Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei - Late Reign

Late Reign

In 442, at Kou Qianzhi's urging, Emperor Taiwu ascended a platform and formally received Taoist amulets from Kou, and changed the color of his flags to blue, to show his Taoist beliefs and to officially approve Taoism as the state religion. From that point on, it became a tradition for Northern Wei emperors, when they took the throne, to receive Taoist amulets. Also at Kou and Cui Hao's urging, he started building Jinglun Palace (靜輪宮), intended to be so high that it would be quiet and close to the gods. (Crown Prince Huang, a Buddhist, opposed the construction project on the basis of cost, but Emperor Taiwu disagreed with him.)

In fall 443, while attacking Rouran, Emperor Taiwu suddenly encountered Yujiulü Wuti, and Crown Prince Huang, who was with him, advised an immediate attack, but Emperor Taiwu hesitated, allowing Yujiulü Wuti to escape. From that point on, Emperor Taiwu began to listen to Crown Prince Huang's advice in earnest, and in winter 443, he authorized Crown Prince Huang to carry out all imperial duties except the most important ones, under assistance from Qiumuling Shou (丘穆陵壽), Cui, Zhang Li (張黎), and Tuxi Bi. Crown Prince Huang soon instituted a policy to encourage farming—by mandatorily requiring those who had extra cattle to loan them to those without, to be animals of burden, with the lease being paid for by those without cattle by tilling the grounds of the cattle owners, increasing the efficiency of the farmlands greatly.

In 444, the first major incident of much political infighting during Emperor Taiwu's late reign occurred. Dugu Jie (獨孤絜), a high level official, who had opposed attacking Rouran, was accused by Cui Hao of being so jealous of Cui, whose suggestions of attacking Rouran were accepted by Emperor Taiwu, that he sabotaged Emperor Taiwu's war efforts by giving the generals the wrong times for rendezvous, and then further planning to have Emperor Taiwu captured by Rouran and then making Emperor Taiwu's brother Tuoba Pi emperor. Emperor Taiwu put Dugu to death, and Tuoba Pi died from anxiety. Further, because Dugu implicated them while being interrogated, fellow officials Zhang Song (張嵩) and Kudi Lin (庫狄鄰) were also put to death.

In summer 444, eight nephews of the Tuyuhun khan Murong Muliyan (慕容慕利延), after their brother Murong Weishi (慕容緯世) had been put to death by their uncle, surrendered to Northern Wei and suggested that he attack Tuyuhun. In response, Emperor Taiwu sent his son Tuoba Fuluo (拓拔伏羅) the Prince of Jin to attack Tuyuhun and defeated Tuyuhun forces, forcing Murong Muliyan to flee into the Bailan Mountains (白蘭山, in modern southwestern Qinghai). In 445, with Emperor Taiwu's distant cousin Tuoba Na (拓拔那) the Prince of Gaoliang in pursuit, Murong Muliyan fled west and occupied Yutian (Khotan). (However, after a few years, Tuyuhun would return to its original position.)

In 445, angry that Zhenda (真達), the king of Shanshan had refused Emperor Taiwu's messengers passage through Shanshan to other Xiyu kingdoms, Emperor Taiwu sent his general Tuwan Dugui (吐萬度歸) to attack Shanshan, and by fall 445 Zhenda had surrendered. Northern Wei occupied Shanshan.

In fall 445, responding to prophecies that "Wu" would destroy Wei, a Xiongnu man, Gai Wu, started an uprising against Northern Wei at Xingcheng (杏城, in modern Yan'an, Shaanxi), and he was quickly joined by a large number of other Xiongnu and Han people. Gai also submitted as a vassal to Liu Song, seeking Liu Song aid. Initial attempts by local officials to stamp out Gai's rebellion failed, and Gai became stronger and stronger, claiming the title of Prince of Tiantai. In spring 446, Emperor Taiwu personally attacked and defeated Gai's ally, the Han rebel Xue Yongzong (薛永宗), before facing Gai. Gai fled into the mountains, and Emperor Taiwu carried out harsh reprisals against those who had supported Gai, slaughtering them without mercy. After Emperor Taiwu reached Chang'an, he found a number of Buddhist temples with weapons in them, and he believed that the monks must be working with Gai, so he slaughtered the monks in Chang'an. Cui used this opportunity to encourage Emperor Taiwu to slaughter all monks throughout the empire and destroy the temples, statues, and sutras, and notwithstanding Kou's opposition, Emperor Taiwu proceeded to slaughter the monks in Chang'an, destroy the statues, and burn the sutras. He then issued an empire-wide prohibition of Buddhism. Crown Prince Huang, however, used delaying tactics in promulgating the edict, allowing Buddhists to flee or hide, but it was said that not a single Buddhist temple remained standing in Northern Wei. This was the first of the Three Disasters of Wu.

In spring 446, believing incorrectly that the Liu Song governor of Qing Province (青州, modern central and eastern Shandong), Du Ji (杜驥), was about to defect to him, Emperor Taiwu sent Tuoba Na and Tuoba Ren (拓拔仁, Tuoba Jian's son) the Prince of Yongchang to try to escort Du, and to attack Liu Song's Qing, Yan (兗州, modern western Shandong) and Ji (冀州, modern northwestern Shandong) Provinces, and while Northern Wei forces did not capture or hold those provinces, those provinces were greatly disturbed by the attack.

In summer 446, Gai returned to Xingcheng and restrengthened himself quickly. Emperor Taiwu sent Tuoba Na and Tuoba Ren to attack him, and Tuoba Na captured Gai's two uncles. Initially, Gai's uncles were to be delivered to Pingcheng, but the general Buliugu Qi (步六孤俟) suggested instead to make an oath with Gai's uncles and have them assassinate Gai. Tuoba Na agreed, and Gai's uncles assassinated him, ending Gai's rebellion.

In 447, believing that Juqu Mujian had secretly hidden Northern Liang treasures that he had claimed to be lost to pillaging troops, Emperor Taiwu first slaughtered nearly the entire Juqu clan, and then forced Juqu Mujian and Consort Mujian to commit suicide.

In 448, Emperor Taiwu created his general Chudahan Ba (出大汗拔) the Prince of Shanshan, effectively making Shanshan a part of his empire. He also had Tuwan Dugui attack a number of other Xiyu kingdoms, forcing their submission.

In winter 448 and spring 449, Emperor Taiwu and Crown Prince Huang attacked Rouran together, but Rouran's Chuluo Khan, Yujiulü Tuhezhen eluded them and did not engage them. In fall 449, however, Tuoba Na was able to inflict heavy losses on Rouran, and for several years Rouran did not attack.

In 450, Emperor Taiwu, accusing Liu Song's Emperor Wen of having fostered Gai's rebellion, attacked Liu Song, putting Xuanhu (懸瓠, in modern Zhumadian, Henan) under siege for 42 days but could not capture it, and he withdrew.

Later in 450, a major political mystery occurred in Northern Wei—for reasons not completely clear now, Emperor Taiwu had Cui Hao put to death, along with his entire clan and any other person named Cui from Cui's home commandery of Qinghe (清河, roughly modern Xingtai, Hebei), as well as several other clans with marital relations to Cui's. The publicly announced reason was that Cui had unduly revealed imperial infamy, when he wrote and published an official history, but what Cui did was never fully stated. The modern historian Bo Yang speculated that Cui had revealed that Emperor Taiwu's grandfather Emperor Daowu had been a traitor, and also that Cui was then in a major political confrontation with Crown Prince Huang, who manufactured part of the charges against Cui. (See here for details.) However, Bo's speculation, while having some evidentiary support, is not close to being conclusively shown, and why Emperor Taiwu suddenly so rashly and so severely punished the man that he had trusted for decades is fairly unclear. (It should be further noted that during the entire incident, Cui was described as being so fearful that he could not speak a single word, which appeared highly inconsistent with Cui's personality and character, suggesting that Cui had himself been poisoned; it should be further noted that immediately after executing Cui, Emperor Taiwu expressed regret of having done so.)

In fall 450, Liu Song's Emperor Wen launched a major attack on Northern Wei, again hoping to regain the provinces south of the Yellow River, making a two-pronged attack—with the eastern prong attacking Qiaoao (碻磝, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong) and Huatai, and the western prong attacking Shancheng and Tong Pass. Under Emperor Taiwu's orders, Northern Wei forces abandoned Qiaoao while defending Huatai, and he himself headed south to relieve Qiaoao while having Crown Prince Huang head north to defend against a potential Rouran attack. The Liu Song general Wang Xuanmo (王玄謨), whose army was strong, initially received popular support among the people near Huatai, but lost that popularity when he demanded that those who joined his forces to provide a large supply of pears—800 per household. With the popular support lost, he was unable to capture Huatai quickly, and as Emperor Taiwu arrived, the Liu Song forces collapsed. Upon hearing this, although the western Liu Song forces, under command of the general Liu Wenjing (柳文景), were successful in capturing Shancheng and Tong Pass and preparing to descend into the Guanzhong region, Emperor Wen withdrew them.

In retaliation for the Liu Song attack, Emperor Taiwu launched an all-out attack against Liu Song's northern provinces. Tuoba Ren quickly captured Xuanhu and Xiangcheng (項城, in modern Zhoukou, Henan) and pillaging his way to Shouyang. Emperor Taiwu himself advanced on Pengcheng, but did not put that heavily fortified city under siege; rather, he advanced south, claiming that he would cross the Yangtze River and destroy the Liu Song capital Jiankang. Both his main army and the other branch armies that he sent out carried out heavy slaughters and arsons, laying Liu Song's Huai River region to waste. Around the new year 451, Emperor Taiwu had reached Guabu (瓜步, in modern Nanjing, Jiangsu), across the river from Jiankang, but at this point he reproposed the marriage-peace proposal he made earlier—that if Emperor Wen married a daughter to one of his grandsons, he would be willing to marry a daughter to Emperor Wen's son, Liu Jun (who was then defending Pengcheng), to establish long-term peace. Emperor Wen's crown prince Liu Shao favored the proposal, but Jiang Dan (江湛) opposed, and the marital proposal was not accepted. In spring 451, worried that his forces were being overstretched and would be attacked in the rear by the Liu Song forces garrisoned at Pengcheng and Shouyang, Emperor Taiwu began a withdraw, and on the way, insulted by the Liu Song general Zang Zhi (臧質), he put Xuyi (盱眙, in modern Huai'an, Jiangsu) under siege, and, after both sides suffered heavy losses but with the defense holding, quickly withdrew. This campaign appeared to heavily wear out both empires and demonstrated the cruel parts of Emperor Taiwu's personality well, as Sima Guang described it in this manner:

The Wei forces laid South Yan, Xu, North Yan, Yu, Qing, and Ji Provinces to waste. The Song deaths and injuries were innumerable. When Wei forces encountered Song young men, the forces quickly beheaded them or cut them in half. The infants were pierced through with spears, and the spears were then shaken so that the infants would scream as they were spun, for entertainment. The commanderies and counties that Wei forces went through were burned and slaughtered, and not even grass was left. When sparrows returned in the spring, they could not find houses to build nest on, so they had to do so in forests. Wei soldiers and horses also suffered casualties of more than half, and the Xianbei people were all complaining.

Another part of Emperor Taiwu's personality that was revealed as how, even as the states were engaging wars, he was maintaining formal protocols of détente. For example, when he was outside of Pengcheng, he requested Liu Jun supply him with wine and sugercanes, while offering Liu Jun a gift of camels, mules, and coats. Later, he requested oranges and gambling supplies from Liu Jun, while offering Liu Jun blankets, salts, and pickled beans. Similar things happened as he was at Guabu, as he requested and sent gifts to and from Emperor Wen. (How Zang aggravated him was by sending him urine when he requested wine, thus breaking the pattern of formal exchanges of gifts.)

In 451, there would be further political turmoil, with Crown Prince Huang and his associates being the victims. Crown Prince Huang had been considered able and all-seeing, but overly trusting of his associates, while privately managing farms and orchards and receiving profits from them. Crown Prince Huang greatly disliked the eunuch Zong Ai, and Zong decided to act first, accusing Crown Prince Huang's associates Chou'ni Daosheng (仇泥道盛) and Ren Pingcheng (任平城) of crimes, and Chou'ni and Ren were executed. Further, many other associates of Crown Prince Huang were dragged into the incident and executed. Crown Prince Huang himself grew ill in anxiety, and died in summer 451. Soon, however, Emperor Taiwu found out that Crown Prince Huang was not guilty, and became heavily regretful of his actions in pursuing the crown prince's associates. He did not create a new crown prince, although he briefly created Crown Prince Huang's son Tuoba Jun the Prince of Gaoyang—but then cancelled that creation, figuring that the heir of the crown prince should not be created a mere imperial prince, suggesting that he intended for Tuoba Jun to inherit the throne.

Because of how much Emperor Taiwu missed Crown Prince Huang, Zong Ai became anxious, and in spring 452 he assassinated Emperor Taiwu. Initially, a number of officials were going to make Emperor Taiwu's son Tuoba Han (拓拔翰) the Prince of Dongping emperor, but Zong also had bad relations with Tuoba Han, and so falsely issued orders in the name of Empress Helian to make another son of Emperor Taiwu's, Tuoba Yu the Prince of Nan'an, emperor, while putting Tuoba Han to death.