Yang Zhao - As Crown Prince

As Crown Prince

In 604, Emperor Wen died -- a death that most traditional historians believed to be a murder ordered by Yang Guang, but admitted a lack of direct evidence -- and Yang Guang took the throne as Emperor Yang. Soon, believing the words of the sorcerer Zhangchou Taiyi (章仇太翼) that the geography of the region surrounding the capital Chang'an was unsuitable for him, Emperor Yang took up residence at Luoyang and made it the eastern capital. He left Yang Zhao in charge at Chang'an. In spring 605, Emperor Yang created Yang Zhao crown prince. Emperor Yang considered restoring Princess Cui, but when he sent a messenger to the house of Princess Cui's uncle Cui Hongdu (崔弘度) to discuss the matter, Cui Hongdu did not realize that an imperial messenger had arrived and therefore did not respond. Emperor Yang was displeased, and the matter was not again discussed.

In 606, Yang Zhao went to Luoyang to greet his parents, and he spent several months there. He requested permission to remain longer at Luoyang, but Emperor Yang denied it. Meanwhile, because he was required to kneel before his father and had to do so repeatedly while at Luoyang, and he was severely overweight, he became ill from the fatigue, and he died in summer 606. When his son Yang Tong later took the throne in 618 during the dynasty's disintegration, he was posthumously honored as an emperor.

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