Erzhu Rong - During Emperor Xiaozhuang's Reign

During Emperor Xiaozhuang's Reign

Nevertheless, Erzhu Rong, while publicly returning authority to Emperor Xiaozhuang, retained command of the armed forces, while putting several officials closely aligned with him, including Yuan Tianmu and his cousin Erzhu Shilong, into high positions, and kept a close watch on Emperor Xiaozhuang even though he was largely away from the capital. He also wanted Emperor Xiaozhuang to marry his daughter Erzhu Ying'e as his empress. Because this constituted incest under Confucian traditions, Emperor Xiaozhuang hesitated, but under the suggestion of the official Zu Ying (祖瑩), who advised that this marriage would be advantageous, Emperor Xiaozhuang agreed.

Emperor Xiaozhuang was said to be diligent in governmental matters, and even though Erzhu was not particularly pleased with the development, Emperor Xiaozhuang proceeded to take much interest in criminal matters, as well as refusing to comply with all of Erzhu's recommendations for officials. He did not dare to directly cross Erzhu, however, and Erzhu continued to install officials close to him in the imperial administration.

Meanwhile, Erzhu proceeded to try to reunify the empire, which had been largely divided by agrarian rebellions that rose during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming. At that time, the more major rebels included:

• Ge Rong (葛榮), with an army largely of Xianbei soldiers from the six garrisons on the northern borders, with the title of Emperor of Qi and controlling most of the provinces in modern Hebei
• Xing Gao (邢杲), with an army largely consisting of refugees from Ge Rong's and other associated rebellions, with the title of Prince of Han and controlling most of the provinces in modern Shandong
• Moqi Chounu (万俟醜奴), with the title of emperor and controlling most of the provinces in Shaanxi and eastern Gansu

Erzhu's first target was Ge, who had put the important city Yecheng under siege and was getting close to the Yellow River. With just 7,000 cavalry soldiers, Erzhu caught the much larger Ge army by surprise and crushed it, capturing Ge and delivering him to Luoyang, where Ge was executed in winter 528. Ge's general Han Lou (韓樓) took part of his army and took over modern Beijing and Tianjin.

Around the same time, rival Liang Dynasty's Emperor Wu created Emperor Xiaozhuang's cousin Yuan Hao the Prince of Beihai, who had fled to Liang following the Heyin Massacre, the Prince of Wei and sent an army commanded by the general Chen Qingzhi (陳慶之) to escort him, with an intent to install Yuan Hao as Northern Wei's emperor as a vassal state to Liang. Emperor Xiaozhuang's administration did not consider Yuan Hao a serious threat at the moment, and instead sent a large army, commanded by Yuan Tianmu and Erzhu Rong's nephew Erzhu Zhao, to attack Xing first. Xing was captured and executed in summer 529, but Chen and Yuan Hao, who declared himself the emperor of Northern Wei upon entering Northern Wei territory, took the opportunity to capture Yingyang (滎陽, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan), defeating Yuan Tianmu as he returned from the campaign against Xing, and approached Luoyang. Emperor Xiaozhuang decided to flee Luoyang, and he crossed the Yellow River to rendezvous with Erzhu Rong and Yuan Tianmu at Zhangzi (長子, in modern Changzhi, Shanxi). Meanwhile, Yuan Hao entered Luoyang unopposed, and the provinces south of the Yellow River largely declared allegiance to Yuan Hao.

Yuan Hao, however, believed that he had already succeeded and began to plot against Chen and his Liang forces, wanting to throw off Liang's control. He therefore sent messengers to persuade Liang's Emperor Wu not to send any additional reinforcements. Erzhu's forces, meanwhile, were stymied against Chen, but eventually Erzhu made an attack at night and crossed the Yellow River, causing Yuan Hao's forces to collapse, and while Chen tried to withdraw, his army was defeated as well. Yuan Hao was killed in flight, and Emperor Xiaozhuang again entered Luoyang to assume the throne.

In spring 530, Erzhu Rong sent his nephew Erzhu Tianguang, assisted by the generals Heba Yue (賀拔岳) and Houmochen Yue (侯莫陳悅), to attack Moqi Chounu. Erzhu Tianguang, after tricking Moqi into believing that an attack would not come quickly, made a surprise attack, defeating Moqi and capturing him. He then captured Moqi's capital Gaoping (高平, in modern Guyuan, Ningxia), capturing Moqi's general Xiao Baoyin – a former major Northern Wei general and Southern Qi prince who had, during Emperor Xiaoming's reign unsuccessfully tried to reestablish Southern Qi. Moqi was executed, and while many officials friendly with Xiao tried to plead for Xiao's life, Emperor Xiaozhuang ordered Xiao to commit suicide. Erzhu Tianguang subsequently defeated another major rebel, Wang Qingyun (王慶雲), and Moqi Chounu's general Moqi Daoluo (万俟道洛), largely pacifying the western empire. Soon thereafter, Erzhu Rong's generals Hou Yuan (侯淵) and Liu Lingzhu defeated and killed Han Lou, and the empire became basically reunified.