After the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, he embarked on a political line of Sinicization, which made Northern Wei's rule in the Central Plains stable and the economy developed by leaps and bounds. However, the status of xianbei, the indigenous people stationed in the border towns, showed a clear decline under this policy, and the Northern Wei lack of concern for the political development of the border towns eventually led to the Rebellion of the Six Towns.
At this time, in the capital City of Luoyang, Empress Dowager Hu, who held great power, poisoned and killed Emperor Xiaoming, which triggered a violent turmoil in the power of Northern Wei. In order to continue to control the government, Empress Dowager Hu falsely referred to the newly born princess of Yuan Xue as the crown prince and planned to establish her ascension to the throne. Empress Dowager Hu's actions caused resentment among many Northern Wei ministers and gave the warlord Erzhu Rong the excuse to march into Luoyang.
In order to gain a reasonable political position, Erzhu Rong needed to appoint a new monarch to confront Empress Dowager Hu. Among the many Northern Wei emperors at that time, he selected Yuan Ziyou the Prince of Changle as the new king and successfully defeated the Yellow River defense line laid out by Empress Hu, and in this process, Yuan Ziyou played a crucial role, which was also the fundamental reason why Erzhu Rong supported him as emperor.
Emperor Xiaozhuang of northern Wei
Yuan Ziyou's father Yuan Xun had an excellent political reputation
In the history of ancient China, Northern Wei politics has a very prominent feature, that is, the clan office often occupies an important position in the central political system. Moreover, their maintenance of imperial power was fundamental to the rapid development of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and there was no shortage of outstanding talents, and Yuan Ziyou's father Yuan Xun was one of the representative figures.
Pengcheng Wang Yuanxun
As the son of Tuoba Hong, Emperor Xianwen of Northern Wei, Yuan Xun was later crowned king of Pengcheng. As the younger brother of Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Hong, he provided him with great help during his reign and was an indispensable figure in the process of Emperor Xiaowen's restructuring. He not only gave his brother support in the process of Emperor Xiaowen's relocation of the capital, but after arriving in Luoyang, he also became an important helper of Emperor Xiaowen, successively serving as a servant, Shangshuling and other positions, and incorruptible and honest in office, showing good leadership ability, and was deeply loved by the courtiers.
When Emperor Xiaowen was seriously ill, he personally served Emperor Xiaowen's side, took meticulous care of him, and even prayed to heaven like The Duke of Zhou to exchange his life for Emperor Xiaowen's health, and his loyalty to Northern Wei was undoubtedly revealed. After the death of Emperor Xiaowen, he did his best to help Yuan Ke ascend the throne and help his nephew stabilize the throne, which can be described as the pillar of the country. However, at this time, Yuan Xun was dissatisfied with some of his powerful ministers because of his interference in the development of foreign forces, and Yuan Ke was quite jealous of his uncle who was highly powerful and famous all over the world, which led him to begin to alienate Yuan Xun.
In the end, under the rumors of his cousin Gao Zhao and others, Yuan Ke finally poisoned his uncle and poisoned him with wine. Yuan Xun's death was deeply regretted by many ministers in the DPRK, which brought his political prestige to the peak. At the time of Emperor Xiaoming's death, people became disgusted with the rule of Empress Dowager Hu of Northern Wei, and Yuan Xun, as a famous sage king, his son also gained the expectations of bureaucrats under his influence, so Erzhu Rong's selection of Yuan Xun's son as the new emperor could obtain certain political resources for him.
Yuan Ziyou's close relationship with the Han chinese
In addition to the Yuan Xun factor, Erzhu Rong's decision to elect Yuan Ziyou as emperor is likely related to his Han background. Yuan Ziyou's mother, Li Shi, was a member of the Li clan in Longxi, which had a very high reputation during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and also had considerable political resources, such as Li Yiyong, Li Yu and others were important figures in the political arena of Northern Wei, and they had an innate good feeling for Yuan Ziyou, who was related to him, which would make Erzhu Rong get more support.
Longxi Li Ancestral Hall
In addition to his own maternal relatives, Yuan Ziyou also maintained a relatively close relationship during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming and between the Han bureaucrats of the other Wang clans. Among them, the Xingyang Zheng clan and the Longxi Li clan were in-laws, and Yuan Ziyou and Zheng Xianhu had a good relationship when they were young:
The son is protected first, and there are few martial arts. Relieve the brown man wai lang, transfer to Nao lang. Emperor Zhuang's residence was also a self-entrustment.
In addition to relatives, Yuan Ziyou also protected some of the Han bureaucrats who were politically persecuted at that time, such as Yang Kuan, a member of the Yang clan of Hongnong, who was convicted of having a deep friendship with Wang Yuan of Guangyang, and was arrested by the Northern Wei authorities, Yuan Ziyou once hid it in his home to save him from arrest, and when Gao Qianzhi of the Bohai Gao clan was hunted down, he was also exempted from disaster under the protection of Yuan Ziyou, so he had a good reputation among Han officials.
Empress Dowager Hu of Northern Wei persecuted a number of ministers during her reign
Yuan Ziyou's good relations with Han officials played a great role in Erzhu Rong's attack, and at that time, after hearing that Erzhu Rong had proclaimed Yuan Ziyou emperor, both Li Hui, the Taishou of Hanoi, and Zheng Xianhu, who was firmly guarding Heliang, surrendered to Erzhu Rong without any resistance, which caused Empress Dowager Hu's elaborate Yellow River defense line to be rapidly disintegrated. It can be said that it is precisely because of the existence of Yuan Ziyou that Erzhu Rong was able to complete this coup at a very small cost.
Erzhu Rong's defense against the puppet emperor
When Erzhu Rong decided to support Yuan Xun's son, Yuan Ziyou was not the only choice, at that time, Yuan Ziyou's brother Yuan Shao was still alive, according to the etiquette, it was obviously better to support Yuan Shao as emperor, and the reason why Erzhu Rong would choose Yuan Ziyou instead of his brother was mainly related to Erzhu Rong's expectations for the new emperor.
As the most powerful warlord in Northern Wei at that time, Erzhu Rong did not support the development of Northern Wei when he supported Yuan Ziyou, but hoped to rely on puppet emperors to gain the approval of the imperial court and thus achieve greater development. As the elder brother of Yuan Ziyou, Yuan Shao had planned to raise an army against Empress Hu when Empress Dowager Hu was in turmoil, but in the end, it did not happen.
It can be seen that Yuan Shao was an assertive and ambitious member of the clan, which was not in line with Erzhu Rong's expectations for a puppet emperor, so he would choose Yuan Shao's younger brother Yuan Ziyou. However, what Erzhu Rong did not expect was that Yuan Ziyou was also a monarch with great ambitions, and even after suffering the blow of the Heyin Revolution, he did not completely submit to the oppression of Erzhu Rong, and finally relied on his own strength to stab the Great General of the Heavenly Pillar and avenge his brother who was killed.
Northern Wei dynasty chancellor Erzhu Rong
After Empress Dowager Hu poisoned Emperor Xiaoming, the political situation in Northern Wei began to go into chaos, and the great warlord Erzhu Rong saw this opportunity and attacked Empress Dowager Hu, successfully entering Luoyang and seizing power in Northern Wei. In this process, his emperor Yuan Ziyou played a very important role.
First of all, the reputation of Yuan Ziyou's father, King Yuanxunxian, could allow him to gain widespread support from the scholars, and the result of his persecution and death by his traitors also allowed Yuan Ziyou and Erzhu Rong to gain more sympathy. At the same time, Yuan Ziyou and his brother Yuan Shao maintained good relations with the Han warriors during the reign of Emperor Xiaoming, and their defection was also a key factor in Erzhu Rong's ability to quickly defeat Empress Dowager Hu.
However, although Erzhu Rong achieved his goal of seizing power by supporting Yuan Ziyou, he still lacked a clear understanding of Yuan Ziyou's ambitions and boldness. Even though he had killed Yuan Shao, who seemed to him to be a greater threat, Yuan Ziyou eventually used Erzhu Rong's arrogance to kill the powerful minister, pushing the history of Northern Wei to the next stage.