Erzhu Rong - Death

Death

However, Emperor Xiaozhuang was secretly unhappy about these victories by the Erzhu forces, believing that this made an usurpation by Erzhu Rong closer to reality. Inside his own palace, he felt under pressure by the jealous Empress Erzhu. Erzhu Rong gave hints that he wanted to be awarded the nine bestowments – symbols of great honor that usually preceded usurpations, and Emperor Xiaozhuang pretended not to understand, and did not bestow the nine bestowments on Erzhu. Yuan Hui (元徽) the Prince of Chengyang, the husband of Emperor Xiaozhuang's cousin, and Li Yu (李彧), Emperor Xiaozhuang's brother-in-law, both wanted more power, and saw the Erzhus as in their way, and therefore persuaded Emperor Xiaozhuang that one day Erzhu Rong would indeed usurp the throne. Emperor Xiaozhuang also feared a repeat of the Heyin Massacre, and therefore engaged his officials Yang Kan (楊侃) and Yuan Luo (元羅) in the conspiracy as well.

in fall 530, with Empress Erzhu pregnant, Erzhu Rong requested to come to the capital to attend to his daughter for childbirth. Emperor Xiaozhuang's associates were divided in their opinions—some wanted to assassinate Erzhu when he came to the palace, and some wanted to slaughter Erzhu's associates in the capital and militarily resist. Emperor Xiaozhuang hesitated and did not take any actions initially. Meanwhile, Erzhu Shilong heard rumors of Emperor Xiaozhuang's conspiracy and reported them to Erzhu Rong, but Erzhu Rong did not believe that Emperor Xiaozhuang would dare to turn against him and therefore arrived at Luoyang anyway. The populace of Luoyang expected either Erzhu Rong to carry out a coup or Emperor Xiaozhuang to act against him, and many fled. When Erzhu arrived at the capital, however, he entered the palace with minimal guards and without weapons, and so Emperor Xiaozhuang considered not acting against him. Yuan Hui, however, persuaded Emperor Xiaozhuang that even if Erzhu Rong was not planning a coup, that he still should not be allowed to be left alive.

Emperor Xiaozhuang feared, however, that Yuan Tianmu, who was then at Jinyang, would be a latent threat, and therefore summoned Yuan Tianmu to the capital as well. Meanwhile, with rumors that Erzhu was planning to arrest Emperor Xiaozhuang and move the capital to Jinyang, Emperor Xiaozhuang became even more apprehensive and anxious to carry out the plot. He studied the historical accounts of the Han Dynasty general Dong Zhuo, and concluded that Wang Yun's failure, after he killed Dong, was in not pardoning Dong's associates and forcing them into rebellion. He therefore prepared to first kill Erzhu Rong and then declaring a general pardon. Under pretense that Empress Erzhu had given birth, he summoned Erzhu Rong and Yuan Tianmu into the palace and surprised and killed them. Also killed were Erzhu Rong's son Erzhu Puti (爾朱菩提) and Erzhu's attendants. The populace rejoiced news of Erzhu Rong's death, but Erzhu Rong's wife the Princess Beixiang (who had been created princess because of Erzhu's accomplishments). Eventually, the Erzhu clan members, led by Erzhu Shilong and Erzhu Zhao, gathered with their armies, and defeated and killed Emperor Xiaozhuang. When they subsequently made Yuan Gong the Prince of Guangling emperor (as Emperor Jiemin), Erzhu Rong was posthumously honored the Prince of Jin, with the posthumous name Wu (武, "martial"), and enshrined in the shrine of Emperor Xiaowen. Erzhu Shilong also converted the temple of the Duke of Zhou to be a temple of Erzhu Rong. After the Erzhus were defeated and overthrown by Gao Huan in 532, much of the honor given to Erzhu Rong was removed, but Erzhu Rong was never personally denounced, as Gao had been a subordinate of his and subsequently took Erzhu Ying'e as a concubine.

Wei Shou, the author of Northern Wei's official history, the Wei Shu, had these comments about Erzhu Rong:

Erzhu Rong was a general of the empire who depended on the loyalty his subordinates had for him. He met the opportunity of Suzong's death by poisoning and the resentment of the people and the gods alike, to manifest his great ambition of saving the weak, and his campaign to reestablish the old dynasty and banish the evil had its door opened by Heaven. At that time, the hearts of the people were lost, and both the officials and the generals have collapsed, and people hoped that someone would express the voice of the righteous, to start a just uprising, like Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin. Indeed, Erzhu Rong easily succeeded, with his warhorses not even sweating, and both the governmentand the people followed him. He placed a prince on the throne to allow the government to have a sovereign, and he allowed the imperial ancestors to be worshipped along with Heaven. The traditions of the empire were not destroyed. Thereafter, he captured Ge Rong, killed Yuan Hao, executed Xing Gao, cut short Han Lou's life, and both Moqi Chounu and Xiao Baoyin were taken to the execution field to be beheaded. These rebel leaders seized regions and were not minor thieves who captured just singular cities or villages. Without Erzhu Rong's full efforts to eliminate these disasters, many people would have claim kingships and many peoples would have claim imperial thrones. Were not Erzhu Rong's achievements great? But from the very beginning, he had improper thoughts and wanted to seize the throne, and he threw Empress Hu and the Young Lord into the Yellow River, not to return. At the battle of Heyin, all of the honored officials were all massacred. These were the reasons why he was condemned by men and gods, and was finally killed. if Erzhu Rong did not commit errors of treachery and cruelty, but instead encouraged himself with virtues and righteousness, then how could even Yi Yin or Huo Guang compare to him? But even at the end, even though he did not carry out acts of treason, but he was suspected and died violently and suddenly. This is why Kuai Che persuaded Han Xin to rebel.