Huan Chong - The Crisis of Huan Wen's Succession

The Crisis of Huan Wen's Succession

By the time Huan Wen grew gravely ill in 373, Huan Wen was effectively in direct control of the western two thirds of the empire. As Huan Wen hesitated at seizing the throne and ultimately chose not to do so, he entrusted his command to Huan Chong, rather than his heir apparent Huan Xi (桓熙), because he considered Huan Xi lacking in the talent for military command. However, Huan Xi's younger brother Huan Ji (桓濟), along with Huan Mi, conspired to kill Huan Chong and take over. After Huan Wen died, Huan Chong acted first and arrested Huan Xi and Huan Ji. He then exiled Huan Mi and put Huan Xi and Huan Ji under house arrest. He instead reported to the imperial government that Huan Xuan, Huan Wen's youngest son, was designed by Huan Wen as heir, and the imperial government agreed to let the four-year-old Huan Xuan assume Huan Wen's title of Duke of Nan Commandery.

There had been anticipation that there might be a confrontation between Huan Chong and the prime minister Xie An following Huan Wen's death. Xie avoided a direct confrontation by dividing Huan Wen's domain into three parts and putting them under the commands of Huan Chong, Huan Huo, and Huan Huo's son Huan Shixiu (桓石秀), respectively. Huan Chong was allocated Yang (揚州, modern Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, and southern Anhui) and Yu (豫州, modern central Anhui) Provinces. Some of his advisors suggested that he kill some of the imperial officials and take over the imperial government, but he refused, and indeed returned the power to authorize executions (which Huan Wen had exercised) back to the imperial government.