Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou - As Retired Emperor

As Retired Emperor

Historians described that after Emperor Xuan passed the throne to Emperor Jing, he became particularly wasteful, megalomanic, and unrestrained. He referred to himself as "Heaven," and required officials who were to visit him to have vegetarian diets for three days and bathe—then customary for the days spent before worshipping a god. He disallowed officials from using belts or decorations for their clothing, and he forbid the use of such characters as "heaven" (天), "high" (高), "upper" (上), and "grand" (大), except by himself. He forbid women, other than the women of the palace, from using cosmetics, and for reasons unknown, he ordered that all wheels be made from single pieces of wood, disallowing assembling.

It was further recorded that whenever Emperor Xuan met with officials, he only discussed with them how to change customs or how to build palaces, disregarding the affairs of state. He spent his days in games and tours, wearing out his attendants. The officials often were caned—initially, 120 times per caning, and later increased to 240 times. The terror imposed on the officials and even the women of the palace was so great that no one dared to say anything.

In summer 579, Emperor Xuan created Emperor Jing's mother Consort Zhu Manyue "Empress Tianyuan" (天元帝后, Tianyuan Di Hou). He also set up fiefs for his uncles Yuwen Zhao, Yuwen Chun (宇文純) the Prince of Chen, Yuwen Sheng (宇文盛) the Prince of Yue, Yuwen Da (宇文達) the Prince of Dai, and Yuwen You (宇文逌) the Prince of Teng, and sent them away from Chang'an, to their fiefs.

In fall 579, in a highly unorthodox action, Emperor Xuan created two more empresses -- Consort Yuan Leshang as "Heavenly Right Empress" (天右皇后, Tian You Huanghou) and Consort Chen Yueyi as "Heavenly Left Empress" (天左皇后, Tian Zuo Huanghou), changing Empress Zhu's title to "Heavenly Empress" (天皇后, Tian Huanghou). Also around this time, when Yuchi Chifan the daughter-in-law of his cousin Yuwen Liang (宇文亮) the Duke of Qi was at the palace to greet him, he raped her.

In winter 579, Emperor Xuan officially ended the prohibitions against Taoism and Buddhism that Emperor Wu had declared, and he personally sat with the statues of Buddhist and Taoist deities. He also launched a major attack on rival Chen Dynasty. By spring 580, the Northern Zhou army had taken the territory between the Yangtze River and the Huai River from Chen. As the army was withdrawing, Yuwen Liang, serving as a general on the campaign, tried to ambush his commander Wei Xiaokuan and seize Wei's troops, and then declare a rebellion to support one of his uncles as emperor. Wei found out about Yuwen Liang's plot and was able to repel his attack, and was able to kill him. Emperor Xuan then also killed Yuwen Liang's son Yuwen Wen (宇文溫) the Duke of Xiyang, and then took Yuwen Wen's wife Duchess Yuchi as a consort. Then, against opposition that he already had too many empresses, he created her as another empress.

By this point, Emperor Xuan was becoming even more erratic in his behavior, and at one point, he became suddenly angry at Empress Yang and wanted to punish her. She, however, remained calm but firm in defense of herself, which made him more angry, and he ordered her to commit suicide. Empress Yang's mother, Duchess Dugu Qieluo, had to plead earnestly for Empress Yang's life, before he finally spared Empress Yang. Meanwhile, however, Emperor Xuan was suspicious of the abilities of Empress Yang's father Yang Jian, and he considered killing Yang Jian but ultimately did not do so. As Yang Jian and Zheng Yi were friends, Yang Jian made a secret request to Zheng to give him a post away from the capital, and soon, by Zheng's recommendation, Emperor Xuan made Yang Jian the commander of the forces against Chen (as he then prepared another attack against Chen).

Before the army could depart, however, Emperor Xuan suddenly grew ill in summer 580. He summoned his associates Liu Fang (劉昉) and Yan Zhiyi (顏之儀) to try to entrust the affairs to them, but when they arrived, he was already unable to speak. Liu, after consulting with fellow attendants Zheng, Liu Qiu (柳裘), Wei Mo (韋謨), and Huangfu Ji (皇甫績), decided to summon Yang Jian to attend to Emperor Xuan and to serve as regent if Emperor Xuan should die—against Yan's attempt to have Yuwen Zhao made regent. Yang initially declined, apparently fearing that it was a trap, but eventually arrived at the palace. That night, Emperor Xuan died, and Yang seized the control of the palace and the imperial troops. Within a year, Yang would seize the throne, ending Northern Zhou and establishing Sui Dynasty.