Yuan Can - Service Under Emperor Houfei

Service Under Emperor Houfei

Emperor Ming died in 472, leaving the throne to his young son Emperor Houfei. Emperor Ming's will entrusted the governmental matters to Yuan Can and Chu Yuan, and the two of them tried to reform government to eliminate corruption, but were prevented from doing so by Emperor Ming's attendants Ruan Dianfu (阮佃夫) and Wang Daolong (王道隆), who remained powerful even after his death. In winter 472, Yuan and Chu also incorporated Emperor Ming's cousin Liu Bing into the decision process. In 473, Yuan Can's mother died, and he left the government to observe a three-year mourning period for her. (It was at this juncture that Yuan's relationship with Chu deteriorated, as years earlier, when Chu's mother died, Yuan had, on orders from the emperor, persuaded him from abandoning the mourning period, but now would not reciprocally accept Chu's entrities to return to the government—thus making his own reputation greater than Chu's, causing Chu to be displeased.) He did, however, return to the government on an emergency basis after Emperor Qianfei's uncle Liu Xiufan (劉休範) the Prince of Guiyang rebelled and attacked the capital Jiankang, and he later participated in a final battle in which the imperial troops, mostly under the command of Xiao Daocheng, defeated Liu Xiufan's troops. He thereafter remained in the imperial government, and, with Xiao also now included in the decision process after his victory, became known as one of the "four nobles" (四貴) along with Chu, Liu Bing, and Xiao.

In 477, Emperor Houfei, by now aged 14, was growing increasingly impulsive and violent, often wandering outside the palace with his guards and killing all people or animals they encountered. One day, he suddenly charged into Xiao's headquarters, and saw Xiao sleeping naked. He was intrigued by the large size of Xiao's belly, and he woke Xiao up, drew a target on Xiao's belly, and prepared to shoot Xiao with arrows. Xiao pled for his life, and Emperor Houfei's attendant Wang Tian'en (王天恩) pointed out that if he killed Xiao with an arrow, he would lose Xiao's belly as a wonderful target—and so at Wang's suggestion, Emperor Houfei shot Xiao with bone-made round-point arrows and was pleased when he was able to target Xiao's bellybutton successfully. Xiao became fearful after the incident, and he initially discussed with Yuan and Chu the possibilities of deposing the emperor, but could not get them to go along with his plan. Xiao therefore acted on his own, associating with Emperor Houfei's attendants, and eventually getting one of them, Yang Yufu (楊玉夫), to kill Emperor Houfei while Emperor Houfei was asleep. Xiao then forced Yuan and Liu Bing to effectively grant him near-imperial powers, leading to concerns that Xiao would next take the throne.