Emperor Wenxiang Gao Cheng was the eldest son of Emperor Gao Huan of Northern Qi, the founder of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and Empress Dowager Lou Zhaojun of the Three Dynasties, and he was also the father of the beautiful man Lanling King, not only that, his wife was also the sister of Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei, Yuan Shanmi.
Gao Cheng was born to his wife Lou Zhaojun, who was brilliant since childhood, strict and strategic, with political talent, and was deeply loved by Gao. After the establishment of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, he successively served as Shangshu Ling, Daxingtai, Hezhou Assassin History, Gyeonggi Metropolitan Governor, and Shangshu of the Bureaucracy. Later, his father Gao Huan fell ill and died, and the twenty-six-year-old Gao Cheng entered the imperial auxiliary government, worshiped the general, and was crowned the King of Bohai. Authority was rapidly established by reforming the official election system, punishing bribery, rectifying the rule of officials, and enacting laws.
After Gao Huan's death, Gao Cheng succeeded him as chancellor, overseeing all the Chinese and foreign armies and sitting in Jinyang. Defeated the rebel general Hou Jing, plotted against Liang, expanded the land of Lianghuai, recovered Henan, united the Eastern Wei ruling class in a short period of time, and successfully controlled the Eastern Wei regime.
During the wars at the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, many people were displaced, fled, controlled by landlords and powerful people, turned into slaves, or organized into private armed forces. These powerful people did not pay taxes or report the number of slaves, hid the population, and secretly retained a lot of money and slaves, resulting in a sharp decline in the number of household registrations and taxes in the Eastern Wei. As a result, a large number of private soldiers were not under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, which seriously affected the stability of the country. After Gao Cheng assisted the government, he punished bribery and annexed Lianghuai.
Gao Cheng loved the virtuous and good soldiers, had no national prejudice, and in the Xianbei regime, he was able to treat the Han scholars and doctors with courtesy. Cui Xian and other Han civilian officials, with the strong support of Gao Cheng, dared to go all out to picket Quan Hao and did not give up. Both politically and militarily, he was very accomplished.
In the seventh year of Wuding, Gao Cheng and his cronies began to formally seize the Yuan power through secret business. Lan Jing pretended to go inside to deliver food, hid a knife at the bottom of the plate, and stabbed him, Chen Yuankang shielded Gao Cheng with his body, and was stabbed into serious injuries. When Gao Cheng jumped off the bed, he injured his foot and could not escape, so he had to go under the big bed to hide. Lan Jing's six comrades immediately arrived and hacked the two guards who had come to rescue Gao Cheng to death and wounded one by one. Everyone lifted the bed together and killed Gao Cheng. Although Lan Jing and his party were immediately beheaded by Gao Yang, who rushed to hear the news, Gao Cheng was already dead, only twenty-nine years old.
After Gao Cheng's death, Gao Yang inherited his father's brother's inheritance. In the eighth year of Wuding, Northern Qi was established. Gao Yang posthumously honored Gao Cheng as Emperor Wenxiang and the temple name Sejong. Gao Cheng left six sons, except for the younger son Gao Shaoxin, who had no deeds, the rest were both literate and martial. In particular, the fourth son, Gao Changgong, is a famous general of a generation, and he is the famous Lanling King.