Career As Southern Qi Official and General
Xiao Yan was considered intelligent and handsome in his youth, and he started his career as a Southern Qi official by serving as military assistant for Emperor Wu's son Xiao Zilun (蕭子倫) the Prince of Baling, and later served on the staff of the prime minister Wang Jian. Wang was said to be impressed by Xiao Yan's talents and appearance, and he once said, "Mr. Xiao will be Shizhong before he turns 30, and his honor will be innumerable after he turns 30." Xiao Yan also associated with Wang's successor as prime minister, Emperor Wu's son Xiao Ziliang (蕭子良) the Prince of Jingling, and became one of eight young officials talented in the literary arts particularly befriended by Xiao Ziliang—along with Fan Yun, Xiao Chen (蕭琛), Ren Fang (任昉), Wang Rong (王融), Xie Tiao (謝朓), Shen Yue, and Lu Chui (陸倕). After his father Xiao Shunzhi died in 490, he temporary left governmental service, but subsequently returned, and by 493 was serving on Xiao Ziliang's staff, but he did not join Wang Rong's plan to start a coup to have Xiao Ziliang made emperor when Emperor Wu grew ill in 493; the throne, instead, went to the crown prince, Emperor Wu's grandson Xiao Zhaoye. Xiao Yan subsequently was invited by the prime minister Xiao Luan to serve on his staff, and when Xiao Luan subsequently overthrew the frivolous Xiao Zhaoye in a coup, Xiao Yan was made a general and ordered to defend the important city Shouyang (壽陽, in modern Lu'an, Anhui). When Xiao Luan later took the throne (as Emperor Ming), Xiao Yan was created the Baron of Jianyang. In 495, when Northern Wei forces invade, Xiao Yan was on the frontline fighting Northern Wei troops, and he distinguished himself under the command of Wang Guangzhi (王廣之). Later that year, when Emperor Ming suspected the general Xiao Chen (蕭諶) of treason and executed him, it was Xiao Yan that he sent to arrest and executed Xiao Chen's brother Xiao Dan (蕭誕) the governor of Si Province (司州, modern southeastern Henan).
In 497, with Northern Wei again attacking, Xiao Yan was one of the generals that Emperor Ming sent to aid the embattled Yong Province (雍州, modern southwestern Henan and northwestern Hubei). Even though both he and his commander, Cui Huijing (崔慧景), were subsequently defeated by Northern Wei forces in battle, in 498 Xiao Yan was made the governor of Yong Province and the defender of Yong Province's capital, the important city Xiangyang (襄陽, in modern Xiangfan, Hubei), and he continued in that post after Emperor Ming's death and succession by his son Xiao Baojuan. It was at Xiangyang that Xiao Yan's wife Chi Hui died in 499. Xiao Yan would not take another wife for the rest of his life, although he would have a number of concubines.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Wu Of Liang
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