Helian Chang, for reasons not now known,…
434 CE
Helian Chang, for reasons not now known, flees Pingcheng and apparently attempts to foment a rebellion in spring 434.
He is killed in battle, and Emperor Taiwu has Helian Chang's brothers put to death.
At the same time, after initially refusing a peace offer from Northern Yan, Emperor Taiwu accepts after Feng Hong offers his daughter as a consort and releases the Northern Wei ambassador Huniuyu Shimen, who had been imprisoned by Feng Hong's brother and predecessor Feng Ba in 414 after being commissioned by Emperor Mingyuan.
Emperor Taiwu, however, orders Feng Hong to also send his crown prince Feng Wangren to Pingcheng to meet him, and Feng Hong refuses, ending the brief peace, and by summer 434, Northern Wei resumes its periodic attacks on Northern Yan.
He again sends Tuoba Jian against Northern Yan, and Tuoba Jian seizes Northern Yan's crops and some of its people before withdrawing.
Meanwhile, around this time, he also takes the sister of the Rouran’s Chilian Khan Yujiulü Wuti as an imperial consort and, to further cement peaceful relations, marries his sister or cousin Princess Xihai to Yujiulü Wuti.
In fall 434, while attacking the Xiongnu rebel Bai Long, Emperor Taiwu, having underestimated the capabilities of Bai's forces, is nearly captured in an ambush; he is saved only by the efforts of his guard Houmochen Jian.
He subsequently defeats Bai and slaughters Bai's tribe.