was true, and stayed in Qingzhou with peace of mind, unexpectedly having leisure time with Feng Xiaoling.Unexpectedly, just three days later, the army of the Northern Zhou Dynasty suddenly arrived in Qingzhou like a divine soldier. Gao Anagong opened the city gate, and the army of the Northern Zhou Dynasty rushed in.Gao Wei was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder were torn apart, he packed a large bag of gold and tied it to the saddle, and ran wildly with a dozen people including his concubine. Finally, he was chased by Zhou Jun in Nandeng Village, and more than a dozen people including Gao Wei and his son were captured.The Northern Qi regime since Gao Huan's founding ended in this way.

In the sixth year of Jiande (577), Emperor Wu of Zhou held a grand captive offering ceremony in front of the Taimiao. Hundreds of people, including Gao Wei, the clan and ministers of the Northern Qi Dynasty, knelt down in front of the Taimiao of Zhou State as captured subjects.Emperor Wu of Zhou named Gao Wei the Duke of Wen, and returned Feng Xiaoling to him at his request.Then, Emperor Wu of Zhou held a large-scale celebration banquet, and Gao Wei and other descendants also attended.When the wine was hot, Emperor Wu of Zhou ordered Gao Wei to dance for fun. This is actually an insulting request.When the Western Jin Dynasty fell, Liu Cong of the Later Han Dynasty captured Emperor Huai and Emperor Min of Jin to Chang'an. At a grand banquet, the two emperors were dressed in the green clothes of servants and persuaded the ministers present to drink.Many of those ministers were former courtiers of the Western Jin Dynasty. Seeing the old master being insulted in this way, they couldn't help sobbing and crying.Many people cried bitterly, but Liu Cong was dragged out and beheaded immediately.But the second emperor Huaimin endured this humiliation but failed to die well, and finally let Liu Cong kill him.

At this time, Emperor Wu of Zhou ordered Gao Wei to dance during the banquet, not knowing how he would feel.Maybe he will feel humiliated, but he has to obey in order to survive; maybe he doesn't care at all, the country has let him play, so it's nothing to dance here, and besides, Emperor Wu of Zhou is willing to return Feng Xiaoling to him, he should be grateful.In any case, his exquisite dancing skills were unanimously appreciated by the monarchs and ministers of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It seems that his fate should be better than that of the Second Emperor Huaimin of the Western Jin Dynasty.

But he can't always be so lucky. After all, he is the king of subjugation, and his life hangs in his hands. Even if he doesn't have any ideas, as the former emperor of Northern Qi, the suspicion of the people of Northern Zhou will never disappear.Half a year later, the Northern Zhou Dynasty had completely controlled the old land of the Northern Qi Dynasty. In order to eradicate the weeds, the people of the Northern Zhou Dynasty falsely accused Gao Wei of rebellion, and ordered him and his son Gao Heng, including more than 30 direct princes and clan members, to die. The disabled younger brothers Gao Renying and Gao Renya survived and were moved to a remote place in Western Shu, where they were left to fend for themselves.Gao Wei's mother, Empress Dowager Hu, and his wife, Empress Mu, lived in Chang'an and became prostitutes.The rest of Gao's relatives were exiled to the western desert, and none of them returned.