Emperor Gao of Southern Qi - Under Emperor Houfei of Liu Song

Under Emperor Houfei of Liu Song

In 474, Emperor Houfei's uncle Liu Xiufan (劉休範) the Prince of Guiyang and governor of Jiang Province (江州, modern Jiangxi and Fujian), angry that he had not been made the regent, rebelled and made a quick advancement toward Jiankang. At a major military strategy session, although there were a number of high level officials, powerful associates of the emperor, and senior generals present, no one dared to speak first until Xiao Daocheng proposed the strategy of not sending an army out to engage Liu Xiufan but rather defending the strong defensive posts in the outskirts of Jiankang and not actively engaging Liu Xiufan, forcing him into a stalemate and causing him to run out of food supplies. Without significant opposition, Xiao's plan was adopted.

Liu Xiufan's forces soon arrived, and he made a direct assault against Xiao's defensive position. With Xiao's approval, his officers Huang Hui (黃回) and Zhang Jing'er (張敬兒) falsely surrendered to Liu Xiufan, and then further informed Liu Xiufan that Xiao wished to surrender as well. While pretending to secretly convey the information, Zhang and Huang then assassinated Liu Xiufan. However, because they had to then discard Liu Xiufan's head to avoid Liu Xiufan's guards, the news was not known initially, and Liu Xiufan's forces intensified their siege against the various defense positions. Xiao was barely able to hold his position, but Liu Xiufan's general Ding Wenhao (丁文豪) was able to defeat and kill Liu Mian (劉勔) and Wang Daolong (王道隆) and put the palace under siege. Soon, however, news of Liu Xiufan's death became gradually known, and Ding's forces collapsed.

In the aftermaths of Liu Xiufan's defeat, Xiao was promoted, and he, along with Yuan Can, Chu Yuan, and Emperor Houfan's distant uncle Liu Bing, were in charge of the affairs of government and known as the "four nobles" (四貴). In 476, when Emperor Houfei's cousin Liu Jingsu (劉景素) the governor of South Xu Province, who received wrong information that Jiankang had fallen into a state of confusion, started a rebellion, Xiao coordinated the campaign against Liu Jingsu (although he did not personally command troops), and LIu Jingsu was defeated and killed.

In 477, Emperor Houfei, by now aged 14, was growing increasingly impulsive and violent, often wandering outside the palace with his guards and killing all people or animals they encountered. One day, he suddenly charged into Xiao's headquarters, and saw Xiao sleeping naked. He was intrigued by the large size of Xiao's belly, and he woke Xiao up, drew a target on Xiao's belly, and prepared to shoot Xiao with arrows. Xiao pled for his life, and Emperor Houfei's attendant Wang Tian'en (王天恩) pointed out that if he killed Xiao with an arrow, he would lose Xiao's belly as a wonderful target—and so at Wang's suggestion, Emperor Houfei shot Xiao with bone-made round-point arrows and was pleased when he was able to target Xiao's bellybutton successfully. Xiao became fearful after the incident, and he initially discussed with Yuan and Chu the possibilities of deposing the emperor, but could not get them to go along with his plan. Xiao therefore acted on his own, associating with Emperor Houfei's attendants, and eventually getting one of them, Yang Yufu (楊玉夫), to kill Emperor Houfei while Emperor Houfei was asleep. Xiao then forced Yuan and Liu Bing to effectively grant him near-imperial powers, leading to concerns that Xiao would next take the throne.