As Empress
Erzhu Rong was in control of the military at this point, although Emperor Xiaozhuang retained substantial powers, and Erzhu Rong wanted Emperor Xiaozhuang to marry Erzhu Ying'e as empress to cement the relationship. Emperor Xiaozhuang initially hesitated, as pursuant to Confucian regulations he would be committing incest if he did. However, the official Zu Ying (祖瑩) convinced him that the union would be advantageous, and so he agreed. Empress Erzhu was described to be jealous and did not tolerate Emperor Xiaozhuang's other consorts. Emperor Xiaozhuang once asked her father's cousin Erzhu Shilong to persuade her to be less jealous. Instead, she told Erzhu Shilong that Emperor Xiaozhuang depended on the Erzhus for his throne and that things could still change; Erzhu Shilong agreed with her.
Worried about the hold that Erzhu Rong had on the military and how he had been willing to slaughter imperial officials (including Emperor Xiaozhuang's own brothers Yuan Shao (元劭) and Yuan Zizheng (元子正)), Emperor Xiaozhuang, during Empress Erzhu's pregnancy in 530, tricked him into entering the palace with his close associate Yuan Tianmu (元天穆) the Prince of Shangdang and his son Erzhu Puti (爾朱菩提) and killing them by falsely telling them that Empress Erzhu had given birth. This precipitated a war between the imperial forces and the Erzhus' forces, which lasted for two months, during which Empress Erzhu gave birth to a son. Eventually, the Erzhu forces, under the command of Empress Erzhu's cousin Erzhu Zhao, captured Luoyang and deposed (and later killed) Emperor Xiaozhuang, making his distant relative Yuan Ye the Prince of Changguang, and then later his cousin Yuan Gong the Prince of Guangling emperor. Erzhu Zhao also put Emperor Xiaozhuang's and Empress Erzhu's infant son to death.
Read more about this topic: Empress Erzhu Ying'e
Famous quotes containing the word empress:
“We never really are the adults we pretend to be. We wear the mask and perhaps the clothes and posture of grown-ups, but inside our skin we are never as wise or as sure or as strong as we want to convince ourselves and others we are. We may fool all the rest of the people all of the time, but we never fool our parents. They can see behind the mask of adulthood. To her mommy and daddy, the empress never has on any clothes—and knows it.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“The Empress is Legitimist, my cousin is Republican, Morny is Orleanist, I am a socialist; the only Bonapartist is Persigny, and he is mad.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte III (1808–1873)