Huan Xuan
| Huan Xuan | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reign | 1 January 404[1][2]– 19 June 404[3][1] | ||||||||||||
| Born | 369[4][5] | ||||||||||||
| Died | 19 June 404 (aged 35)[3][1] | ||||||||||||
| Spouse | Empress Liu | ||||||||||||
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| Dynasty | Huan Chu ( hoàn sở ) | ||||||||||||
| Father | Huan Wen | ||||||||||||
| Mother | Lady Ma | ||||||||||||
Huan Xuan(Chinese:Hoàn huyền;pinyin:Huán Xuán) (369 – 19 June 404),courtesy nameJingdao( kính đạo ), nicknameLingbao( linh bảo ), formallyEmperor Wudao of Chu( sở võ điệu đế ), was aJin Dynastywarlord who briefly took over the imperial throne fromEmperor An of Jinand declared his own state ofChu(Chinese:Sở;pinyin:Chǔ) in 403, known in historiography asHuan Chu(Chinese:Hoàn sở;pinyin:Huán Chǔ), but was defeated by an uprising led by the generalLiu Yuin 404 and killed. He was the youngest son ofHuan Wen.
Early career[edit]
Huan Xuan was born in 369, as the youngest son ofHuan Wen,then the paramount general of Jin, and his wife, Sima Xingnan ( tư mã hưng nam ) the Princess of Nankang, the daughter ofEmperor Ming of Jin.(An alternative account has him as born of Huan Wen'sconcubineLady Ma.) When Huan Wen died in 373, his title should have gone to hisheir apparentHuan Xi ( hoàn hi ), his oldest son. However,Huan Chong,Huan Wen's brother whom Huan Wen entrusted the command of the army to, believed (correctly) that Huan Xi was in a plot with another brother of Huan Wen's, Huan Mi ( hoàn bí ), and another son of Huan Wen's, Huan Ji ( hoàn tế ), to assassinate him and take power, and so detained Huan Xi, Huan Ji, and Huan Mi. Instead, he declared that it was Huan Wen's desire that his title be passed to Huan Xuan, and so Huan Xuan, at age four, inherited the title of Duke of Nan Commandery, with the dukedom roughly corresponding to modernJingzhou,Hubei.
As Huan Xuan grew in age, he became ambitious and wanted high posts, but the imperial government was highly suspicious of him and did not give him governmental posts until 391, when he became an assistant toEmperor Xiaowu'scrown princeSima Dezong (laterEmperor An). Around this time, he had an encounter with Emperor Xiaowu's younger brotherSima Daozi,thePrince of Kuaiji,that went badly—as at one feast where Sima Daozi invited Huan Xuan as a guest, after Sima Daozi became drunk, he made the statement, "Was it not true that when Huan Wen became old, he planned treason?" Huan Xuan was so struck by the statement that he fell prostrate on the ground, fearing that Sima Daozi would kill him, and from this point he bore a grudge against the prince. Eventually, Huan Xuan became the governor of Yixing Commandery ( nghĩa hưng, roughly modernWuxi,Jiangsu), but felt that the post was not sufficient for his talent, and he therefore resigned and returned to his dukedom, and he wrote a report to Emperor Xiaowu that was highly accusatory in tone in which he claimed that Emperor Xiaowu had much to owe to Huan Wen, and Emperor Xiaowu ignored the report.
During Huan Xuan's year at Nan Commandery, the people of the commandery were far more fearful of him than of the governor of Jing Province ( kinh châu, modernHubeiandHunan), Yin Zhongkan ( ân trọng kham ). Yin himself was very respectful and fearful of Huan as well. Effectively, Huan Xuan got his way with both the people and the governor, whatever he wanted.
Gradual increase in power[edit]
After Emperor Xiaowu's death in 396, Emperor An became emperor, and as he wasdevelopmentally disabled,Sima Daozi, as his uncle, served asregent.Sima Daozi was incompetent, and his trusted associates Wang Guobao ( vương quốc bảo ) and Wang Xu ( vương tự ) took the opportunity to become wealthy from corruption. They feared the military powers that Yin Zhongkan andWang Gong( vương cung ) the governor of Yan ( duyện châu ) and Qing ( thanh châu ) Provinces (at that time, roughly modern centralJiangsu) possessed and persuaded Sima Daozi to reduce their domains. In response, Wang Gong sent messengers to Yin to discuss a campaign to seek the removal of Wang Guobao and Wang Xu. Huan Xuan, believing that a disturbance would help his cause, encouraged Yin to join Wang Gong's campaign. Wang Gong, believing that Yin would join him, then started the campaign, and quickly intimidated Sima Daozi into executing Wang Guobao and Wang Xu.
In 398, Huan Xuan requested the post of governor of Guang Province ( quảng châu, modernGuangdongandGuangxi), and Sima Daozi, afraid that he would start a new disturbance with Yin, was quite willing to give him the post. Huan Xuan accepted the post but did not actually report to Panyu ( phiên ngu, modernGuangzhou,Guangdong), the capital of Guang Province.
Later that year, angry that Sima Daozi had seized part of his domain and given it to his associate Wang Yu ( vương du ), Yu Kai ( dữu giai ) the governor of Yu Province ( dự châu, then modern centralAnhui) persuaded Wang Gong and Yin to start another rebellion aimed at the removals of Wang Yu and another associate of Sima Daozi's, Sima Shangzhi ( tư mã thượng chi ) the Prince of Qiao. However, not being actually a military man himself, Yin gave the commands of the forward armies to Huan Xuan andYang Quanqi( dương thuyên kỳ ). They quickly advanced toward the capitalJiankang,but Wang Gong's generalLiu Laozhi( lưu lao chi ) then turned against him, capturing and executing him. With Wang Gong dead, Sima Daozi next tried to destroy Yin's coalition by ordering him deposed and giving his post to Huan Xuan's cousin Huan Xiu ( hoàn tu ), while giving Jiang Province ( giang châu, modernJiangxiandFujian) to Huan Xuan and Yong Province ( ung châu, then modern northernHubeiand southwesternHenan) to Yang. Huan and Yang hesitated—not willing to turn against Yin immediately but wanting to accept the powerful posts. This caused an immediate withdrawal of Yin's troops, as Yin wanted to resecure his Jing Province, and soon forced Sima Daozi to return the post to him, but the seeds of dissension between Huan, Yin, and Yang were sown. Yin, apprehensive of Huan, soon entered into an alliance with Yang. However, he was also apprehensive of Yang, and therefore repeatedly stopped Yang's plans to attack Huan together.
Around the new year 400, Jing Province was suffering under a major flood, and Yin exhausted his food supplies for flood relief. Huan took this opportunity to make a major attack on Yin. Yang came to Yin's aid, but with the troops poorly supplied, Huan defeated both Yin and Yang and killed them, seizing their provinces, becoming effectively in control of two thirds of Jin territory. Huan became even more ambitious, and often had people offer him signs of fortune to try to show that he was being favored by the gods. He further wrote to Sima Daozi (who had, by this point, been displaced as regent by his sonSima Yuanxian), accusing him of falsely having Wang Gong killed. In 401, at the suggestion of the strategist Zhang Fashun ( trương pháp thuận ), Sima Yuanxian declared Huan a renegade and started a campaign against him, but was thoroughly reliant on Liu Laozhi for support. Liu, who was more concerned that Sima Yuanxian would become uncontrollable if he were victorious against Huan, again changed sides and joined Huan, who was initially fearful of attacking the capital but eventually did so at the urging of Bian Fanzhi ( biện phạm chi ), soon reached Jiankang, and Sima Yuanxian's forces collapsed. Huan Xuan took over the control of the imperial regime, executed Sima Yuanxian, and exiled Sima Daozi (but soon had him killed in exile). Not trusting of the treacherous Liu, Huan stripped him of his military command, and Liu tried to rebel again—but his own army officers were tired of repeated rebellions and deserted him, and he committed suicide. Huan was now in control of the entire Jin empire.
Huan, however, soon displayed signs of over confidence and lack of actual fortitude. He had Emperor An issue an edict ordering him to advance north againstLater Qin,but then had Emperor An issue another edict ordering him not to do so. Further, as he prepared his fleet, he set aside the treasures on a small ship, ready to flee if the battle turned against him. He was also hypercritical of his officials; any small error would draw a serious punishment from him. He was also very attached to treasures, and whenever he saw precious paintings, calligraphy, or houses, he would find some way to obtain them. Some ambitious individuals began to see signs of weakness in him and considered rising against him.
In 403, Huan Xuan had himself created the Prince of Chu and given thenine bestowments,both signs of coming usurpation. In winter 403, he had Emperor An yield the throne to him, and he became emperor of a new Chu state.
Brief reign and death[edit]
Huan Chu ( hoàn sở ) Sở | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 403–404 | |||||||||
 Huan Xuan's rebellion as of 404 AD | |||||||||
| Capital | Jiankang Jiangling | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Emperor | |||||||||
• 404 | Huan Xuan | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
•Emperor An of Jinforced by Huan Xuan to Yong'an palace | 22 December 403[7] | ||||||||
• Established | 1 January 404 | ||||||||
• Huan Xuan's death | 19 June 404 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 25 June 404 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | China | ||||||||
Huan Xuan posthumously honored his parents as emperor and empress, and he created his wifeLady Liuempress. He was, however, described as being constantly in fear after he became emperor, not being able to sleep well. He forced his officials to spend all day on minutiae, and he further started major palatial construction projects that imposed great burden on the people.
Initially, the only major official who dared to oppose Huan Xuan was Mao Qu ( mao cừ ) the governor ofYi Province(modernSichuanandChongqing). However, a conspiracy soon formed among the generalLiu Yu,Liu Laozhi's nephewHe Wuji,andLiu Yithe brother of Huan Xuan's official Liu Mai ( lưu mại ). They were soon joined by a number of other conspirators, and in spring 404 they started the uprising against Huan from the cities of Jingkou ( kinh khẩu, in modernZhenjiang,Jiangsu) andGuangling.Huan Xuan panicked, and as soon as his cousin Huan Qian ( hoàn khiêm ) the Prince of Xinye lost some relatively minor battles to Liu Yu, Huan fled west with Emperor An, yielding Jiankang to Liu Yu's coalition. Once Liu Yu was in the capital, he declared the reestablishment of Jin, even though the former Jin emperor was still in Huan's hands.
Huan Xuan soon arrive at his old headquarters ofJiangling.Fearful that his officials would no longer respect him, he dealt out even harsher treatments, which led to even greater alienation among his subordinates. He Wuji and Liu Yi quickly advanced on Jiangling, and Huan planned to flee again. His subordinate Mao Xiuzhi ( mao tu chi ), Mao Qu's nephew, falsely informed him that Mao Qu would support him, and Huan Xuan headed west toward Yi Province. He soon encountered Mao Qu's troops, which made heavy bow-and-arrow attacks on his fleet, causing it to scatter. The officer Feng Qian ( phùng thiên ) boarded Huan's ship and beheaded him. His five-year-old son Huan Sheng ( hoàn thăng ) was delivered to Jiangling and beheaded as well.
After Huan Xuan's death, his cousins and nephews would hold out at their various posts for more than a year, but eventually were all killed or forced to flee to other states. Huan Xuan's hopes of establishing a new dynasty was no more.
Personal information[edit]
- Father
- Huan Wen,grand marshal of Jin, posthumously honored as Emperor Xuanwu
- Main wife of father
- Sima Xingnan ( tư mã hưng nam ), the Princess Nankang, daughter ofEmperor Ming of Jin,posthumously honored as Empress Xuan
- Wife
- Empress Liu(created 404)
- Children[note 1]
- Huan Sheng ( hoàn thăng ) (b. 399), the Prince of Yuzhang (created 403, executed 404)
Notes[edit]
- ^TheNorthern Weigeneral Huan Dan ( hoàn đản ), the chieftain of the Taiyang tribe ( thái dương man, in modernHuanggang,Hubei), who was created the Prince of Xiangyang in 472, claimed to be a son of Huan Xuan who had, at the time of his father's death, fled to the Taiyang tribe and later become chieftain. However, his claims were unverified.
References[edit]
- ^abcdZizhi Tongjian,vol. 113.
- ^abrenchenday of the 12th month of the 2nd year of theYuanxingera
- ^abrenwuday of the 5th month of the 3rd year of theYuanxingera
- ^Huan Xuan's biography inJin Shuindicated that he was 36 (by East Asian reckoning) when he died. Thus by calculation, his birth year should be 369.
- ^Book of Jin,vol. 99.
- ^"Trung ương nghiên cứu viện".
- ^renwuday of the 11th month of the 2nd year of theYuanxingera