Reign
In 557, Chen Baxian had Emperor Jing yield the throne to him, establishing Chen Dynasty as its Emperor Wu. In spring 558, Wang Lin, who had been resisting Chen and had wanted to try to continue Liang Dynasty, requested assistance from Northern Qi and asked that Xiao Zhuang be returned so that he could be declared emperor. Northern Qi did so, and Wang declared Xiao Zhuang emperor at his headquarters of Jiangxia (江夏, in modern Wuhan, Hubei). Wang served as prime minister, and it appeared that Xiao Zhuang did not actually exercise much imperial power due to his young age. 10 provinces pledged allegiance to him as emperor, making up roughly modern Hunan and central and eastern Hubei.
In 559, after the death of Chen Baxian and succession by Chen Baxian's nephew Emperor Wen of Chen, Wang launched a major attack on Chen, leaving Xiao Zhuang at Jiangxia under the protection of his lieutenant Sun Yang (孫暘). In spring 560, when Western Wei's successor state Northern Zhou heard of Wang's campaign, it launched an attack on Jiangxia and put it under siege. Meanwhile, Wang, engaging Chen general Hou Tian (侯瑱), was defeated and forced to flee to Northern Qi. Xiao Zhuang soon fled to Northern Qi as well, and his territory was divided between Chen and Northern Zhou's vassal Emperor Xuan.
Read more about this topic: Xiao Zhuang
Famous quotes containing the word reign:
“Their Cause was gen’ral, their Supports were strong,
Their Slaves were willing, and their Reign was long;”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Fatalism, whose solving word in all crises of behavior is “All striving is vain,” will never reign supreme, for the impulse to take life strivingly is indestructible in the race. Moral creeds which speak to that impulse will be widely successful in spite of inconsistency, vagueness, and shadowy determination of expectancy. Man needs a rule for his will, and will invent one if one be not given him.”
—William James (1842–1910)