In Chinese history, it is not uncommon for powerful ministers to usurp the throne. But it is a new thing for a powerful minister to usurp the throne for others. The Northern Zhou dynasty minister Yuwen Hu did such a puzzling thing.
Yuwen Hu was the nephew of Yuwen Tai, a Western Wei chancellor, and although the two were juniors and elders, the age difference between the two was actually only six years.
Yuwen Tai controlled the Western Wei dynasty in his early years, and in order to make his career more comfortable, Yu Wentai continued to promote family members, and Yuwen Hu was one of them. Yuwen Hu had wisdom and grace, and was particularly prominent among the many sons of the Yuwen family, so he soon became Yuwen Tai's right hand man and held important positions such as Kaifu Yi Tongsan Division and Great General in the Western Wei court.
In 556, Yuwen Tai fell critically ill. Before dying, he called Yuwen Nu to his sickbed and told him to take good care of his sons. Soon after the explanation, Yuwen Tai passed away.
After Yuwen Tai's death, Yuwen Hu took over the imperial government. In the same year, he forced Emperor Gong of Wei to give up the throne and changed the name of the country to "Zhou", which was known as Northern Zhou. However, although Yuwen Hu was already in power at this time, he did not directly sit on the emperor's throne himself, but pushed Yuwen Tai's third son, Yuwen Jue, who was only 15 years old, to this position, and was known as Emperor Xiaomin of Northern Zhou (then known as The Heavenly King). Yuwen Hu continued to control the imperial government as the Grand Sima (大司馬).
Yuwen Hu let the ready-made emperor not do it, but instead gave it to his cousin Yuwen Jue, so did he have a good assistance to Yuwen Jue to govern the country after that? The answer is no. Yuwen Jue's imperial throne was not yet hot, and he was poisoned by Yuwen Hu in 557 AD. In the same year, Yuwen Hu also ordered the killing of the former Western Wei emperor Yuan Kuo.
After Yuwen Jue's death, Yuwen Hu still did not choose to make himself emperor, but instead established Yuwen Tai's eldest son Yuwen Yu as emperor, known as Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou. Yuwen Yu's fate was slightly stronger than that of his third brother Yuwen Jue. Yuwen Jue was killed after only one year as emperor, and Yuwen Yu was emperor for three years before he was killed by Yuwen Hu. In just four years, Yuwen Hu had made three emperors in a row, and he was the "dragon slayer master".
After Yuwen Yu was killed, Yuwen Hu also supported Yuwen Tai's fourth son Yuwen Yong as emperor, and was known as Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. Judging from past experience, Yuwen Yong's fate was worrying. However, Yuwen Yong was much stronger than his two older brothers, he was low-key and introverted, and never had any conflict with Yuwen Hu, who just wanted to find a stubble and couldn't catch any handle. These two cousins, each pregnant with a ghost fetus, spent more than ten years in peace with each other in such a state of superficial harmony and mutual wariness.
During this period, did Yuwen Hu really want to become emperor himself? The answer, of course, is very much thought. But the timing was not on his side.
Since Yuwen Tai's death, Yuwen Hu has become the supreme ruler of the country. However, Yuwen Hu's power was completely on par with Yuwen Tai. At that time, the most powerful pillar generals, only Yu Jin was a supporter of Yuwen Hu, and the rest were either "wall-riding factions" or opponents of Yuwen Hu. These people were like mountains in front of Yuwen Hu, and each one was not easy to move. Although Yuwen Hu eliminated some of them, the opposition was still very strong.
Despite this, Yuwen Hu's determination to usurp the throne was still very strong. In order to be able to serve the people, he decided to establish an immortal merit through the conquest of Northern Qi, so that everyone would be convinced.
In 563, Yuwen Hu ordered the army of the fallen state to march to Northern Qi. At that time, the strength of Northern Zhou was higher than that of Northern Qi, and if properly commanded, it was not impossible to eliminate Northern Qi. However, Yuwen Hu's military talent was not satisfactory, and the battlefield scheduling was repeatedly wrong, resulting in a major defeat of the Northern Zhou army in the "Battle of Yaoshan Mountain", and Yuwen Hu was also discredited, and the difficulty of usurping the throne rose sharply.
After suffering a heavy military setback, Yuwen Hu had to postpone his usurpation plan. However, time is becoming more and more unfavorable to him, because Yuwen Yong, the nominal "chairman", is also secretly accumulating strength. As a result, Yuwen Hu's usurpation plan had not yet begun to be implemented, and Yuwen Yong's side decided to start first.
In 572, Yuwen Yong used a trick to trick Yuwen Hu into the palace. Thinking that no one dared to move his Yuwen Protector, in the absence of any defense, he was attacked by Yuwen Yong from behind, and was beaten to death. The "dragon slayer master" was eventually killed by the "dragon".
References: Book of Zhou, Vol. XI, Column III