Chapter 174 Chapter 173 Former Deposed Emperor Yuan Gong

Yuan Gong, courtesy name Xiuye, was the son of Yuan Yu, the younger brother of Emperor Xiaowen of Wei Dynasty, and was the king of Guangling during the reign of Emperor Xuanwu.During the Zhengguang period of Emperor Xiaoming, Yuancha was in power, and Yuan Gong was deeply dissatisfied, so he pretended to be unable to speak because of illness, lived in Longhua Temple outside Luoyang City, and did not participate in political affairs.During the Yong'an period, someone told Emperor Xiaozhuang that Yuan Gong was pretending to be dumb and ignorant, but in fact he was harboring evil intentions.Yuan Gong fled to Shangluo Mountain in fear of misfortune, but was soon sent to Luoyang by the magistrate, and was detained for many days.Emperor Xiaozhuang also suspected that Yuan Gong was pretending to be dumb, so he sent someone to steal Yuan Gong's clothes late at night, and drew his sword as if to kill him, but Yuan Gong remained silent.Therefore, Emperor Xiaozhuang believed that Yuan Gong had really become a dumb person, so he released him.

In December of the first year of Jianming (AD 530), Er Zhuzhao captured Luoyang, and Emperor Xiaozhuang was captured and killed.At this time, Yuan Gong had been pretending to be dumb for eight years, but the public opinion praised him for his obscurity, his extraordinary ability, his air of emperor and so on.After the Erzhu Group captured Luoyang, they wanted to establish Yuan Gong as emperor, but they pushed it by vainly responding to people's expectations.But Erzhu Shilong and others were worried that Yuan Gong was really dumb, so they sent someone to convey to Yuan Gong their intention to make him emperor, and coerced him to speak out.Yuan Gong, who had been pretending to be dumb for many years, borrowed the words of Confucius and said: "What can God say!" This shows that he is not really dumb, and has no objection to making himself emperor.In February of the following year, Erzhu Shilong and others abolished Yuan Ye and established Yuan Gong, and rebuilt the second year of Ming Dynasty as the first year of Putai.

The Erzhu family is a group of savage thugs, they carve off the world, each do their own way, and they use greed and abuse wherever they go.After the failure of the Hebei Uprising, there were still 100,000 or 200,000 people who were forced to migrate to Shanxi.These refugees were tortured by the Erzhu Group, and because of the years of winter drought in Shanxi, their lives were very difficult, so some people continued to stage armed resistance.Er Zhuzhao discussed countermeasures with Gao Huan, the governor of Jinzhou, and Gao Huan said, "The proper way is to choose reliable people to lead them." Er Zhuzhao agreed with Gao Huan's opinion and let Gao Huan lead the refugees.Gao Huan is a Xianbei Han Chinese who was once a subordinate of Ge Rong.He organized the refugees into an army organization and won the trust of the refugees.Later, Gao Huan asked Er Zhuzhao to let him lead the refugees to eat in the area east of Taihang Mountain.Er Zhuzhao's staff reminded Er Zhuzhao not to hand over the soldiers and civilians of the three prefectures and six towns to Gao Huan's command, otherwise it would be like borrowing a dragon to use clouds and rain, and it would surely form an uncontrollable force.Er Zhuzhao did not listen to the advice, but still agreed to Gao Huan's request.Gao Huan mastered a team of refugees, and Ben Mitu relied on this force to turn against the Erzhu family.

Gao Huan also got the support of local rich and powerful families in the Hebei area east of Taihang Mountain, so he broke with the Erzhu family.In October of the first year of Putai, Gao Huan supported Yuen Long as emperor, with the title of Zhongxing.Gao Huan served as prime minister and general.In March of the second year of Zhongxing (532 A.D.), Gao Huan defeated Erzhu's coalition forces in Hanling (now Anyang, Henan).In April, Gao Huan entered Luoyang.Yuan Gong was deposed and imprisoned in Chongxun Buddhist Temple.A month later, he was poisoned to death in another province under his door at the age of 35.Known in history as "Former Abandoned Emperor", also known as "Jiemin Emperor".