Gao Wei - Late Reign

Late Reign

After Empress Hulü was deposed, Lady Lu wanted Consort Mu to be empress, but Empress Dowager Hu wanted her niece Empress Hu to be empress. She, however, did not believe she had enough persuasive power, and so she had to flatter Lady Lu and give her gifts. Lady Lu also saw that Gao Wei favored Empress Hu, and so agree to jointly suggest, with Zu Ting, that Consort Hu be created empress, and Gao Wei did so. He favored Empress Hu so greatly that he made clothes for her out of pearls, although those clothes were later destroyed in a fire. However, Lady Lu did not relent in her hopes of making Consort Mu empress, stating to Gao Wei, "How can a son be crown prince and a mother be a servant girl, a concubine?" But as Gao Wei favored Empress Hu, she could not carry out her wishes. She therefore engaged witches to use witchcraft on Empress Hu. It was said that within a month, Empress Hu began to show symptoms of psychosis, often mumbling to herself or laughing without cause. Gao Wei began to fear and dislike her. In winter 572, Lady Lu put Consort Mu in empress clothing and put her in a tent, surrounded with magnificent jewelry, and then told Gao Wei, "Let me show you a holy woman." When Gao Wei saw that it was Consort Mu, Lady Lu stated, "For a woman this beautiful not to be empress, who would be qualified to be empress?" Gao Wei agreed with her, and he created Consort Mu "Right Empress" and gave Empress Hu the title "Left Empress. Around the new year 573, Lady Lu further falsely told Empress Dowager Hu that Empress Hu had denigrated Empress Dowager Hu's moral character—and Empress Dowager Hu, in anger, without verifying the information, ordered Empress Hu expelled from the palace, and then had Gao Wei depose her. Thereafter, it was said that Lady Lu and Mu Tipo were so powerful and so corrupt that they were openly taking bribes and selling the imperial offices, and all that they wished were carried out. By spring 573, Mu Tipo, Gao Anagong, and Han Zhanglauan were referred to as "the Three Nobles", and they controlled the government. The issue of corruption became severe, and with Gao Wei himself living in luxury and waste, constantly building palaces and tearing them downand rebuilding them, the Northern Qi imperial treasury was at a state of exhaustion.

In spring 573, Gao Wei created Right Empress Mu sole empress.

Also in spring 573, Zu Ting, knowing that Gao Wei had a love of literature, with Gao Wei's approval, established the Wenlin Hall (文林館), headed by the officials Li Delin and Yan Zhitui (顏之推). They retained a group of literarily-capable men and authored one of the great compendia of the era, the Xiuwendian Yulan (修文殿御覽).

In summer 573, rival Emperor Xuan of Chen launched a major attack across the Yangtze River, commanded by the general Wu Mingche. Gao Wei went against the advice of the officials Wang Hong (王紘), who advocated passive resistance while reducing tax burdens to strengthen the people's resolve, and Zhao Yanshan, who advocated commissioning the Liang Dynasty general Wang Lin, who had long wanted to reestablish Liang at Chen's expense, with an army. Rather, Gao Wei sent reinforcements to the attacked provinces—but only in small amounts, not sufficient to resist Chen forces—with the main force commanded by Wei Pohu (尉破胡) and Zhangsun Honglüe (長孫洪略) defeated by Wu's troops. Wang, who accompanied Wei as a consultant, was then ordered to go to Shouyang (壽陽, in modern Lu'an, Anhui) to defend that city against attack—but with severe limitations on his authority. Soon, Shouyang fell, and Wang was captured and executed by Wu. All of Northern Qi's territory between the Yangtze and the Huai River fell into Chen control. Despite the losses, however, Mu Tipo and Han advocated continued epicurean lifestyle on Gao Wei's and their own parts, with Mu famously stating, "Even if we lost all territory south of the Yellow River, we can still be like Qiuzi (龜茲, a city state in modern Xinjiang). But what is more piteous is that a human life is like borrowed time, and we should use all this short period to seek pleasure. Why worry about Shouyang?" Gao Wei agreed, and continued to spend his days feasting.

During the Chen attack, Zu, who had become embroiled in conflict with Lady Lu, Mu Tipo, and Han, was expelled from the central government over his attempt to impose a reform regime to streamline the government and reduce expenses. He would not return, and after his departure, the government became even more inefficient than before. Further, also during the campaign, Gao Wei became suspicious of his cousin Gao Changgong (高長恭) the Prince of Lanling, a capable general, and poisoned Gao Changgong to death.

Also during the Chen attack, another major wrongful massacre was carried out at Gao Wei's orders. Gao Wei was intending to visit the secondary capital Jinyang (晉陽, in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), which he and his predecessors did on a regular basis. The senior officials Cui Jishu (崔季舒) and Zhang Diao (張雕) -- who had been Gao Wei's teacher previously and respected by him—believed that for Gao Wei to go to Jinyang would be misinterpreted by the populace as a flight to Jinyang, and would lead to popular panic, so they, with a number of other officials—including Feng Xiaoyan (封孝琰), Liu Ti (劉逖), Pei Ze (裴澤), and Guo Zun (郭遵) -- submitted a joint petition requesting Gao Wei to stay at Yecheng. Han suggested that these officials were in fact intending to rebel, and Gao Wei agreed, executing Cui, Zhang, Feng, LIu, Pei, and Guo. He further exiled their clan members, confiscated their women, and castrated their boys.

In spring 574, Gao Sihao (高思好) the Prince of Nan'an and governor of Shuo Province (朔州, roughly modern Shuozhou, Shanxi), angry that he had been disrespected by Gao Wei's servant Zhuogu Guangbian (斫骨光弁), rebelled. Gao Wei sent Tang Yong to resist Gao Sihao while personally leading the next army north, but before he could get there, Gao Sihao was defeated, and he committed suicide by drowning.

Meanwhile, around this time, Gao Wei had become less attracted to Empress Mu, instead becoming more infatuated with Empress Mu's servant girl Feng Xiaolian, making her an imperial consort. They went everywhere together, and they swore to live and to die together.

The historian Sima Guang, in his Zizhi Tongjian, had this to say about Gao Wei and his reign:

The ruler of Qi was not a good speaker and could not speak clearly, and so he did not like to meet with governmental officials. He spoke nothing to anyone except his jesters and servants. He was weak in his personality and was fearful of people staring at him. Even the most honored officials or the head of the government were not allowed to look at him, and therefore the officials could only make summary reports and then withdraw in panic. He inherited the luxurious and wasteful living habits of Emperor Wucheng and thought that this was proper. All of the women and eunuchs of the palace dressed in the best silk and ate delicacies. It sometimes took 10,000 pi to make one skirt for them. Each of them competed with each other for the newest and most wonderful things, and clothes made in the morning may be considered old and out of style that same evening. He spent much effort on building palaces and gardens of the greatest splendor, but his affections for them could not last, so all buildings were torn down and rebuilt and torn down again. These construction activities went around the clock without ceasing, with great torches used for illumination at night, and water boiled to mix with the dirt in the winter. In order to carve Buddha images in the western hills of Jinyang, over 10,000 torches were used for one night, bright enough to shine on the Jinyang Palace like it was the day. Whenever there were natural disastrous, ill omens, or agrarian rebellions, he never blamed himself, but would only hold great vegetarian feasts to treat the Buddhist and Taoist monks, believing that this would bring divine blessings so that difficulties would pass. He liked to play the pipa and sing, and he wrote a song entitled, Song of No Worries (無愁曲), with several hundred servants singing with him, leading to the people referring to him as "the Son of Heaven with no worries." He established "the Pauper Boy's Village" within the Hualin Garden (華林園), where he would put on pauper clothes and beg in the village, believing that this was great joy. He also built models of the important border cities and had soldiers act like Northern Zhou soldiers to attack them, and with him resisting the attacks with the eunuchs.

His favorite servants Lu Lingxuan, Mu Tipo, Gao Anagong, and Han Zhangluan controlled the government. The eunuchs Deng Changyong (鄧長顒) and Chen Dexin (陳德信), and the Xiongnu He Hongzhen (何洪珍) also participated in the important decisionmaking. Each of them brought their friends and relatives into the government and promoted them beyond proper bounds. The officials' promotions were all dependent on the amount of bribes they paid; those who submitted bribes were promoted and those who did not were demoted. The judges issue their verdicts depending on bribes as well, with the rich allowed to live and the poor sentenced to death. The officials compete in their corruption and flattery, to the detriment of the people. The servants, such as Liu Taozhi, were promoted to great honors and created princes. Almost 10,000 of such persons as eunuchs, Xiongnu, singers, dancers, magicians, and slaves, received honors beyond propriety. Hundreds of non-members of the imperial Gao clan received creations as princes. The high rank of Kaifu (開府) included more than 1,000, and the rank of Yitong (儀同) was filled innumerably. There were more than 20 generals of the imperial guards. There were tens of imperial attendants. Even dogs, horses, eagles, and hunting cocks received official posts, and were allowed to enjoy the food portions of their salaries. The servants attended the emperor at all times and think of nothing but to please the emperor. A musical can cost over 100 million coins. Later, after the imperial treasury was exhausted, he used the commanderies and counties as awards, giving two to three commanderies or six to seven counties at each time, to allow the servants to auction off the governor and magistrate posts and pocket the proceeds. Therefore, the commandery governors and county magistrates were largely wealthy merchants who find ways to extract and extort from the people, and the people could not live.

Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou had long wanted to destroy Northern Qi, and he launched a major attack in fall 575. Several of his generals suggested attacking Jinyang, but he instead attacked Luoyang. However, when he laid siege to the fortress Zhongtan (second character not in Unicode), it was well-defended by the Northern Qi general Fu Fu (傅伏), and Emperor Wu became ill during the siege and withdrew. During the meantime, however, Chen forces, commanded by Wu, commenced a new attack, putting Pengcheng (彭城, in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) under siege. (For the rest of Northern Qi's existence, however, Wu would not be able to actually capture Pengcheng.)

In winter 576, Northern Zhou's Emperor Wu again launched another major attack on Northern Qi, putting Pingyang (平陽, in modern Linfen, Shanxi) under siege and then capturing it. At the time the news of Northern Zhou's attack on Pingyang arrived, Gao Wei was hunting at Qilian Lake (祁連池, in modern Xinzhou, Shanxi) with Consort Feng, and Gao Anagong, not believing the matter to be serious, did not report the news to Gao Wei. Only after Pingyang fell did Gao Anagong give Gao Wei the news. Gao Wei gathered his troops and headed for Pingyang, and Emperor Wu, believing Gao Wei's troops to be still strong, withdrew but put the general Liang Shiyan (梁士彥) in charge of defending Pingyang against the Northern Qi counterattack. The Northern Qi forces sieged Pingyang with all effort—and after several days, were able to breach the wall—but at this point, Gao Wei stopped his attack and summoned Consort Feng so she could witness the fall of the city. When she arrived, however, Northern Zhou forces had already filled in the breach, and therefore held the city. With Pingyang under siege, Emperor Wu launched another attack to try to lift the siege on Pingyang. Gao Anagong advised against direct faceoff with Emperor Wu's troops, but Gao Wei, egged on by eunuchs, chose to directly engage Emperor Wu, and the armies engaged in a battle around the time of near year 577. A minor fallback by some of Gao Wei's troops caused Consort Feng and Mu Tipo to panick, and they suggested an immediate retreat—and Gao Wei abandoned his troops and fled to Jinyang, causing his army to collapse.

Once at Jinyang, instead of preparing for resistance, Gao Wei instead planned to have his cousins Gao Yanzong the Prince of Ande and Gao Xiaoheng (高孝珩) the Prince of Guangning defend Jinyang, planning to himself flee north to Shuo Province, against Gao Yanzong's advice. He first sent Empress Dowager Hu and Gao Heng to Shuo Province. When Northern Zhou forces arrived at Jinyang, he left Jinyang under Gao Yanzong's command and fled, initially intending to flee to Shuo Province or Tujue, but after persuasion by the general Mei Shenglang (梅勝郎), headed back to Yecheng, accompanied by Gao Anagong. Meanwhile, Mu Tipo abandoned Gao Wei and surrendered to Northern Zhou. His mother Lady Lu committed suicide, and his family members were all either executed or sentenced to hard labor. Meanwhile, Tang Yong, still at Jinyang, along with other generals, persuaded Gao Yanzong to take the throne himself—stating to him that if he did not, they could not die for him. When Gao Wei heard this news, he commented, "I would rather that Bing Province fall into Zhou's hands than Ande's hands." Soon, Northern Zhou forces put Jinyang under siege, and they were able to breach the defenses at the east gate—but a counterattack by Gao Yanzong's troops lead to a major rout against Northern Zhou forces, in which Emperor Wu almost died. However, Gao Yanzong's troops went into celebration and could not regroup. The next day, another Northern Zhou attack finally captured the city.

Once Gao Wei arrived at Yecheng, he ordered that high rewards be posted for people who would join the army, but he himself was unwilling to contribute treasures from his own palace holdings. Further, when he was giving a speech intending to raise morale, his irreverent attitude instead infuriated the generals. The generals and the officials all lost the will to fight. The official Gao Mai (高勱), who had escorted Empress Dowager Hu and Crown Prince Heng back from Shuo Province, suggested making one last stand at Yecheng, but Gao Wei did not accept his suggestion. When astrologers indicated that the imperial seat is about to be changed, he decided to pass the throne to Gao Heng and did so in spring 577, even though Gao Heng was only seven years old. Gao Wei himself took the title of Taishang Huang.