Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou - Reign

Reign

Emperor Xuan honored his father Emperor Wu's wife Empress Ashina as empress dowager and created his wife Crown Princess Yang empress. Other than those proper acts, however, he began to carry out a number of inappropriate ones—including immediately promoting of Zheng Yi and having sexual relations with the ladies in waiting in his father's palace. It was also said that not only did he not mourn his father's death, but as he approached his father's casket, he touched the scars from the wounds his father had previously inflicted, and cursed, "Old man, you died too late!" He soon also honored his mother Consort Li as empress dowager (with the secondary title of Di Taihou (帝太后) to distinguish Empress Dowager Ashina's title Huang Taihou (皇太后)).

Upon hearing Emperor Wu's death, Gao Shaoyi, a Northern Qi prince who had claimed Northern Qi's imperial title in exile in Tujue, tried to launch an attack to reestablish Northern Qi, but was quickly repelled and forced to retreat to Tujue territory.

Emperor Xuan then turned to killing people that he feared or had grudges against. The first target was his uncle Yuwen Xian the Prince of Qi, due to the respect that Yuwen Xian commanded on account of his military abilities, along with Yuwen Xian's friends, the generals Wang Xing (王興), Dugu Xiong (獨孤熊), and Doulu Shao (豆盧紹). He then turned against Wang Gui, Yuwen Xiaobo, and Yuwen Shenju (宇文神舉) -- all close associates of Emperor Wu—as he suspected all of them of having spoken ill of him before Emperor Wu. Yuchi Yun died in fear.

Emperor Xuan was obsessed with reestablishing changing the customary protocols that his father had established, and in spring 579, he changed the official uniforms that Emperor Wu had standardized, to instead use the uniforms styled after Eastern Han Dynasty and Cao Wei. He also abolished the penal code that his father had promulgated in 577 and declared several pardons, stating that he believed that Emperor Wu's punishments were too severe—but soon imposed an even more severe penal code. Also contrary to his father's prohibition of Buddhism and Taoism, he made public gestures to honor Taoism.

Also in spring 579, Emperor Xuan created his oldest son Yuwen Chan -- then six-years-old—the Prince of Lu, and then crown prince. He also promoted Luoyang to the status of secondary capital, moving the subsidiary branches of the six central government departments from Northern Qi's old capital Yecheng (鄴城, in modern Handan, Hebei) to Luoyang.

Meanwhile, around this time, Tujue's Tuobo Khan (Empress Dowager Ashina's uncle) sought peace. Emperor Xuan, in response, created his cousin (the daughter of his uncle Yuwen Zhao (宇文招) the Prince of Zhao) Princess Qianjin, offering to marry Princess Qianjin to Tuobo Khan, but with the demand that Tuobo Khan surrender Gao Shaoyi. Tuobo Khan refused.

Less than a month after creating Yuwen Chan crown prince, Emperor Xuan formally passed the throne to Yuwen Chan (as Emperor Jing). Emperor Xuan himself claimed the atypical title of "Emperor Tianyuan" (天元皇帝, Tianyuan Huangdi), rather than the expected retired emperor title of Taishang Huang. He changed the name of his palace to Tian Tai (天台, "heavenly tower"), and doubled the number of tassels on his crown, as well as the number of imperial vehicles, litters, clothing, banners, and drums. He changed the name of the young emperor's palace to Zhengyang Palace (正陽宮), with the same complement of staff as his own palace. Empress Yang's title was changed to "Empress Dowager Tianyuan" (天元皇太后, Tianyuan Huang Taihou).