Early Career
Husi Chun was ethnically Xianbei, and his ancestors were tribal chiefs under Northern Wei's predecessor state Dai. During the reign of Emperor Xiaoming, Husi Chun's father Husi Zu (斛斯足) was one of the directors of husbandry—a mid-low level office in the imperial administration. At that time, Northern Wei was greatly affected by agrarian rebellions, and Husi Chun decided to take his household to follow the general Erzhu Rong. He served with distinction under Erzhu, showing tactical talent, and Erzhu made him a close associate. He participated in Erzhu's later plot with Emperor Xiaoming to try to overthrow Emperor Xiaoming's mother and regent Empress Dowager Hu. After Emperor Xiaoming's plot was discovered by Empress Dowager Hu in 528, Empress Dowager Hu poisoned Emperor Xiaoming to death and made his distant nephew, the toddler Yuan Zhao, emperor. Erzhu, with Husi serving as one of his advisors, refused to recognize Yuan Zhao as emperor and instead marched on the capital Luoyang, capturing it. He threw Empress Dowager Hu and Yuan Zhao into the Yellow River to drown, and installed Yuan Ziyou the Prince of Changle as emperor. For Husi's contributions to the campaign, he was created the Duke of Yangqu, and later was made the governor of Eastern Xu Province (東徐州, part of modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu).
In 530, Emperor Xiaozhuang, believing that Erzhu Rong would eventually seize the throne, ambushed and killed him. The members of Erzhu Rong's clan, led by his wife the Princess Beixiang, his cousin Erzhu Shilong, and his nephew Erzhu Zhao, waged a campaign against Emperor Xiaozhuang. During this campaign, rival Liang Dynasty's Emperor Wu created the Wei prince Yuan Yue (元悅) the Prince of Ru'nan, a son of Emperor Xiaowen, the Prince of Wei, and commissioned an army to escort him back to Northern Wei to try to take the throne. Husi, who was fearful after Erzhu Rong's death, decided to surrender to Yuan Yue, and Yuan Yue made him his commander in chief. Later that year, however, after the Erzhus captured and killed Emperor Xiaozhuang, Yuan Yue believed that he would be unable to contend with them, and therefore retreated back to Liang. Instead of following Yuan Yue to Liang, Husi fled and submitted to Erzhu Zhao.
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