Yuwen Hu Controls the Northern Zhou Court

In the south, Liang became Chen. In the same year, Western Wei also came to an end.

The Yuwen clan founded Northern Zhou. But at first, the throne and power did not sit in the same hands.

The Problem Yuwen Tai Left Behind

Since Western Wei began, its emperors had been puppets. Real power belonged to Yuwen Tai.

Under him, Western Wei expanded from Guanzhong into Jianghan, Ba-Shu, and the southern steppe, while resisting Eastern Wei and Northern Qi in the east.

But Yuwen Tai had one problem: his sons were born late.

During his rise, many of the most useful men around him were nephews. When he died, his son Yuwen Jue was only fifteen.

In 556, Yuwen Tai died. Before death, he entrusted Yuwen Jue to his trusted nephew Yuwen Hu and asked Yuwen Hu to manage military and civil affairs in his son's place.

This was a heavy trust and a dangerous one.

Western Wei's military system included famous senior commanders known as the Eight Pillars of State. Yuwen Tai had been the chief, but several older men had real command over the military households.

Their experience and prestige stood above Yuwen Hu's.

If Yuwen Hu simply pressed himself over them, resentment would follow. Yuwen Tai had entrusted his son to Yuwen Hu but had not cleared away all the old grandees.

Yuwen Hu's first task was to settle rank inside the regime.

Yu Jin Supports Yuwen Hu

Yuwen Hu knew he could not force the issue alone.

He went first to Yu Jin, the senior Western Wei general who had captured Jiangling and forced Emperor Yuan of Liang to surrender.

Yuwen Hu asked for his support.

Yu Jin agreed immediately.

The next day, the leading figures gathered. Yu Jin spoke first. Western Wei, he said, had survived danger because of Yuwen Tai. Now the heir was young, and Yuwen Hu had received the dying charge. Military and state affairs should be handled by him.

His tone was firm. No one objected.

Yuwen Hu then said that since the responsibility had fallen to him, he dared not refuse. Yu Jin knelt to him at once.

The other senior men had to follow.

That act publicly confirmed the new order. Earlier, Yuwen Hu had honored Yu Jin. Now Yu Jin bowed first, giving Yuwen Hu the opening he needed.

Yuwen Hu still wanted more.

The puppet Western Wei emperor remained. The cleanest way to secure legitimacy was to put Yuwen Jue directly on the throne.

On New Year's Day in 557, Yuwen Hu forced Emperor Gong of Western Wei to abdicate and installed Yuwen Jue.

Yuwen Jue used the title Heavenly King rather than emperor, and the state was named Zhou.

Northern Zhou was founded. Yuwen Hu became grand minister and held real power.

The throne belonged to Yuwen Jue. The government belonged to Yuwen Hu.

Yuwen Hu Removes Two Rulers

Yuwen Jue was young, but he was firm. He disliked Yuwen Hu's control, and generals around him warned that Yuwen Hu's power had become too great.

Yuwen Jue plotted to kill him.

The plan leaked before it could be carried out. Yuwen Hu moved first. Yuwen Jue was deposed and then poisoned.

Yuwen Hu needed another ruler.

He chose Yuwen Tai's eldest son, Yuwen Yu. Yuwen Yu looked scholarly and seemed easier to control.

In 557, the twenty-six-year-old Yuwen Yu took the throne as Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou.

But Emperor Ming was not foolish. He was intelligent and capable, and after taking the throne he soon made Yuwen Hu wary.

The next year, Yuwen Hu repeated the old method and had poison placed in the emperor's food.

Emperor Ming realized what had happened. While still conscious, he summoned senior officials and dictated a final edict naming his younger brother Yuwen Yong as successor.

In the edict, he did not openly accuse Yuwen Hu. He only asked officials to support the new ruler. Then he died at twenty-seven.

With the edict already spoken, Yuwen Hu could not easily choose someone else. He enthroned the eighteen-year-old Yuwen Yong.

This new ruler was Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou.

Yuwen Yong Waits

Yuwen Yong had been sharp since childhood and had a deep, controlled character.

He had watched two older brothers die in Yuwen Hu's hands. After taking the throne, he did not rush to seize power. He chose patience.

In daily life, he discussed classics with scholars or attended rituals. Military and state affairs were almost entirely left to Yuwen Hu.

Yuwen Hu fully controlled Northern Zhou in these years.

Yuwen Yong's quietness was a survival strategy. His brothers' deaths were clear warnings. If he showed danger too early, he would die sooner.

If Yuwen Hu wanted, he might even have removed Yuwen Yong and taken the throne himself. But Yuwen Yong was very good at appearing harmless and honoring him. Yuwen Hu came to feel that the emperor was not a threat.

Yuwen Hu had already removed Emperor Gong of Western Wei, Yuwen Jue, and Yuwen Yu. Usurping immediately would make his reputation even worse.

So he turned outward and sought prestige through war.

His target was Northern Qi.

Northern Qi's Absurd Court

Northern Qi was unstable too.

Its emperor Gao Yang had been vigorous in youth, but later became increasingly uncontrolled. Drink and cruelty ruined him.

He once killed a favored consort in jealousy, then carried her head to a banquet and wept over it, terrifying the officials.

After Gao Yang died, Northern Qi suffered palace coups and rapid changes of emperor. Eventually the throne passed to his younger brother Gao Zhan.

Gao Zhan was also violent and indulgent. He desired Lady Li, his sister-in-law, and forced her. After she later bore a daughter, she killed the infant in shame and anger.

Gao Zhan killed her son in front of her, put her into a sack, and threw her into a ditch. She survived and later became a Buddhist nun.

Northern Qi emperors were like this, and their favorites were often flatterers. He Shikai urged Gao Zhan to enjoy life, saying even sage kings and tyrants alike ended as dust.

Gao Zhan became more indulgent.

Yuwen Hu saw Northern Qi's disorder and decided to join with the Turks against it.

The First Campaign Against Qi Fails

In 563, Northern Zhou crossed the Yellow River and joined with 100,000 Turkic troops, advancing toward Jinyang.

The Zhou army on this route was led by Yang Zhong, father of the later Sui founder Yang Jian.

Northern Qi's frontier defenses had been damaged since the Six Garrisons disorder. Yang Zhong and the Turks quickly took more than twenty small cities and moved toward Jinyang.

At the same time, another Zhou army moved toward Pingyang.

Gao Zhan ordered the famous general Huluguang to guard Pingyang while he rushed to Jinyang.

When Gao Zhan saw the enemy's size, he panicked and wanted to flee with his consorts. Ministers urged him to stay and hand command to Duan Shao.

Duan Shao was one of Northern Qi's great commanders, often remembered with Huluguang and Prince Lanling Gao Changgong.

Duan Shao steadied the defense. The Turkic khagan looked at the disciplined Qi army and complained to Northern Zhou: had they not said Qi was in chaos?

On New Year's Day, Zhou troops advanced along the snowy western hills toward Jinyang.

Qi generals wanted to fight at once. Duan Shao waited. He judged that Zhou infantry would tire climbing snowy roads. Only when they reached within two li of the city did he order the attack.

Zhou soldiers were exhausted and scattered by the snow. Turkic cavalry could not move well. Northern Qi won a major victory, and the Turks withdrew.

At Pingyang, Huluguang heard the result, frightened off the Zhou commander by letter, then entered Zhou territory and returned with captured people.

The first campaign against Qi failed.

Defeat Again at Mangshan

Yuwen Hu was unhappy, and the Turkic khagan also wanted another try.

Gao Zhan feared fighting Zhou and the Turks together, so he looked for a way to influence Yuwen Hu.

Yuwen Hu's mother, Lady Yan, had been captured by Eastern Wei in earlier wars and later held by Northern Qi. Yuwen Hu had long searched for her.

Gao Zhan offered to send her west if the two states made peace.

Yuwen Hu was deeply moved. But he had already promised the Turks another attack. If he broke that agreement, the northern frontier would suffer.

He replied that he could not be only a filial son. He also had to be a loyal minister.

Gao Zhan sent Lady Yan back anyway. Northern Zhou celebrated and issued an amnesty.

But Yuwen Hu still kept the Turkic agreement and attacked Qi again.

This time Northern Zhou focused on Henan. A 100,000-man army surrounded Luoyang, a major Northern Qi city.

Northern Qi hurried to send Prince Lanling Gao Changgong, Huluguang, and Duan Shao together to relieve it.

The three commanders reached Mangshan. Duan Shao held the left, Gao Changgong the center, and Huluguang the right.

Zhou troops attacked uphill. Duan Shao fought and withdrew, drawing them into a deep valley. Once the Zhou soldiers were tired from climbing and their formation was loose, Qi troops dismounted and counterattacked.

Zhou broke.

Gao Changgong then led 500 cavalry through the enemy formation, broke the encirclement, and reached Jinyong city. Northern Qi soldiers later turned this feat into the famous dance-song of Prince Lanling Entering the Battle Formation.

At Mangshan, Northern Qi's three great commanders appeared together, and Northern Zhou lost again.

Yuwen Yong Takes Back Power

Within one year, Yuwen Hu had failed at Jinyang and lost at Mangshan.

His prestige suffered badly. Back in Chang'an, he had to lead commanders in apologizing to Emperor Wu, Yuwen Yong. Yuwen Yong did not punish him and instead comforted him.

But Yuwen Hu did not restrain himself. He still controlled the state arrogantly.

Yuwen Yong continued to wait and secretly planned with his younger brother.

In 572, Yuwen Yong finally set a trap and killed Yuwen Hu, taking Northern Zhou's power back into imperial hands.

The campaign against Qi that Yuwen Hu could not complete would now pass to Yuwen Yong.

Northern Qi had just won two battles. But underneath those victories, it was already deeply ill.