During Emperor Wu's Reign
In 557, Chen Baxian had Emperor Jing yield the throne to him, establishing Chen Dynasty as its Emperor Wu. He created Chen Qian, as his only close male relative in his territory, the Prince of Linchuan. (His son Chen Chang, along with Chen Qian's brother Chen Xu, had been taken captive by Western Wei in 554, as they were serving as low level officials in Emperor Yuan's administration.) Chen Qian's father Chen Daotan was posthumously honored as the Prince of Shixing, and Chen Xu, although not physically in Chen territory, was created the Prince of Shixing to inherit Chen Daotan's title.
In fall 558, after the Liang general Wang Lin (who had by that point declared Emperor Yuan's grandson Xiao Zhuang emperor) had defeated and captured Emperor Wu's key generals Zhou Wenyu and Hou Andu (althoguh both Zhou and Hou were about to flee from their captivity soon thereafter), Emperor Wu, while negotiating a peace settlement with Wang, also sent Chen Qian with a large fleet to prepare to attack Wang should a peace agreement not happen. Subsequently, a peace was negotiated with Wang, although border conflicts continued, and Chen Qian, by Emperor Wu's orders, constructed a fortress at Nanhuan (南皖, in modern Anqing, Anhui) to defend a potential Wang attack.
While Chen Qian was still at Nanhuan, in summer 559, Emperor Wu grew ill and quickly died. Emperor Wu's wife Empress Zhang Yao'er, after consulting the officials Du Leng (杜稜) and Cai Jingli (蔡景歷), chose not to announce Emperor Wu's death and summoned Chen Qian back from Nanhuan. The imperial officials, led by Hou, decided to support Chen Qian as emperor, and while Empress Zhang was initially hesitant, hoping that Chen Chang would return, she eventually agreed, and Chen Qian took the throne as Emperor Wen.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Wen Of Chen