Northern Qi, Empire of

Gao Huan's son Gao Yang forces Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei to yield the throne to him in 550, ending Eastern Wei and establishing Northern Qi.

As Emperor Wenxuan, Gao Yang adopts a defensive policy towards the hostile northern tribes, building over a thousand miles of wall on the border.

The empire of the Rouran (also spelled Juan-Juan, Jwen-jwen, Jou-jan, Jeu-jen, or Geougen, and believed by scholars to be Mongols or Mongol-speaking peoples), encompasses a wide territorial stretch north of China from Manchuria to Turkistan.

Allied to the Hephthalites, the Rouran have engaged in continuous conflict with northern China’s Wei dynasty.

Little is known of the Rouran ruling elite, which the Book of Wei cited as an offshoot of the Xianbei.

The Rouran had subdued modern regions of Xinjiang, Mongolia, Central Asia, and parts of Siberia and Manchuria from the late fourth century.

Their frequent interventions and invasions had profoundly affected neighboring countries.

Within the Rouran confederation is a Turkic tribe noted in Chinese annals as the Tujue (Göktürks).

After a marriage proposal to the Rouran is rebuffed, the Tujue join with the Western Wei, successor state to the Northern Wei, and revolt against the Rouran.

In 552 (February 11 – March 10, 552), Tujue leader Bumin, of the Ashina clan, defeats the Rouran Khan Anagui north of Huaihuang (in the region administered by present-day Zhangjiakou, Hebei).

Bumin Qaghan, having united the local Turkic tribes and thrown off the yoke of the Rouran domination, in 552 founds the Göktürks Khaganate.

According to the Bilge Qaghan's memorial complex and the Kul Tigin's memorial complex, Bumin and Istämi ruled people by Turkic laws and they developed them.

Bumin, the Turkish khagan, dies shortly after his victory over the Rouran and the new Turk empire splits into two halves.

Bumin's son Muhan rules the eastern part, centered on Mongolia; Bumin's brother Istämi rules the western part, centered on in Ektagh, an unidentified place, possibly in either the Ili or Chu river valley.

His khaganate in less than a century will expand to comprise most of Central Asia.

The Western Wei official Yuwen Renshu (probably Yuwen Tai's relative but the relationship is unclear), while on a diplomatic mission to Liang (now with Xiao Yi as its undisputed emperor—as Emperor Yuan) in spring 554, is slighted by Emperor Yuan, who treats Northern Qi's ambassador with far greater respect.

Emperor Yuan then further aggravated the situation by sending an impolite letter to Yuwen Tai demanding that the borders be redrawn in accordance with old borders.

Yuwen made the comment, "Xiao Yi is the type of person that, as said in proverbs, 'One who has been abandoned by heaven cannot be revived by anyone else.'"

Yuwen Tai therefore began to prepare attacking Emperor Yuan at his headquarters of Jiangling (in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), as Emperor Yuan had made Jiangling his capital and declined to move back to the old capital Jiankang.

The Western Wei general Ma Bofu, formerly a Liang general, secretly reveals the attack plans to Emperor Yuan, but Emperor Yuan does not believe Ma and takes minimal precautions.

In winter 554, under Yuwen Tai's orders, Western Wei forces, commanded by Yu Jin, who is assisted by Yuwen Tai's nephew Yuwen Hu and Yang Zhong, launches a major attack on Liang.

Emperor Yuan initially does not take reports of the Western Wei attack seriously, and while he summons his major generals Wang Sengbian and Wang Lin from afar, he himself takes little defensive or evasive actions.

Yu quickly descends on Jiangling and puts it under siege.

Soon, Emperor Yuan surrenders, and Western Wei forces give him to Xiao Cha to be executed.

Western Wei creates Xiao Cha the Emperor of Liang (as Emperor Xuan) and gives him the Jiangling area in exchange for his old domain of Xiangyang area, over which Western Wei takes control directly.

(However, the rest of Liang does not recognize Emperor Xuan, and soon recognizes a rival candidate for the throne supported by Northern Qi, Emperor Yuan's cousin Xiao Yuanming.)

Most of the hundred thousand residents of Jiangling are seized as slaves and distributed to generals and officials., although eventually most of them are released by Yuwen after he is persuaded to do so by one of the captives, the Liang official Yu Jicai.

Yuwen Tai's nephew Yuwen Hu forces Emperor Gong of Western Wei to yield the throne to Yuwen Tai's son Yuwen Jue in 557, ending the Western Wei Dynasty and establishing the Northern Zhou Dynasty, finally extinguishing the vestiges of Northern Wei's imperial rule.

Yuan Huangtou of Ye, the son of the deposed Yuan Lang, the briefly reigning Emperor of Northern Wei, has been permitted to inherit his father’s title of Prince of Anding.

Northern Wei's branch successor state Eastern Wei having ended in 550 and been replaced by Northern Qi, its first emperor, Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi, carries out a major slaughter of Northern Wei's imperial Yuan clan in 559.

Several prisoners of Emperor Wenxuan, including Yuan Huangtou, are forced to launch themselves from a tower attached to a kite, as an experiment.

Yuan Huangtou is the sole survivor, successfully gliding over the city walls.

One Yuan Huangtou is imprisoned and starves to death, but it is not known for sure whether that Yuan Huangtou was Yuan Lang's son.

The Liang Dynasty ends in 557 as Chen Baxian, a distinguished general, becomes, as Emperor Wu, the first emperor of Southern China’s Chen Dynasty.

Emperor Xiaozhao of Northern Qi dies from injuries suffered while hunting; his brother succeeds him as Emperor Wucheng.

Taiyuan, the secondary capital of Northern Qi, is rebuilt in 562; it will become a center of Buddhism.