Yuan Ye - Becoming Emperor

Becoming Emperor

In fall 530, Emperor Xiaozhuang, fearful that Erzhu Rong would eventually seize the throne, ambushed him inside the palace in the capital Luoyang and killed him. Erzhu Rong's wife (Yuan Ye's aunt), along with Erzhu Rong's cousin Erzhu Shilong, fought their way out of Luoyang and headed back north, meeting up with Erzhu Rong's nephew Erzhu Zhao at Zhangzi (長子, in modern Changzhi, Shanxi). They decided to make Yuan Ye emperor, as a competing candidate for the throne against Emperor Xiaozhuang. Yuan Ye created a daughter of Erzhu Zhao empress (although it is not clear whether he had already married her previously, or only married her at that point).

Less than two months later, the Erzhu forces captured Luoyang and arrested Emperor Xiaozhuang. Emperor Xiaozhuang was subsequently delivered to Jinyang (晉陽, in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) and killed. Meanwhile, Erzhu Shilong, believing that Yuan Ye's mother Lady Wei would exert political influence, had her assassinated, but staging the assassination to appear as a robbery. Meanwhile, Yuan Ye himself was escorted south toward Luoyang, apparently to take over the throne formally.

However, Erzhu Shilong and his brothers secretly believed that Yuan Ye was too distant in lineage from the recent emperors and lacked sufficient good reputation to be emperor. They made overtures to Yuan Gong the Prince of Guangling, a son of Emperor Xiaowen's brother Yuan Yu (元羽), forcing Yuan Gong to cooperate. When Yuan Ye arrived in Luoyang's vicinity, Erzhu Shilong forced him to yield the throne to Yuan Gong, who took the throne as Emperor Jiemin. (Erzhu Zhao, who was not involved in Erzhu Shilong's plot to replace Yuan Ye with Emperor Jiemin, was initially angered and considered attacking Erzhu Shilong, but calmed down after Erzhu Shilong sent his brother Erzhu Yanbo (爾朱彥伯) to explain the reasoning, and Erzhu Zhao did not carry out any further actions to try to restore Yuan Ye as emperor.)