Chapter 172 Chapter 171 Xiaozhuang Emperor Yuan Ziyou

In February of the first year of Wutai (528 A.D.), Empress Dowager Hu actually poisoned Emperor Xiaoming Yuanxu because of her corruption in governing the government.Er Zhurong, the chief of the Qihu nationality who had a strong army and was stationed in Jinyang (now Taiyuan, Shanxi), took the opportunity to launch an attack, planned to abolish the establishment, and wanted to manipulate the government. If Er Zhurong wanted to overthrow the emperor Yuanzhao established by Empress Dowager Hu, he had to establish another monarch in the Yuan clan to win the hearts of the ruling and wild people.He was superstitious about cast divination, and used the success of the cast to determine who among the princes should be the emperor. As a result, only the bronze statue of Yuan Ziyou, Prince of Changle, was cast.

Yuan Ziyou was the son of Yuan Xie, king of Pengcheng, and uncle of Emperor Xiaoming Yuanxu. He was named the king of Changle in the second year of Xiaochang (526 A.D.).In April of the first year of Wutai, Er Zhurong marched to Luoyang.Yuan Ziyou and his brothers sneaked out of Luoyang and went to the Erzhurong military camp that had arrived in Hanoi (now Qinyang, Henan).Er Zhurong supported Yuan Ziyou as emperor.The generals guarding Luoyang under the order of Queen Mother Hu were inclined to Yuan Ziyou and did not resist Erzhu Rongjun. Erzhu Rongjun crossed the Yellow River smoothly and stationed in the north of Mount Mang outside Luoyang City, in the wilderness of Heyin.

At this time, Er Zhurong's subordinate Wuwei General Fei Mu encouraged Er Zhurong to take advantage of the situation to destroy Wei and proclaim himself emperor.Er Zhurong also really had the heart to proclaim himself emperor and stand on his own feet, so he planned the Heyin tragedy, and killed all the more than 2,000 princes and officials of the Wei family who had been summoned under the pretext of offering sacrifices to heaven.Yuan Ziyou was under house arrest, only to realize that he was just a puppet emperor under the control of Er Zhurong. He had no choice but to express his willingness to give up the throne of emperor to Er Zhurong.Er Zhurong didn't want to accept the "abdication", and hoped that he would also be a ruler who would ascend to the top according to the destiny, so he tried divination on the cast image, but the casting failed.Er Zhurong, who was particularly superstitious about divination, lost his self-confidence, and even felt ashamed and uneasy about the Heyin murder.Advisers loyal to the Wei Empire took the opportunity to persuade Er Zhurong to still regard Yuan Ziyou as king.Only then was Yuan Ziyou sent to the Luoyang Palace, where he declared amnesty and changed the year name to the first year of Jianyi.

Yuan Ziyou was facing a precarious empire, and he could only rely on Er Zhurong's power to support the decaying framework of the Wei Empire.Er Zhurong was named the King of Taiyuan and General of the Zhu Kingdom, and later became the Prime Minister because he suppressed the massive Hebei Uprising.Er Zhurong's two sons were also promoted to be kings, and the power of the Erzhu family continued to expand. In May of the second year of Yong'an (AD 529), Wang Yuanhao of Beihai, the Wei clan who defected to Nanliang, went northward with the help of Liang soldiers and captured Luoyang.Yuan Ziyou fled north across the Yellow River.Yuan Hao proclaimed himself emperor and changed his year name to the first year of Jianwu.Later, Zhu Rong and Yuan Tianmu led troops to join Yuan Ziyou to attack Luoyang. Yuan Hao failed to resist and was killed on the way to flee south.Yuan Ziyou re-entered Luoyang and made Er Zhurong the General of Tianzhu. This was an unprecedented lord in the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Er Zhurong's authority grew day by day.

Yuan Ziyou was not reconciled to only playing the role of a puppet monarch. He once said angrily to those close to him: "I would rather die like Gaogui Xianggong (Cao Mao) in the last dynasty of Cao Wei, fighting with powerful officials than like Emperor Xiandi of the Han Dynasty." Just live in this world." Er Zhurong's killing in Heyin has always been a shadow of terror suppressed in the hearts of Yuan Ziyou and some princes and old nobles.Chengyang Wang Yuanhui and others conspired with Yuan Ziyou to get rid of Er Zhurong.In September of the third year of Yong'an, Yuan Ziyou falsely claimed that the prince was born, and Er Zhurong, Yuan Tianmu and others had to enter the palace for pilgrimage.Erzhu Shilong, the younger brother of Er Zhurong's family, served in the court. He had already heard that the emperor had the intention of murdering Er Zhurong, so he sent someone to urgently report Er Zhurong not to enter the court.Er Zhurong relied on his power and did not believe that Yuan Ziyou dared to plot his life, so he still went on the pilgrimage.Yuan Ziyou ambushed his troops in the east corridor of the Mingguang Hall, and waited for Er Zhurong, his sons Erzhu Puti and Yuan Tianmu to enter the hall.Yuan Ziyou took the opportunity to assassinate Er Zhurong with his own hands.Erzhu Puti and Yuan Tianmu were killed by ambush soldiers at the same time.

But just killing Er Zhurong and others cannot wipe out Er Zhu's power for a while.When Er Zhu Shilong and Er Zhurong's wife learned that Er Zhurong had been killed, they immediately led their troops to burn Xiyang Gate and escape from Luoyang.Er Zhu Shilong gathered an armed group outside Luoyang City to attack the capital, vowing to avenge Er Zhurong.This hasty attack failed, and Er Zhu Shilong withdrew his troops and went north to Taihang.At the beginning of December, Erzhu Zhao, Er Zhurong's nephew, sent troops south to attack Luoyang again.Luoyang fell, and Yuan Ziyou was taken captive to Jinyang.Er Zhuzhao slaughtered the prince, insulted the concubine, sent troops to plunder them, and returned them to the north. More than 10 days later, Yuan Ziyou was hanged to death in Jinyang Sanji Temple.Two years later, Emperor Xiaowu of Wei posthumously named Yuan Ziyou as "Emperor Xiaozhuang" with the temple name "Jingzong" and moved his remains to be buried in Jingling Mausoleum in Luoyang.