Death
Emperor Wu initially treated Gao Wei with respect, personally greeting him and treating him as an honored guest. Meanwhile, Gao Jie and Gao Xiaoheng made an attempt to resist Northern Zhou at Cang Province, and when Emperor Wu had Gao Wei send an edict to Gao Jie to order his surrender, Gao Jie refused. However, Emperor Wu's brother Yuwen Xian the Prince of Qi quickly defeated Gao Jie and Gao Xiaoheng, capturing them and largely ending resistance, although Gao Wei's cousin Gao Shaoyi the Prince of Fanyang (Emperor Wenxuan's son) fled to Tujue, and Tujue's Tuobo Khan put Gao Shaoyi under his protection and soon had him declare himself Northern Qi's emperor, albeit in exile.
In summer 577, Emperor Wu returned with Gao Wei, as well as the princes and officials of Northern Qi, putting Gao Wei at the front of the victory procession. He also ceremonially offered Gao Wei and the other captives to the ancestors at the ancestral temple, but did not harm them at this point. He created Gao Wei the Duke of Wen.
In winter 577, Emperor Wu, apprehensive of the Gao clan, falsely accused Gao Wei of plotting rebellion with Mu Tipo, and then ordered him and other members of the Gao clan to commit suicide. Only Gao Wei's developmentally disabled brother Gao Renying (高仁英) and mute brother Gao Renya (高仁雅) were spared, but were exiled to modern Sichuan. Only during the regency of Yang Jian over Emperor Wu's grandson Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou were members of the Gao clan, including Gao Wei, properly buried north of Chang'an.
Read more about this topic: Gao Wei
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“There is something antique, even, in his style of treating his subject, reminding us that Heroes and Demi-gods, Fates and Furies, still exist; the common man is nothing to him, but after death the hero is apotheosized and has a place in heaven, as in the religion of the Greeks.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)