After The Defeat of The Erzhus
Emperor Jiemin tried to take initiative by sending the official Lu Bian (盧辯) to greet Gao. Gao, who was then accompanying Yuan Lang and heading toward Luoyang, considered allowing Emperor Jiemin to keep the throne, as Yuan Lang's lineage was distant from recent emperors. He sent the general Wei Lan'gen (魏蘭根) to calm the imperial officials and to observe Emperor Jiemin. After Wei returned to Gao, Wei opined that Emperor Jiemin was intelligent and decisive and would be difficult to control in the future. Gao therefore arrested Emperor Jiemin and imprisoned him at Chongxun Temple (崇訓寺). Gao instead forced Yuan Lang to yield the throne to Yuan Xiu the Prince of Pingyang, and Yuan Xiu took the throne as Emperor Xiaowu.
During Emperor Jiemin's imprisonment at Chongxun Temple, he wrote a poem that is still extant:
- A red door brings disaster in the end;
- The imperial purple is not something to be accustomed to;
- Falls can be expected;
- Things change three times a year;
- And this is what fortune brings;
- It is better to study the true path.
About 10 days after Emperor Xiaowu took the throne, he sent messengers to poison Emperor Jiemin. He did not bury Emperor Jiemin with imperial honors, but did give him a burial that was greater than ordinary for imperial princes, and ordered the imperial officials to attend the funeral.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Jiemin Of Northern Wei
Famous quotes containing the word defeat:
“When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy...and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for that would turn away your children from following me, to serve other gods.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 7:1-4.