#tuoba shao

[incorrectmedievalchina]

Tuoba Shao: I’m gonna need a human skull and I can't have you ask any questions why.

Tuoba Gui: Only if you also don't ask why

Tuoba Gui: *Pulls out 7 pristine human skulls* Take your pick.

Tuoba Shao:

Tuoba Gui:

Tuoba Shao: This one is fine.

[bookofjin]

What's your opinion on 'revisionist' takes surrounding Tuoba Gui and Tuoba Si? For example, the claim that Tuoba Gui was actually Tuoba Shiyijian's son and falsified his age. And there have been opinions I've seen that Tuoba Si fabricated the cause of his mother's death, changed his name for legitimacy, and that Tuoba Shao was the intended heir.

There does seem to something odd going on with Tuoba Gui and his supposed cousins, but I'm not sure changing his age is the solution. I think that just creates new problems. I like better the suggestion that Shiyijian married Gui's widowed mother in some kind of levirate arrangement.

Events surrounding Tuoba Si's succession to the throne are a bit murky, but I'm not sure if the alternative theories really go beyond speculation. Speculation is fun of course.

[craftercat]

WS29.2.1, Biography of Shusun Jun

(His clan name was actually Yizhan. The Yizhan clan changed their clan name to Shusun during the Sinicisation reforms of Emperor Xiaowen. Also, providing some context and explanation for the Northern Wei practice of encouraging the suicides of officials' widows which started with him)

Biography

[Yizhan Jian]'s eldest son was Jun, courtesy name Chougui, [he was] intelligent at a young age. At the age of fifteen, attended the imperial palace as a retainer. Had a cautious and calm character, and did not exceed his capabilities. In order to be a horse mount archer, was transferred as a hunting official [1].

長子俊，字醜歸，少聰敏。年十五，內侍左右。性謹密，初無過行。以便弓馬，轉為獵郎.

Emperor Taizu [posthumous name Emperor Daowu, personal name Tuoba Gui] died, the Prince of Qinghe, Shao, shut the palace gates [2], and Taizong [posthumous name Emperor Mingyuan, personal name Tuoba Si] was outside [3]. Shao forced Jun to act to assist him. Although Jun on the outside submitted to Shao, on the inside he had true loyalty, therefore with Yuan [4] Mohan and others criticised Shao, pledging allegiance to Taizong. This affair is in the biography of Mohan.

太祖崩，清河王紹閉宮門，太宗在外。紹逼俊以為己援。俊外雖從紹，內實忠款，仍與元磨渾等說紹，得歸太宗。事在磨渾傳。

At this time of Taizong's retainers, only Che [5] Lutou, Wang Luo'er and others, were able to reach Jun and others' [assistance], [Taizong] was very pleased [with him], [Jun] acted as an attendant.

是時太宗左右，唯車路頭、王洛兒等，及得俊等，���悅，以為爪牙。

When Taizong succeeded to the throne, ordered that Jun, Mohan and others correct the errors of the retainers. Was transferred as a guard general and bestowed as Duke of Ancheng.

太宗即位，命俊與磨渾等拾遺左右。遷衞將軍，賜爵安城公。

The Prince of Zhuti, Yue, carried a knife in his bosom and entered within the imperial residence, to goad a major rebellion. Jun realised Yue's actions were unusual, and easily held his hand and pulled it back, thus within Yue's bosom there were two daggers, [Yue] was thereupon executed.

太宗即位，命俊與磨渾等拾遺左右。遷衞將軍，賜爵安城公。朱提王悅懷刃入禁中，將為大逆。俊覺悅舉動有異，便引手掣之，乃於悅懷中得兩刃匕首，遂殺之。

Taizong grasped Jun's significant merits from beginning to end, the policies of military affairs and civil administration were all according to his appointment, many officials starting their posts were earlier by Jun selected and inspected, and after that were presented and confirmed.

太宗以俊前後功重，軍國大計一以委之，群官上事，先由俊銓校，然後奏聞。

[Jun] had a just, fair and gentle character, and his form was not likely to be easily angered. [He was] loyal, devoted and genuine, and did not flatter his superiors or repress his subordinates. Every time he received an imperial edict and announced it to the outside, he would certainly announce [it] politely, the receivers would all be fulfilled and retreat, and those with confidential matters would turn away and arrive at the torch [6] again. Therefore his superiors and subordinates admired and praised him.

性平正柔和，未嘗有喜怒之色。忠篤愛厚，不諂上抑下。每奉詔宣外，必告示殷勤，受事者皆飽之而退，事密者倍至蒸仍。是以上下嘉歎。

Died in the first year of Taichang [416 CE], was twenty-eight [7] at the time, Taizong was excessively anguished and mournful, went in person and was deeply aggrieved. In all levels of society, there was no lacking in their pursuit of pity. Bestowed as Palace Attendant, Minister of Land and Water and Prince of Ancheng [8], with the posthumous name of Filial and Fundamental [xiaoyuan].

泰常元年卒，時年二十八，太宗甚痛悼之，親臨哀慟。朝野無不追惜。贈侍中、司空、安城王，諡孝元。

Was bestowed warm and bright rare utensils, carried using a sleeping carriage, guarded by soldiers leading their followers, and was buried [with other important people, including the imperial family] in the Jin Mausoleum. His son Pu inherited his rank. After [this], when esteemed ministers with great merit and special favour died, the rites with which they were paid their last respects were all according to the tradition of Jun's [9], but did not surpass that.

子蒲，襲爵。後有大功及寵幸貴臣薨，賻送終禮，皆依俊故事，無得踰之者.

[As a part of this], when Jun died, Taizong advised his wife Lady Huan [10] and said:

"When people in life share glory, in death it is appropriate to share a tomb. The capacity for [you] to be buried with the dead may be an undertaking of [your] desire." [11]

Lady Huan thus hanged herself and died, and was thereupon jointly interred there.

初，俊既卒，太宗命其妻桓氏曰：「夫生既共榮，沒宜同穴，能殉葬者可任意。」桓氏乃縊而死，遂合葬焉。

Northern Wei emperors and princes would often go on hunts with their attendants. I presume that Yizhan Jun would attend the emperor or a prince's hunting trip.

2. Tuoba Shao had assassinated Tuoba Gui.

3. Tuoba Si had earlier fled the capital of Pingcheng to avoid his father's wrath.

4. Should be Tuoba Mohan, as the imperial clan name of Tuoba was changed to Yuan by Emperor Xiaowen.

5. Should be Chekun Lutou, as the Chekun clan shortened their clan name under the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen.

6. I presume that 蒸 refers to a type of torch in this context. Torches would be lit as a signal during this time.

7. By East Asian age reckoning, in which a person is considered 1 year old at birth and becomes a year older at New Year, regardless of individual birthday. By Western age reckoning, he would be 26 or 27 years old.

8. He received the title of Duke of Ancheng in his lifetime; he was posthumously promoted to the rank of prince.

9. This likely refers to the death of the wives of these officials, which is outlined in the section below this statement.

10. Should be Lady Wuwan, as the Wuwan clan changed their clan name to Huan under the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen.

11. The Zizhi Tongjian phrases this differently, stating: "In life you shared honour with him [Yizhan Jun], will you share his sadness in death?" The History of the Northern Dynasties records an identical phrase to the Book of Wei, so Sima Guang likely paraphrased the earlier phrase in his record. The outcome was the same.

The Northern Wei practice

The death of Yizhan Jun started a practice in which the wives of powerful and favoured officials would be encouraged into committing suicide upon the official's death. This was first hinted using the euphemism "buried according to the rites of Shusun Jun".

(Technically, Tuoba Si had earlier poisoned Wang Luo'er's wife, but this was an irregular case. All other women to die to this practice were encouraged to commit suicide, yet she was poisoned, and the Weishu dates this practice to Shusun Jun, not Wang Luo'er. Wang Luo'er's wife may have been poisoned for a different reason)

This practice started with Tuoba Si and Yizhan Jun, but it continued into his son Tuoba Tao's reign. Tuoba Tao later buried his official Lu (Tufulu) Luyuan with the rites of Yizhan Jun, indicating this practice. Tufulu Luyuan's rites were even greater, so from then on, this practice was euphemised as "buried according to the rites of Lu Luyuan", which should indicate this practice, as Lu Luyuan was buried with this practice.

I think that although Tuoba Si claimed burial etiquette as his reasoning, the actual reasoning was probably to prevent other powerful tribes from coming to power the same way the Tuobas themselves did - using their maternal connections.

Tuoba Gui used his connections to the Helan and Murong tribes to claim power for himself. Later, Tuoba Shao's attempted seizure of power likely relied on his maternal tribe, the Helan tribe, making two incidents where this method of gaining power was attempted. Tuoba Gui created 子贵母死, and Tuoba Si this policy, to prevent others from using this method of gaining power.

Though the Tuoba clan did not restrict the greater freedom of common women, they restricted the women in elite classes, who they saw as being a threat to their power. Due to their knowledge that they only came to power with the help of maternal connections, they became fearful of these connections being exploited.

It is for this reason that the practice continued after the death of Tuoba Si, and continued to as far as Empress Dowager Feng's regency over Emperor Xiaowen. The practice was likely abolished during the sinicisation reforms of Emperor Xiaowen.

[cdramaddict]

10 + 11 questions tag

Thank you @shenmeizhuang for tagging me with your questions.  Some of the questions here were similar to another tag so forgive me for recycling:

1.    Favorite villain or antagonist.

An Qing Xu from Glory of the Tang Dynasty.  Although I blame him for indirectly causing Zhen Zhu’s early death (if he didn’t capture her, he wouldn’t have had to “kill her to save her”, inflicting internal injuries that ultimately caused her body to deteriorate prematurely) his love for Zhen Zhu was genuine, albeit a bit obsessive. The guy didn’t exactly grow up in a loving environment (his father was a total asshole who probably wasn’t capable of love) so he could be forgiven for the way he expressed his love for Zhen Zhu and when he died I almost shed a tear for the poor guy.

2.    Favorite character trope/archetype.

Hero (often royalty but not necessarily) who is supposed to accept polygamy due to societal expectations and other pressures but only has eyes and heart for his one true love. Examples from most recent watches are Tuoba Jun (Luo Jin) in Princess Weiyoung, Li Chu (Allen Ren) from Glory of the Tang Dynasty and Liu Xiu (Yuan Hong) from Singing All Along ( 秀丽江山之长歌行). Its a character trope that I never get tired of...

3.    Least favorite character trope/archetype.

The sacrificial hero/heroine/OTP aka noble idiocy character trope. While I still may watch a drama with this character trope, I do so with a lot of gnashing of teeth

4.    Least favorite drama trope.

I have 2:

a) Following on from #3 I hate the drama trope where the OTP are doomed to live without each other due to a higher ‘duty’ which means they must sacrifice their relationship for a ‘greater��� good.  E.g. Princess Jie You (解忧公主） and Nicky Wu’s version of 萧十一郎。 The rational part of me always understands the sacrifice is the “right” thing to do but the rest of me just wants them to say “to hell with everything” and just elope. I usually avoid these dramas unless I know that the OTP gets a happy ending 

B)    OTP separations for no good reason other than to create angst for the sake of angst but cause you to FFwd through all the episodes until they meet again or worse if live watching you have to endure weeks of waiting for the OTP to reunite

5.    Name a character that you initially disliked but came to love

Couldn’t really think of one.  The closest one would have to be Peter Ho’s character from the Taiwanese drama Summer’s Desire  泡沫之夏 though I can’t say I ended up ‘loving’ his character.  I did end up rooting for him to get the girl though

6.    Favorite multi-season drama?

I don’t believe I have watched any multi-season Cdramas unless you count Gory of the Tang Dynasty or 错点鸳鸯 (one of Zhao Li Ying’s first dramas as the leading lady). Flawed as they were, I enjoyed both those dramas immensely

7.    Favorite example of trope dissection/dispellation.

The 2nd lead gets the girl in Diamond Lover 克拉恋人. I didn’t actually watch the whole drama only the ending when i heard that Luo Jin’s second lead got the girl. I rarely get 2nd lead syndrome but this was one of those rare examples.

or if talking about a drama that I did watch in total, then Nicky Wu’s wu xia drama 萧十一郎. Where the heroine (Athena Zhu) does her duty and marries the man she didn’t love with good intentions of being a faithful wife to her husband (and in many dramas that’s how things play out) but in  萧十一郎 things turn out differently due to a myriad of complex plot twists my OTP get their happy ending (in a way that does not make the heroine look bad for committing adultery) I loved that drama to bits

8.    Favorite time travel drama.

Haven’t watched many of these but out of the ones I did watch – I loved – GONG (Feng Shao Feng and Yang Mi) and the Hong Kong Drama 寻秦记(with Louis Koo)

I know i’m in the minority but Bu Bu Jing xin didn’t work for me.  I never got over the way Ruo Xi started out loving the 8th Prince but was able to ‘get over’ those feelings and progress to fall in love with 4th prince.  This may have been due to the fact that I watched GONG first and loved the 8th prince pairing. Though Bu Bu Jing Xin was a qualitatively better drama, it didn’t capture my heart the way GONG did

9.    Choose a period drama, sageuk, or wuxia that you would like to time travel to.

Princess Weiyoung - so I can go back and bring Tuoba Jun some modern medicine to cure the poison in his body so he can live a long and happy life, watch his son grow up and rule the kingdom for the good of h

10.  Historical event/time period/historical figure(s) that you want to see a show explore.

'Cos I’m shallow.....no ‘cos i love my hero (a royal or King) who only has / loves one wife trope, i would love to see a drama about  翁归 from the drama 解忧公主 (Princess Jieyou). History says he loved only 刘解忧 in his life time, was devoted to her during the whole time he ruled and he was a reasonably good king. The brief moment of happiness at the end of the drama where my OTP finally got together just didn’t cut it. I was dying for MORE!

11.  Name a show with the best (most intensive yet reasonable/plausible) plot twists.

Descendants of the Sun - ie only if you find the plot twists plausible and reasonable

(I haven’t watched Nirvana in Fire so can’t put that one down but have heard raving reviews about the intensity of its plot twists....)

[incorrectmedievalchina]

Tuoba Gui: I really like this whole ‘good guy, bad guy’ thing you and your brother have going on.

Tuoba Shao: It’s not an act, it’s just that I’m mean and Tuoba Si isn’t

[craftercat]

Found this question on AskHistorian. I want to hear your take on it.

"To what extent is the Tang Dynasty's greater 'liberalization' for women a product of Eurasian/northern steppe culture?"

The full question is on AskHistorian as I am asking anonymously, I can't send a link, but I hope you can find the full question.

First of all, the Tang dynasty was not some utopia for women. Wu Zetian faced significant misogyny in becoming emperor herself, though classism and not being from the Li clan also played roles. From the words of Empress Zhangsun, we can tell women were still generally expected to be subordinate to men, even if they had greater freedom. But it is true there were influential female figures in early Tang such as Empress Zhangsun, Wu Zetian, Princess Taiping, Empress Wei and Shangguan Wan'er, and that women in general enjoyed greater freedom.

The Tang dynasty borrowed elements from the Sui dynasty which was mostly using the same systems as the Northern Zhou dynasty, although there was some southern influence. The Northern Zhou had reversed many of the cultural reforms of Emperor Xiaowen, and even started giving Han people Xianbei family names. I think the Northern Zhou would likely have had a similar attitude towards women as the Northern Wei, and the attitude of Northern Wei is easier to determine due to more records. And Northern Wei's attitude towards women is complex.

On one hand, women were generally allowed greater freedom. It was common for women to participate in the economy by raising silkworms, which was considered a female-centric occupation. This work was valued, and the work women was considered integral to a family's income. Later on, under the equal field system, women would be allowed to have their own land (before this, most people were dependent on aristocrats and independent land would often be given per household rather than per head due to worse census records). The exact legal rights of women in Northern Wei is unknown because many Northern Wei laws are unknown. However, a few legal clauses regarded women are known:

Under Tuoba Shiyijian's legal code, women would be executed along with men for rebellion. This could indicate more autonomy for women, as the reason why women would be spared is that they were considered to have little autonomy and had to follow male relatives. The equality in punishment actually indicates better rights. However, despite this being the law, women appear to have been spared clan punishment from after Tuoba Gui took Hebei, which could indicate the adoption of Chinese views on executing women as part of clan punishment.

Also according to this legal code, men and women who had improper sexual relations would both be executed. This likely refers to things such as an extramarital affair. This indicates that there were still misogynistic attitudes in Dai, although the man would also be executed, which suggests that responsibility was not solely placed on the woman.

In 431, the law regarding pregnant female criminals was changed so that a pregnant woman would not be executed until 100 days after her child was born. Also under this legal code, women could be sentenced to hard labour in the capital making charcoal. It's unclear if women could be sentenced to hard labour in the 398 legal code or before, but they probably could, but not doing the same duty as in the 431 code.

In Yuan Ke's reign, there was a difficult case about a man who sold his daughter as a slave to pay for his mother's funeral, and this case made its way to the emperor. But this was more about seniority and filial piety than gender.

As for women in court, it was common for women to have influence in Northern Wei. Princess Helan helped Tuoba Gui establish himself as emperor, but Tuoba Gui took a hardline stance against female influence and suppressed her tribe. Tuoba Si's sister Princess Huayin had achievements in putting down Tuoba Shao's coup attempt, but it's unknown what she did. Tuoba Si allowed her to exercise influence, as can be seen by her involvement in the debate around moving the capital in 415. She even had her own temple, which was unusual for a woman, let alone one who was the emperor's sister rather than his mother. Tuoba Tao was influenced by his nanny Empress Dowager Dou, who was a major player in the debate around attacking Rouran. He also established a temple for his mother Consort Du. Empress Dowager Chang, Empress Dowager Feng and Empress Dowager Hu were also powerful.

The empress and senior concubines would handle the affairs of the back palace, and Yuan Hong even established an official hierarchy for handling these affairs. Whether or not a concubine could leave the palace depended on the emperor; usually, the only way she could do so is if the emperor released her in order to marry someone else and increase labour. However, there were cases where an emperor would gift concubines to officials and generals.

On the other hand, the Northern Wei emperors were hardly feminist. While killing the mother of the crown prince was more political than downright misogynistic, many emperors held views against women. Yuan Hong considered women to be jealous and harmful, and Tuoba Si once said to the wife of his recently deceased official Yizhan Jun: "When people in life share honours, in death it is appropriate for them to share a tomb. The possibility of being jointly buried with him is voluntary." She committed suicide and was buried with him.

As I mentioned when I discussed the legal rights of women, a woman was not allowed to have an extramarital affair on pain of death, at least under Tuoba Shiyijian. I'm not sure if this law was ever changed. Women's rights on divorce are unknown, but there are no cases of an official divorcing his wife that I have found in the Weishu, which suggests that a divorce was difficult to obtain. Widows without an adult son often had a difficult time, as men did most of the ploughing and hard agricultural work, and so a widow would struggle to survive. How easy it was for a widow to remarry is unclear, but it would be harder the older she got, because the older she was, the more stepchildren she would bring into the marriage, and the fewer biological children her new husband would have with her.

In terms of the freedom of travel that a woman would have, the Northern Wei travel rights seemed relatively high. Princess Dowager Helan once rode a carriage with a young Tuoba Gui, while Empress Dowager Dou once climbed Guo Mountain. The Book of Southern Qi records that the empress and concubines would often accompany the emperor on imperial tours and they would even put on armour and ride horses. Of course, there were much fewer travel opportunities for common women.

The Weishu's Biography of Exemplary Women emphasises the good moral character of the women, but also their intelligence. The intelligence of women was valued into the Tang dynasty, and can be seen in the Jinshu's Biography of Exemplary Women compiled during the Tang, where intelligence was often emphasised.

In the Tang dynasty, these rights seem to have continued. Women were still able to own land, and under Wu Zetian, some accumulated large amounts of land under the equal-field system. Divorces could not be obtained without the husband's consent, and like in earlier dynasties, women were still considered under the authority of the senior male in the household. Women were still allowed to ride horses, and as I mentioned, powerful women often appeared in the Tang dynasty.

This greater freedom for women, despite some misogynistic views, does seem to originate from Xianbei culture, but after Emperor Xiaowen sinicised, female influence continued. Yang Jian reversed Yuwen Tai's Xianbeification, but the status for women did not change, and his wife Empress Dugu held significant influence.

While the higher status of women may have originated in Xianbei culture, by the time of the Tang dynasty, it had gradually entered Han culture as well. It was after Wu Zetian, Empress Wei, Shangguan Wan'er and Princess Taiping that the court scaled back on female power, and due to the court adopting a hardline stance against female power, society became more misogynistic.

[craftercat]

New statistic of the week: Northern and Southern dynasties emperors by the regularity of their ascension and death (only those officially emperors, so no Gao Huan or Yuwen Tai)

Ascension by regularity

Founding emperors:

Tuoba Gui

Gao Yang

Yuwen Jue

Liu Yu (Emperor Wu)

Xiao Daocheng

Xiao Yan

Chen Baxian

Usurpers of someone with better succession rights:

Gao Yan

Liu Jun (though Liu Shao's patricide would invalidate him)

Liu Yu (Emperor Ming)

Xiao Luan

Chen Xu

Placed on the throne by someone else:

Tuoba Yu

Yuan Ziyou

The other Gao Huan and Erzhu puppets

Yuan Xiu

Yuan Shanjian

Yuan Baoju

Yuan Qin

Yuan Kuo

Yuwen Yu

Yuwen Yong

Liu Yilong

Liu Zhun

Xiao Baorong

Xiao Gang

Xiao Fangzhi

Superior succession claim, but a troubled actual ascension:

Tuoba Si (though he never formally became crown prince, he did appear to be Tuoba Gui's intended heir)

Tuoba Jun (because of Zong Ai)

Chen Qian (selected heir by Chen Baxian, but there was the thing with Chen Chang)

Chen Shubao (because of the assassination attempt by his brother)

Proper heir with a normal ascension:

Tuoba Tao

Tuoba Hong

Yuan Hong

Yuan Ke (the crown prince when he ascended, despite the whole Yuan Xun affair)

Yuan Xu

Gao Yin

Gao Zhan (was selected heir by Gao Yan; unlike Chen Chang, Gao Bainian was too young to actually make a claim to throne)

Gao Wei

Liu Yifu

Liu Ziye

Liu Yu (Emperor Houfei)

Xiao Ze

Xiao Zhaoye

Xiao Baojuan

Chen Bozong

Deaths of the emperors by regularity

Murdered

Tuoba Gui

Tuoba Tao

Tuoba Hong

Yuan Xu

Yuan Ziyou

The Gao and Erzhu puppets

Yuan Xiu

Yuan Shanjian

Yuan Qin

Yuan Kuo

Gao Yin

Gao Wei

Yuwen Jue

Yuwen Yu

Yuwen Chan

Liu Yifu

Liu Yilong

Liu Ziye

Liu Yu (Emperor Houfei)

Liu Zhun

Xiao Zhaoye

Xiao Baojuan

Xiao Baorong

Xiao Gang

Xiao Yi

Xiao Fangzhi

Natural causes (little more is known or can be inferred)

Tuoba Jun

Yuan Ke

Yuan Baoju

Yuwen Yong

Yuwen Yun

Liu Yu (Emperor Wu)

Liu Jun

Liu Yu (Emperor Ming)

Xiao Daocheng

Xiao Ze

Xiao Luan

Chen Baxian

Chen Qian

Chen Xu

Chen Shubao

Exhaustion + elixir poisoning

Tuoba Si (he fell in 422 from cold food powder ingestion; his personal supervision of the southern campaign seems to have worsened his condition)

Yuan Hong (he was noted to be involved in alchemy; and he was also noted to have gone to court to handle state affairs regardless of the weather)

Unknown

Xiao Yan (either murdered or natural; he was 85, so it's hard to tell)

[craftercat]

The Succession Crisis of 409: The Coup of Tuoba Shao (2/2)

Welcome to part 2 of the series. In this part, I will be looking at the moves of Tuoba Shao in his attempt to seize power, which will show the failings as a politician that led to his defeat.

There is little record of Tuoba Si during his time on the run. We know that Tuoba Si left the palace in the seventh lunar month of 409, and that he returned in the tenth lunar month. This means that he was on the run for at least two months. There are clues on how he lived:

Weishu volume 34: 元紹之逆，太宗左右唯洛兒與車路頭而已。

"In Tuoba Shao's rebellion, Tuoba Si's attendants were only Wang Luo'er and Chekun Lutou."

Weishu volume 105: 及六年七月，宣穆后以強死，太子微行人間

"Reaching the seventh month of the sixth year [of Tianci], Empress Xuanmu violently died, and the crown prince [Tuoba Si] went out secretly amongst the people."

This shows both what Tuoba Si was doing and just how vulnerable he was during this period. He only had two attendants on his side, and he was vulnerable to being hunted down or persecuted. The second record shows that Tuoba Si's plan was not to flee to another state but to hide amongst the common people. This plan was likely because Tuoba Si hoped that Tuoba Gui would summon him back to display forgiveness and that he would somehow be able to claim the throne.

What was going on in the palace? At the time, Tuoba Gui was handling clan politics.

Weishu volume 15: 天賜六年，天文多變，占者云「當有逆臣伏尸流血」。太祖惡之，頗殺公卿，欲以厭當天災。儀內不自安，單騎遁走。太祖使人追執之，遂賜死，葬以庶人禮。

"In the sixth year of Tianci [409], the astronomical signs had many changes, and diviners said: "There will be a rebellious subject and a bloodied corpse on the ground." Tuoba Gui hated this, very much killed ministers, wishing to remove the foretold heavenly disaster. Tuoba Yi did not feel at ease, and fled on a single horse. Tuoba Gui sent people to pursue and arrest him, thereupon forced him to commit suicide, and was buried with the rites of a commoner."

Weishu volume 15: 初，衞王死後，太祖欲敦宗親之義，詔引諸王子弟入宴。常山王素等三十餘人咸謂與衞王相坐，疑懼，皆出逃遁，將奔蠕蠕，唯崇獨至。太祖見之甚悅，厚加禮賜，遂寵敬之，素等於是亦安。

"Earlier, after Tuoba Yi died, Tuoba Gui wanted to respect the relationship between clan members, and decreed to summon the various princely sons and brothers for a banquet. The Prince of Changshan, Su, and others, more than thirty people, all said they were being tried together with Tuoba Yi, were afraid, and they all escaped, planning to flee to Rouran, and only Tuoba Chong arrived. Tuoba Gui treated him with great pleasure, rewarded him generously, and thereupon favoured him, and Tuoba Su and the others were thereupon also at peace."

It can be seen here that Tuoba Gui executed Tuoba Yi for escaping, but he realised that the other clan members might plot against him, so he summoned them to show his grace but also to observe their loyalty to him. Due to the atmosphere of fear, Tuoba Su and the other clan members planned to escape, and only Tuoba Chong did not. Because Tuoba Chong had been loyal to him, Tuoba Gui treated him very well.

This focus on clan politics may also be about succession. Tuoba Gui wanted to abandon the brother-brother succession of Dai, and he therefore had two options after Tuoba Si left: Tuoba Si's one-year-old son Tuoba Tao or Tuoba Si's brother Tuoba Shao.

Tuoba Gui was very fond of Tuoba Tao and envisioned him as his heir, which I demonstrated in the previous article. However, as a one year old, Tuoba Tao was not old enough to rule and would need a regent, which could lead to instability. Meanwhile, Tuoba Shao was favoured by both Tuoba Gui and the old tribes, and he had some kind of talent to have this support. Tuoba Shao also had some experience of court politics to be able to persecute Tuoba Si, but he had not been successful in doing so.

Either way, it appears that Tuoba Gui abandoned making Tuoba Tao his heir due to his youth, and made Tuoba Shao the heir instead:

Weishu volume 16: 而紹母夫人賀氏有譴，太祖幽之於宮，將殺之。會日暮，未決。

"And Tuoba Shao's mother Consort Helan had an offense, so Tuoba Gui imprisoned her in the palace, planning to kill her. At dusk, it had not been decided."

It seems unclear why Consort Helan had not yet been executed at dusk: when Tuoba Gui killed people based on suspicion, he would often do it with his own hands, and certainly not with this hesitation. It appears more likely that Tuoba Gui planned to kill Consort Helan based on the same reasons as why he killed Consort Liu. Of course, the records on this may well have been changed to avoid making Tuoba Shao look like a legitimate option.

However, Consort Helan did not just sit around:

Weishu volume 16: 賀氏密告紹曰：「汝將何以救吾？」紹乃夜與帳下及宦者數人，踰宮犯禁。

"Consort Helan secretly told Shao: "How shall you rescue me?" Shao thus at night climbed the walls of the palace with several eunuchs and subordinates, violating the prohibition."

That Consort Helan was able to send a message to incite Tuoba Shao to rebellion showed that she was not a passive figure, but someone with influence in the palace. Although the Helan tribe had been suppressed, there may have been supporters of the tribe, such as the other old tribes, still in the palace, and Consort Helan may have exerted influence through them.

This led Tuoba Shao to kill his father:

Weishu volume 16: 左右侍御呼曰：「賊至！」太祖驚起，求弓刀不獲，遂暴崩。

"Tuoba Gui's attendants exclaimed: "Traitors have arrived!" Tuoba Gui was startled, sought his bow and sword but did not obtain them, and thereupon died violently."

Why didn't Tuoba Gui seek his bow and sword? Likely because of a betrayal within the court itself. Tuoba Gui's tyranny had alienated those around him, which made them willing to plot against him. His violent death showed that he had lost his grasp on politics, and didn't understand that fear alone does not inspire loyalty.

This gives a clue:

Weishu volume 16: 於是賜紹母子死，誅帳下閹官、宮人為內應者十數人

"Thereupon Tuoba Shao and his mother were forced to commit suicide, and executed more than ten subordinates, eunuchs and palace maids who acted as internal responders"

A "內應" refers to someone who acts to support someone as an agent. This could refer to the attendants of Tuoba Gui. But how did they support Tuoba Shao? Maybe, when Tuoba Gui asked for his bow and sword, they decided to betray him and support Tuoba Shao, and therefore they intentionally did not give it to him.

However, these events also show Tuoba Shao's flaws as a politician. He relied on the Helan tribe and several palace attendants to kill his father, without really thinking of what to do afterwards. He hadn't gathered support from any of the larger factions, such as the clan, the traditional Xianbei, the reformist Xianbei or the Han aristocrats. His plan to kill his father was reckless and already showed his poor political strategy.

What happened the next day may give some clues as to the power dynamics at the time:

Weishu volume 16: 明日，宮門至日中不開，紹稱詔召百僚於西宮端門前北面而立，紹從門扇間謂羣臣曰：「我有父，亦有兄，公卿欲從誰��？」王公已下皆驚愕失色，莫有對者。良久，南平公長孫嵩曰：「從王。」羣臣乃知宮車晏駕，而不審登遐之狀，唯陰平公元烈哭泣而去。

"The next day, the palace gates did not open until midday, and Tuoba Shao issued an edict to summon the officials in front of the West Palace's northern gate to establish himself, and Shao between the doors called the ministers and said:

"I have a father, and I also have an older brother, who do you ministers wish to follow."

The princes, dukes and below were all startled, and there was no reply. After a long time, the Duke of Nanping, Baba Song said:

"I follow the prince."

The ministers knew the emperor had died, but did not investigate the cause, and only the Duke of Yinping, Tuoba Lie, cried and left."

When Tuoba Shao says he has a "father", he actually means that he has an "uncle"; he is referring to the Dai horizontal succession. But who is this uncle? According to the records, Tuoba Gui's only brother was Tuoba Gu, and he had been executed in 397. So who is this uncle referring to?

The birth and death dates of Tuoba Han do not fit with the records surrounding him. He should have been a child when he died, not someone with military accomplishments and three sons (Tuoba Yi, Tuoba Lie, Tuoba Gu). So it has been theorised that these were actually the children of Tuoba Shiyijian and Tuoba Gui's mother Princess Dowager Helan (Consort Helan's older sister; yes, Tuoba Gui fathered a son with his aunt). Which would then make Tuoba Lie the uncle, granduncle and cousin of Tuoba Shao, and through these connections, if the traditional Dai system of succession were to be used, Tuoba Lie would have been the proper successor to the throne.

But why did Tuoba Shao do this move? I think he was trying to intimidate the ministers. By issuing an edict to summon them and then asking if they wanted to follow him instead of the two people with better claims to the throne than him, he was essentially telling them that he was in charge. Tuoba Lie knew that he was the uncle Tuoba Shao was referring to, and that was why he cried and left. The other ministers knew that Tuoba Gui was dead and Tuoba Shao was in charge, but they didn't know how this happened, and they were therefore afraid and followed Tuoba Shao.

As well, that Baba Song responded first also shows the court power dynamics. The Baba clan were an old tribe that had been honoured since the time of Dai, and Baba Song was the most senior member of this tribe. This meant that Baba Song was the leader of the traditional Xianbei faction at court. The Helan tribe were also traditionally honoured Xianbei like the Baba tribe, and Tuoba Shao's character was likely more in line with traditional Xianbei values, and so Baba Song may have supported Tuoba Shao as a representative of the interests of the traditional Xianbei tribes.

At the time, there were three main groups of ministers: the traditional Xianbei, headed by Baba Song, the reformist Xianbei, which had been headed by Tuoba Yi until his death in 409, and the Han aristocrats, headed by Cui Hong. The political purges of Tuoba Gui had changed the influence of these factions, and in 409, most ministers were traditional Xianbei, even though eliminating a single faction wasn't the goal.

So why did Tuoba Shao lose support so quickly? I think it was to do with the political landscape. Tuoba Shao supported the interests of the traditional Xianbei, but he specifically supported the interests of the Helan tribe:

Weishu volume 16: 肥如侯賀護舉烽於安陽城北，故賀蘭部人皆往赴之，其餘舊部亦率子弟招集族人，往往相聚。

"The Marquis of Feiru, Helan Hu, lit a signal in the north of Anyang city, hence the Helan tribesmen all went there, and the other old tribes also led their sons and brothers to assemble their tribesmen, and they frequently assembled."

This shows not just the shift in power to favour the Helan tribe and the other old tribes, but also the reversal of Tuoba Gui's reforms. In 398, after taking Zhongshan, Tuoba Gui had dissolved the tribes and replaced them with eight artificial units, each headed by a dafu. That the old tribes were gathering together their tribesmen showed that Tuoba Shao reversed the dissolution of the tribes. The old tribes would frequently assemble in Anyang to collect their old tribesmen. Tuoba Gui had assigned fixed locations for the eight units that they were not allowed to leave; Tuoba Shao clearly reversed this, as the old tribes were all gathering in Anyang, which could not have been the fixed location of all of the old tribes.

Another thing that is strange is that the biography of the Helan tribe in the Book of Wei attributes this not to Helan Hu but to Helan Ni:

Weishu volume 83: 子泥，襲爵，後降為肥如侯。太祖崩，京師草草，泥出舉烽於安陽城北，賀蘭部人皆往赴之。太宗即位，乃罷。

"[Helan Yue]'s son Ni, inherited the titled, later downgraded to Marquis of Feiru. When Tuoba Gui died, the capital was in turmoil, and Helan Ni went out to light a beacon fire in the north of Anyang city, and the Helan tribespeople all went there. When Tuoba Si came to the throne, he thereupon stopped."

Both Helan Hu and Helan Ni had the same title, and both lighted the beacon fire in the north of Anyang city. But why is this attributed to two different people? While the pronunciation of "Hu" and "Ni" could be similar in the Xianbei language, if Helan Hu/Ni was Tuoba Shao's second-in-command, then why did he have such an honoured position in Tuoba Si and Tuoba Tao's reigns? And even if they were different people, what were the Helan tribe and the other old tribes even doing at the signal?

I think it's likely that these tribes were assembling together to migrate back to their old lands after Tuoba Shao reversed Tuoba Gui's reforms. Ultimately they did not have the time to actually move north, but that was likely their plan. As well, Tuoba Shao intended to remove the Han ministers from power and elevate the Helan tribe and their subordinates:

Weishu volume 3: 公卿大臣先罢归第不与朝政者，悉复登用之.

"The major ministers who had earlier been returned to their mansion and did not participate in politics were all restored and promoted."

Tuoba Gui did not remove major ministers from office on a large scale; he preferred to simply execute them. This must have happened in Tuoba Shao's coup. Tuoba Shao wanted to empower the Helan tribe and the other old tribes, so he removed many Han aristocrats from office and replaced them with the Helan tribe and their subordinates.

Weishu volume 24: 太祖崩，太宗未即位，清河王紹聞人心不安，大出財帛班賜朝士。玄伯獨不受。

"When Tuoba Gui died, Tuoba Si had not yet ascended, and the Prince of Qinghe, Tuoba Shao, heard the people's hearts were not at ease, and greatly sent wealth and silk to bestow on the court ministers. Cui Hong was the only one who did not accept."

Cui Hong was the leader of the Han aristocratic faction, who Tuoba Shao wanted to suppress. It is likely that Tuoba Shao, in order to elevate the traditional Xianbei, removed Cui Hong from his post and returned him to his mansion. Because Cui Hong was angry about this, he therefore refused the silk.

We also know who accepted the silk:

Weishu volume 24: 長孫嵩已下咸愧焉。

"Baba Song and below were all ashamed."

As I discussed before, Baba Song was the leader of the traditional Xianbei faction. This traditional Xianbei faction were the ones that were bestowed with silk. But this bestowal also indicates that the traditional Xianbei were unhappy with Tuoba Shao. How did Tuoba Shao alienate this faction? Probably because the Helan clan were already monopolising power.

Weishu volume 16: 於是賜紹母子死

"Thereupon Tuoba Shao and his mother were forced to commit suicide"

This indicates that Consort Helan was a major part of Tuoba Shao's governance. She was clearly one of the two main targets of the coup alongside Tuoba Shao, which indicates her power and influence within his government. This also indicates that the Helan tribe were heavily involved in governance, along with Helan Hu/Helan Ni lighting the beacon fire. Consort Helan had likely been honoured as empress dowager by Tuoba Shao soon after the coup.

Who was replacing the dismissed Han aristocrats? Probably the Helan tribe and their former subordinate tribes. I will discuss the Helan tribe and their fall from grace in a separate article, but what is relevant here is that by 409, the Helan tribe were powerless and did not have a major position in court. Tuoba Gui had worked for years to eliminate the power of the Helan tribe, and now Tuoba Shao wanted to restore the Helan tribe - the same Helan tribe that had been involved in a major rebellion during the Later Yan campaign.

This idea quickly made Tuoba Shao a lot of enemies: the Han aristocrats didn't like how they were being shafted and how Tuoba Gui's reforms were being reversed; the reformist Xianbei didn't like the Helan tribe and didn't want to see them in power; the imperial clan worried that the Helan tribe would become too powerful; and now the traditional Xianbei were worried that the Helan tribe would usurp their own positions, and were concerned for a Helan tribe takeover.

To these people, this was just the beginning. What if Empress Dowager Helan and her tribe were to start claiming even more power for themselves? What if they were merely using Tuoba Shao as a puppet, and were planning to overthrow Tuoba Shao and make one of their own tribesmen emperor? Regardless of the disagreements between the factions, they all had one thing in common: they did not want to become or be ruled by Helan Xianbei instead of Tuoba Xianbei.

So if the Helan tribe are so involved in this coup, who was Helan Hu, and was he the same person as Helan Ni? I think they were the same person. Both are mentioned as working with An Tong for Tuoba Si, so I don't think it makes sense for them not to be.

I think he could be Tuoba Shao's second in command who was appointed to gather the old tribes. However he betrayed Tuoba Shao and switched sides to support Tuoba Si, either by working with the imperial guard or leading the old tribes to support Tuoba Si. He may even have helped An Tong gather supporters.

In a way, it's almost laughable that Tuoba Shao thought that he could rely on the Helan tribe at the expense of all other factions to usurp the throne and seize power. This policy shows Tuoba Shao's lack of understanding or talent in politics: a politician should align with rising factions or ideas against falling factions or ideas. Tuoba Shao aligned himself with the falling Helan tribe. Tuoba Shao was defeated not because of his lack of legitimacy, but because Tuoba Si was a much wiser politician than him.

Meanwhile, what was Tuoba SI doing? He was preparing to take the throne:

Weishu volume 16: 先是，太宗在外，聞變乃還，潛于山中，使人夜告北新侯安同，眾皆響應。

"Earlier, Tuoba Si was outside, and he heard the coup and returned, hiding in the mountains, and sent people at night to report to the Marquis of Beixin, An Tong, and the people all respnded."

Weishu volume 34: 晝居山嶺，夜還洛兒家。洛兒���人李道潛相奉給，晨昏往復，眾庶頗知，喜而相告。紹聞，收道斬之。洛兒猶冒難往返京都，通問於大臣，大臣遂出奉迎，百姓奔赴。

"[Tuoba Si] by day resided in the mountains, and at night returned to Wang Luo'er's house. Wang Luo'er's neighbour Li Dao secretly provided him with supplies, day and night going back and forwards, and the masses all knew, were pleased and told each other. Tuoba Shao heard, arrested Li Dao and executed him. Wang Luo'er still risked disaster to come back and go out of the capital, communicating with the ministers, and the ministers thereupon went out to great him, and the common people went there."

Weishu volume 30: 清河王紹之亂，太宗在外，使夜告同，令收合百工伎巧，眾皆響應奉迎。

"In the rebellion of Tuoba Shao, Tuoba Si was outside, by night sent messengers to communicate with An Tong, ordered him to collect the many officials and craftsmen, and the masses all responded and welcomed him."

These records show just how unpopular Tuoba Shao had become. Not only were the officials turning against him, but the common people also supported Tuoba Si. Wang Luo'er and An Tong were both able to convince officials to switch sides and join Tuoba Shao, which quickly eroded at his power base. Tuoba Shao had tried to persecute Tuoba Si, but he was so lacking in support that it backfired:

Weishu volume 14: 元紹之逆也，太宗潛隱於外，磨渾與叔孫俊詐云太宗所在。紹使帳下二人隨磨渾往，規為逆。磨渾既得出，便縛帳下詣太宗斬之。太宗得磨渾，大喜，因為羽翼。

"In Tuoba Shao's rebellion, Tuoba Si was hiding outside, and Tuoba Mohun and Yizhan Jun falsely stated Tuoba Si's location. Tuoba Shao sent two of his subordinates to follow Tuoba Mohun there, in order to kill Tuoba Si. Tuoba Mohun went out, then arrested the two subordinates and went to Tuoba Si to execute them. Tuoba Si obtained Tuoba Mohun and was very happy, and thereupon became an assistant."

Tuoba Mohun was a member of the imperial clan who had a long relationship with Tuoba Si; Yizhan Jun was a part of the reformist Xianbei faction. Tuoba Shao had tried to kill Tuoba Si, but he was so lacking in support that his own faction was weakened, and Tuoba Si gained more close allies to protect himself with.

Just four days (according to the Weishu) or fourteen days (according to the Beishi) after launching his coup, Tuoba Shao was arrested by his own guard:

Weishu volume 16: 太宗至城西，衞士執送紹。

"Tuoba Si reached the west of the city, and the imperial guard arrested and sent off Tuoba Shao."

I do not think that the imperial guard acted alone. Tuoba Shao had so many enemies amongst all factions that I think it's more likely that the officials turned against Tuoba Shao, and plotted with the imperial guard to depose him. Who led the plot is unclear, and I'll talk about it more when I discuss Tuoba Si's measures to secure his power. After this, the old tribes abandoned Tuoba Shao, stopped the signal and submitted to Tuoba Si to save their own lives.

This final end shows how much Tuoba Shao failed as a politician. He made almost everyone his enemy: the traditional Xianbei, the reformist Xianbei, the Han aristocrats, the imperial clan, and the imperial guards were all against him by the time of his downfall. In the Han dynasty, Liu He lasted 27 days before being removed, and Zong Ai lasted more than six months as the main power. However, Tuoba Shao only lasted fourteen (or four) days in power before being removed, which is a real testament to his lack of political skill.

Weishu volume 16: 於是賜紹母子死，誅帳下閹官、宮人為內應者十數人，其先犯乘輿者，羣臣於城南都街生臠割而食之。

"Thereupon [Tuoba Si] forced Tuoba Shao and his mother to commit suicide, and executed the subordinates, eunuchs and palace maids who had supported him, more than ten people. Those who previously killed Tuoba Gui were chopped up and eaten raw by the ministers in the southern streets of the city."

That the ministers ate Tuoba Shao and the people who had actively plotted to kill Tuoba Gui shows just how hated Tuoba Shao had become. Tuoba Shao had only plotted with several of his subordinates and eunuchs; as I discussed, the others were likely the ones who prevented Tuoba Gui from obtaining a bow or sword.

But was that really everyone he executed? I have already discussed that after Tuoba Shao's arrest, the old tribes stopped the smoke signal and led themselves to support Tuoba Si in order to save their own lives. This meant that Tuoba Si did not need to execute them. But what happened to the Helan tribe?

The Helan tribe's influence was finally relegated with the failure of the 409 coup. Helan Ni did have a position in Tuoba Si and Tuoba Tao's administration, but that was because he played a major role in the submission of the old tribes. What about the other Helans? Apart from Helan Ni, we have no records on any other members of the Helan tribe after Tuoba Gui. We can assume that Tuoba Si either massacred the Helan tribe or that he simply removed almost all of their power and influence, making them powerless to resist their Tuoba rulers.

There are clues as to what happened to the ministers that Tuoba Shao instated during his coup:

Weishu volume 4: 於是除禁錮，釋嫌怨，開倉庫，賑窮乏，河南流民相率內屬者甚眾。

"Thereupon removed civil service prohibitions, mended old grudges, opened warehouses, and relieved the poor, and Henan's refugees who submitted one after another were extremely many."

I think the part on opening warehouses and relieving the poor is Tuoba Tao stealing achievements from his father (because the warehouses were decreed to be opened on the tenth month, while this record is from the twelfth month of the same year; the decree likely didn't get everywhere until after Tuoba Si died) but the part about removing civil service prohibitions and mending old grudges is interesting.

"禁錮" refers to prohibitions on a person joining the civil service. It is usually used on corrupt officials, losers in political struggles and political dissidents. That Tuoba Tao removed these suggests that Tuoba Si had imposed an abnormally large number of "禁錮". However, there was little factionalism within his reign itself, Tuoba Tao would never reinstate corrupt officials, and Tuoba Si wasn't known for his harsh crackdowns. I find it more likely that he imposed the "禁錮" on the ministers that Tuoba Shao had employed to replace the old ministers during his coup. He also used the "禁錮" after his southern expedition to suppress the Henan gentry's power, but I'll get to Tuoba Si's governance of Henan later: the records hide his desire to change Henan's political landscape, probably because it involved Xianbeification of the region.

Tuoba Si recognised that the palace attendants were capricious and might not support him, but he introduced a measure to change that:

Weishu volume 83: 詔泥與元渾等八人拾遺左右。

"[Tuoba Si] decreed for [Helan] Ni, Tuoba Mohun and others, eight people, to remedy the errors of the attendants."

The people who were remedying the errors of the attendants were all supporters of Tuoba Si in the coup. We know five of them: Tuoba Mohun, Yizhan Jun, Helan Ni, Qiudun Dui and Baba Han. We know that Tuoba Mohun, Yizhan Jun and Baba Han were involved in the plan to thwart Tuoba Shao's assassination attempt on Tuoba Si. But what did Helan Ni and Qiudun Dui do?

I think that Helan Ni and Qiudun Dui were the leaders of the old tribes who submitted to Tuoba Si and stopped the smoke signal. I also think that the other three unknown attendants were likely involved in convincing the imperial guard to arrest Tuoba Shao, or even the members of the imperial guard who were the leaders behind the arrest of Tuoba Shao.

He also immediately reformed the attendant system:

Weishu volume 113: 永興元年十一月，置騏驎官四十人，宿直殿省，比常侍、侍郎。

"In the first year of Yongxing [409] in the eleventh month, established the Unicorn Bureau of forty people, who spent the night on duty in the palace, similar to regular attendants."

It can be seen from this that Tuoba Si believed there to be too few night attendants, and that this played a hand in Tuoba Gui's inability to defend himself against Tuoba Shao. He therefore created a new bureau of night attendants, to ensure that the coup of Tuoba Shao could never happen again. As well, these people were chosen by him or his loyal officials, which would make them more loyal to him rather than to any remaining supporters of Tuoba Shao.

Tuoba Si also removed excess palace staff from the palace. He believed that it was better to have fewer, more talented attendants, and that there were too many in the palace. To him, if there were too many attendants, then it created more opportunities for plotting. He therefore released many of the palace maids and sent them to get married, and he likely also removed many of the palace eunuchs from their positions. Of course, the motive was also to increase labour and reduce palace expenses during a time of flood and drought, but I think that his doubts about the loyalty of these attendants also played a role. His strategy of keeping few, close attendants is one I'll talk about later.

He also needed to fix the problems of Tuoba Gui's final years:

Weishu volume 3: 公卿大臣先罷歸第不與朝政者，悉復登用之。詔南平公長孫嵩、北新侯安同對理民訟，簡賢任能，彝倫攸敍。

"The ministers who had earlier been dismissed and returned to their mansions, not taking part in politics, were all restored and re-employed. Decreed for the Duke of Nanping, Baba Song, and the Marquis of Beixin, An Tong, to handle the people's disputes, select the talented and rely on the able, and order and coherence were expressed from afar."

Tuoba Si both stabilised the government and the people. By re-instating the victims of both Tuoba Gui's purges and Tuoba Shao's promotion of the Helan tribe, Tuoba Si hoped to gather support from the officials. He also established central government ministers to handle law cases, which did not exist in Tuoba Gui's reign. This was actually a major step towards a more Han Chinese judicial system, where the central government had a major role in law enforcement. His reliance on the talented also led to more stability. In the end, his practical governance measures led to a stable and orderly reign.

The measures Tuoba Si took after coming to the throne easily shows why he won the succession struggle. Tuoba Shao tried to prop up a declining tribe and alienated everyone else in the process, failing to gather a support base, and even removed important reforms to raise up the Helan tribe. Tuoba Si, however, imposed practical measures to solve the serious problems of Tuoba Gui's later years, and acted in the interests of the officials as a group. Tuoba Si was simply a much better politician than Tuoba Shao, and smarter than him.

I will discuss Tuoba Si's own political measures later on, but for now I'm going to back to Tuoba Gui's reign and talk about his reforms and his founding of Northern Wei.

[craftercat]

WS016.1, Biography of Tuoba Shao

(He is occasionally referred to as Yuan Shao in other parts of the Book of Wei, however his actual clan name was Tuoba. Youthful little traitor. Also cannibalism and incest)

The Prince of Qinghe, Shao, was sealed in the sixth year of Tianxing (403 AD). [He was] vicious, contrary, dangerous and conflictful, and did not follow moral instruction. He was fond of frivolously walking in alleys, stealing and stripping pedestrians, chopping and shooting dogs and pigs, using this as entertainment [BS016: There was a pregnant woman, Shao sliced [her open] to look at the fetus.] Taizu [Emperor Daowu/Tuoba Gui] was angry at him, hung him upside down in a well, and pulled him out when he was dying.

清河王紹，天興六年封。兇佷險悖，不遵教訓。好輕遊里巷，劫剝行人，斫射犬豕，以為戲樂。太祖嘗怒之，倒懸井中，垂死乃出。

Taizong [Emperor Mingyuan/Tuoba Si] would often rebuke him with righteous principles, thereupon their relationship was not harmonious, [Taizong] constantly feared him causing unrest. Then Shao's mother, a consort of the He [1] clan, had an offense, and Taizu imprisoned her in the palace, and would kill her. At sunset, the case was unsolved.

太宗常以義方責之，遂與不協，恒懼其為變。而紹母夫人賀氏有譴，太祖幽之於宮，將殺之。會日暮，未決。

Consort He reported secretly to Shao:

"How will you rescue me?"

Shao thus by night plotted with his subordinates and eunuchs, counting several people, crossed into the palace, violating a ban [2]. Those attending the emperor cried:

"Traitors have arrived!"

Taizu was surprised, requested a bow and a sword, but did not obtain [them], thereupon died violently.

賀氏密告紹曰：「汝將何以救吾？」紹乃夜與帳下及宦者數人，踰宮犯禁。左右侍御呼曰：「賊至！」太祖驚起，求弓刀不獲，遂暴崩。

The next day, the palace gates were closed until midday. Shao decreed to summon the officials to the front of the west palace gate on the north side and establish [himself as emperor]. Shao from the door called the crowd of ministers and said:

"I have a father, and I also have an older brother, who do you desire to follow?"

The lords were all from the announcement startled and turned pale, and there was none who opposed. After a long time, the Duke of Nanping, Zhangsun [3] Song, said:

"I follow the prince."

明日，宮門至日中不開，紹稱詔召百僚於西宮端門前北面而立，紹從門扇間謂羣臣曰：「我有父，亦有兄，公卿欲從誰也？」王公已下皆驚愕失色，莫有對者。良久，南平公長孫嵩曰：「從王。」

The crowd of ministers knew that the emperor had died, yet did not examine the form of the death, and only the Duke of Yinping, Yuan [4] Lie, cried and left. Thereupon the imperial court was wild and vicious, and the people in their breasts changed their mind. The Marquis of Feiru He [5] Hu raised a beacon fire in the north of Anyang city, hence the Helan tribespeople all went there, and the other old tribes also led their brothers and sons to assemble their clansmen. Shao heard the people's emotions were uneasy, thus sent out cloth and silk and gave them to the lords, those in high positions received several hundred, those in low positions ten.

羣臣乃知宮車晏駕，而不審登遐之狀，唯陰平公元烈哭泣而去。於是朝野兇兇，人懷異志。肥如侯賀護舉烽於安陽城北，故賀蘭部人皆往赴之，其餘舊部亦率子弟招集族人，往往相聚。紹聞人情不安，乃出布帛班賜王公以下，上者數百匹，下者十匹。

Earlier, Taizong was outside [6], when he heard of the unrest he thus returned, hid in the mountains, sent people at night to tell the Marquis of Beixin An Tong, and the masses all responded. When Taizong arrived in the west of the city, the guard soldiers arrested and sent Shao.

先是，太宗在外，聞變乃還，潛于山中，使人夜告北新侯安同，眾皆響應。太宗至城西，衞士執送紹。

Hence the mother and son of Shao were bestowed death, and those subordinates, eunuchs and palace maids who acted as inside responders (which should refer to Tuoba Shao's inner circle of plotters) [7]. For those who had previously violated the chariot [8], the crowd of ministers in the southern streets of the capital cut them up alive [9] and ate them. Shao at this time was sixteen years old [10].

於是賜紹母子死，誅帳下閹官、宮人為內應者十數人，其先犯乘輿者，羣臣於城南都街生臠割而食之。紹時年十六。

Shao's mother was the younger sister of Empress Xianming [11] and was beautiful. At the beginning, when Taizu went to the Helan tribe, he saw her and was pleased, told Empress Xianming and asked to take her. The empress said:

"You should not. This surpassing beauty is not good. Moreover, she already has a husband."

Taizu secretly ordered people to kill her husband and took her. They begot Shao, and in the end he arrived at the great rebellion.

紹母即獻明皇后妹也，美而麗。初太祖如賀蘭部，見而悅之，告獻明后，請納焉，后曰：「不可，此過美不善，且已有夫。」太祖密令人殺其夫而納之，生紹，終致大逆焉。

Should be the Helan clan, as the Helan clan changed their name to He under the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen.

It was night when Tuoba Shao entered the palace, so the gates would have been closed. He violated a ban by climbing over them.

Should be Baba, as the Baba clan changed their clan name to Zhangsun under the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen.

Should be Tuoba, as the Tuoba imperial clan changed their clan name to Yuan under the reforms of Emperor Xiaowen.

Should again be Helan Hu.

Tuoba Si had earlier been forced to flee the capital in fear of Tuoba Gui after Tuoba Gui became angry at him.

I think that this should refer to the key assistants of Tuoba Shao in the rebellion, those behind Tuoba Gui's death.

This should be a reference to their roles in the death of Tuoba Gui.

I assume that these ministers were so angry at Tuoba Gui's death that they seized Tuoba Shao and the others before they could be properly executed/forced to commit suicide and cut them up alive. After doing so they would have been actually executed. Tuoba Si himself doesn't seem to have taken part in this.

By East Asian age reckoning; he was 14 or 15 years old by Western age reckoning.

Princess Helan, Tuoba Gui's mother, making Consort Helan his aunt.

[craftercat]

What are examples of Tuoba Gui’s crappy parenting?

In 409, Tuoba Gui killed his concubine Consort Liu, the mother of his eldest son Tuoba Si. Tuoba Gui had likely always intended for Tuoba Si to inherit the throne, however only planned to make him crown prince at 17.

He told Tuoba Si: "Formerly when Emperor Wu of Han was about to establish his son, he then killed his mother, to not cause the Lady to later join with the state’s government affairs, and cause the in-law family to make chaos. You will continue the government, for that reason I am far-reaching similar to Wu of Han, making plans for long long times."

The lesson of "if women are not killed, they will cause chaos in government affairs" is a terrible lesson for impressionable teenagers. Tuoba Si continued to mourn his mother and was unable to overcome his grief. Tuoba Gui became mad at him, perhaps viewing Tuoba Si as against him.

He called Tuoba Si to him. Tuoba Si wanted to go, but his attendants told him to flee, and Tuoba Si fled. The lesson that would have been learnt here would be: "Be a misogynist, or else..." In the end, Tuoba Si was forced to flee the capital in fear of his own father.

He wasn't a good parent to Tuoba Shao either. Tuoba Shao was unruly and violent, and would rob and strip people in the streets. Tuoba Gui punished him by hanging him upside down in a well until he almost died. This punishment a) did not work and probably made things worse, and b) almost killing your literal child in a brutal manner is not okay.

In 409, Tuoba Gui imprisoned Tuoba Shao's mother Consort Helan after she committed an offense, and planned to kill her, but had not finalised the decision that night. Consort Helan wrote to Tuoba Shao asking him to save her, which would later be taken as an incitement for rebellion. Tuoba Shao and his attendants entered the palace and killed Tuoba Gui.

[craftercat]

What do you know of the position of women in xianbei culture prior to the establishment of their chinese dynasties, and how did their position change after the establishment of these dynasties in particular Northern Wei but also the other xianbei led dynasties?

Before the creation of Northern Wei, Xianbei women seem to have had a better hand than Han women. The Dai state had a history of powerful women such as Princess Qi, and Tuoba Gui's mother helped him rise to power. As well, Northern Wei is said to have been the setting for the Ballad of Mulan. The equal-field system allowed women to own land, albeit less than men.

These things seem to indicate that Xianbei women had a higher status than Han women, but they were not considered equal to men, because it was an early medieval society. Not much changed for the common woman as far as I can tell, because the Northern Wei emperors didn't pass laws to restrict common women.

Northern Wei was more restrictive on elite women than the other Xianbei-led dynasties however. The other Xianbei-led dynasties had a fair share of powerful and influential women, such as Empress Kezuhun and Princess Qi. Northern Wei tried to avoid this as much as possible by instating "子贵母死".

I think Northern Wei rulers were more restrictive because they knew they only came to power because of the support of their maternal tribe. They therefore didn't want anyone else to come to power in the same way. As I've explained, I think that Tuoba Shao tried to use his maternal tribe, the Helans, to seize power. This would have been two incidents where people tried to gain power using maternal tribes, and they therefore tried to prevent maternal tribes becoming powerful.

In the end, the Northern Wei was able to produce two female regents. Empress Dowager Feng had no children and was therefore not targeted by "子贵母死", while the policy was abolished when Consort Hu had a son.

[craftercat]

We're starting to discuss Tuoba Si's actual reign. Also I have a special article coming out next that focuses specifically on the evolution of the system where the aristocrats directly retained a large portion of the population. After that I'll be discussing the era of 415-6 and the challenges Tuoba Si faced, also the rise of Cui Hao.

[craftercat]

Northern Wei Part 13: Tuoba Si's Early Years and Administration

In the last article, Tuoba Si won the throne after defeating and killing his brother Tuoba Shao. However, he still needed to stabilise his hold on power and Northern Wei at large. So how did he do this? I'm going to discuss early measures Tuoba Si took to ensure stability and his administration in general.

This was a relatively short article, but I think that it is important for the context of Tuoba Si's reign and the broader evaluation of him. Unfortunately not much is written on Tuoba Si's specific policies, and they often have to be inferred.

TUOBA SI'S POLICIES WITH MINISTERS

As I mentioned in the last article, Tuoba Si decided to recall all previously dismissed ministers back into office as a way to broadly appease different groups. But Tuoba Si needed to do more. He ordered his officials An Tong and Baba Song (both of whom featured last article) handle legal cases and employ the talented, and he also sent Daxi Jin to provide relief for the people's hardships (WS003). These measures provided immediate order to Northern Wei (WS111).

Within court, Tuoba Si appointed Tuoba Qu (the father of Tuoba Mohun from last article), An Tong, Daxi Jin, Cui Hong, Baba Song and three others as eight major ministers (ZZTJ115). Their main role was to provide advice to the emperor and to judge legal cases in a kind of evolved form of the tribal chiefs of the four divisions judging legal cases in the Dai era (WS113). However, these ministers formed a council of key advisors to the emperor in addition to this duty. The emperors after Tuoba Si would also call councils of advisors to discuss and make major policy decisions.

This system was essentially a political compromise between the different factions in Tuoba Si's court he was forced to compromise with. Prominent conservatives such as Baba Song were on the council, but so was the leader of the Han gentry faction Cui Hong and An Tong, a key supporter of Tuoba Si in his ascension. From this system, we can see that Tuoba Si needed to compromise more and couldn't rule in the same manner as his father.

A good example of how this leadership style worked is in 410 [1], when Tuoba Si, believing that the aristocrats were causing great harm to the common people, ordered they be relocated ot the capital (WS024). Tuoba Si was probably right, as in this era of Northern Wei, the common people were directly retained by the aristocrats, who were known for imposing heavy taxes onto the people.

However, being young and inexperienced, he failed to think through his idea enough. The aristocrats didn't want to leave their homelands and they had the power to resist. Their youth gathered together as bandits and the local governors could not deal with them (WS024). This issue reached Tuoba Si, and he called his council together to discuss, which was made up of at least four people: Tuoba Qu, An Tong, Yizhan Jian and Cui Hong (WS024).

Tuoba Qu suggested that Tuoba Si should execute the leaders and pardon their followers, but Cui Hong advocated for a full pardon, arguing against Tuoba Qu's idea (WS024). Tuoba Si took Cui Hong's advice and issued a full pardon, while sending one of his generals to campaign against those who continued to stir trouble (ZZTJ115). I will discuss this incident in more detail in the next article, as it was actually important for the future of Northern Wei.

The majority of Tuoba Si's ministers and generals were inherited from Tuoba Gui, but there were some new faces, such as Tuoba Qu. Daxi Jin, Cui Hong, An Tong and Baba Song enjoyed increased favour from the emperor under Tuoba Si. Tuoba Si also rewarded Tuoba Mohun, Yizhan Jun, Wang Luo'er and Chekun Lutou for their loyalty and contributions in his rise to power with titles and positions (several WS annals and ZZTJ115).

Tuoba Si made Tuoba Lie a prince for his contributions (WS003). Tuoba Si also gave his oldest younger brother Tuoba Xi military honours from a young age (WS016), showing that despite Tuoba Gui's suppression of the Tuoba clan in his final years, the Tuoba clan started to become prominent again. Tuoba Qu and Tuoba Mohun were distant members of the Tuoba clan. Tuoba Si also made his cousin Tuoba Su an official, probably due to their close relationship, but Tuoba Su did have genuine talent (WS015).

ADMINISTRATIVE AND STATE POLICIES

Tuoba Si had to deal with a number of rebellions in his early years due to floods, droughts and the remnants of Tuoba Gui's later years. He also adopted policies aimed towards both subduing and appeasing the Xiongnu and Dingling that lived in Hebei (WS003). He also sent a mission aimed at investigating corrupt officials, which appeared to be a successful one that reduced corruption in the empire (WS030). Another feature of his early reign is that he frequently bestowed gifts onto his subordinates, perhaps wanting to ensure loyalty (WS003).

Tuoba Si himself was noted to be sharp in his perceptions and strict in his punishment of the ministers (WS034). As Tuoba Si grew older and more experienced, he also became increasingly capable and personally proficient in state affairs (WS113). However, the officials were unable to keep up with his scrutiny and by the end of his reign they were using complex legal interpretations just to stay out of trouble, which led to administrative complexity (WS113).

In terms of how justice was carried out, I mentioned the usage of the eight-member council, but there was likely also a justice system in the provinces. In 420, Tuoba Si created a Commandant of Justice, which was a Han title for the chief of justice (WS037). There are members of Tuoba Si's justice team noted for being fair or capable such as Cui Hong, Zhang Pu and even former Eastern Jin criminal refugee Sima Wensi (various WS biographies). So except for the complexity of the legal code, the justice system was well-managed enough for people to trust the government enough to show their true thoughts in criminal cases by the end (WS037).

He also carried out several military drills during his early reign to train his cavalry force, and in 413 he carried a major military review which resulted in him organising the army into a vanguard and 12 cavalry units (the Xianbei military at the time was heavily cavalry-focused) (WS003). This ensured that Tuoba Si had an elite cavalry force to defend Northern Wei with.

While Tuoba Si didn't make major reforms to the law, his actions in the administration appear to have mostly been positive. By the end of his reign, people trusted the justice system, order had been restored, and society was stable, despite the complexity that had emerged. We know that corruption had risen again by 427 (WS004), but it's unclear if this happened under Tuoba Si or Tuoba Tao, as bureaucratic defensiveness isn't necessarily the same thing as corruption. Tuoba Tao evaluated Tuoba Si's legal affairs positively (WS035), and while he did have to praise Tuoba Si as his father, had Tuoba Si been a disaster legally he would have picked another area to praise.

THE EARLY REBELLIONS

So did Tuoba Si's policies work? The WS does indicate that these policies were effective, stating that under them, there was once again order in Northern Wei. As Tuoba Si's reign went on, the frequency of rebellions showed a clear decreasing trend.

However, all policies take time to work, and Tuoba Si's early years were not entirely stable. He had to face a Rouran invasion in 410, and multiple rebellions, mostly in Bing province, which was a rebellion hotspot in this era due to the intermixing of a Han and Xiongnu population with Xianbei generals and officials (WS003). Under Bing province was a mix of civil and military administration structures, as there were many garrisons for defensive and supervising purposes, but the rebellions in BIng province were not based around garrisons.

In 413, there were a series of uprisings and general unrest in Bing province (WS003). The uprisings seemed to be mostly small-scale and little more than bandit rebellions, but the unrest was bad enough that Tuoba Si issued a general pardon earlier that year. In the end, the uprisings were quelled one by one by government forces, but they also led to the downfall of major minister Tuoba Qu (WS003 and WS014).

Tuoba Qu had been tasked with leading a force to put down the uprisings. However, when he was putting down a rebellion at the border city of Tujing, the rebels brought in Helian Bobo's troops (Helian Bobo, had, in 407, broken off from Later Qin and started his own Xia state) in to aid them (WS014). The battle was a defeat for Tuoba Qu, and of the generals he was supervising, one (Dugu Jie) was captured, and the other died in battle (WS014).

Tuoba Si initially wanted to execute Tuoba Qu for his failure, but he pardoned him and ordered he manage Bing province after the previous governor was found out to be corrupt (WS014). Tuoba Qu indulged in alcohol and neglected his duties, so Tuoba Si finally executed Tuoba Qu for his failures (WS014). Tuoba Qu became arrogant in his high position, while the incident showed a more harsh and strict side to Tuoba Si's character and his willingness to hold his advisors accountable.

Helian Bobo held Tujing for a short amount of time, but the new governor of Bing province recruited a local force, which defeated Helian Bobo's stationed troops and recaptured Tujing (WS003). Also during this time, Helian Bobo launched a raid on Northern Wei, but he was defeated by a local militia in Bing province (WS003).

This sequence of events shows that while things hadn't fully stabilised by 414, they were still much better than they were in 409 when Tuoba Si originally came to the throne. Things seemed on the upside - until they weren't anymore.

In 415, Tuoba Si would face two major challenges to his reign: a major famine and a major Xiongnu rebellion. However, the end of his reign was described as being a peaceful one with a stable society and economic growth (WS003, WS110). So how did this happen?

We will take a brief pause to discuss the 410 aristocratic riots crisis and how it impacted Northern Wei policy, before we will discuss how Tuoba Si solved the challenges of 415. And in 415, a new advisor would become important: Cui Hao.

ENDNOTES

1 The WS does not give a specific date for this event, but the ZZTJ uses the date of 410, which is based on the record that Wuniuyu Lidi garrisoned Pingyang after quelling the riots, and the WS dates him being stationed at Pingyang to 410.

[craftercat]

Part 12 is out. We're officially saying hello to Tuoba Si now. I find Tuoba Si rather underappreciated, so I'm really looking forward to discussing his reign.

[craftercat]

Northern Wei Part 12: Tuoba Si's Rise To Power

In the last article, Tuoba Gui met his end at the hands of his son Tuoba Shao. But only two weeks later [1], Tuoba Shao would also meet his end at the hands of his brother Tuoba Si, who returned from hiding to become the second emperor of Northern Wei. But how did this happen?

THE AFTERMATH OF TUOBA GUI'S DEATH

While he may have been made the heir, Tuoba Shao still needed to consolidate support from the major players at court and confirm Tuoba Gui's death before he could become emperor himself. At midday, he called all of the officials together to gather support (WS016).

When they arrived, Tuoba Shao started out by declaring: "I have a father (or uncle) [2], and I also have a brother. Who will you support?" (WS016). The officials didn't yet know that Tuoba Gui was dead, and they perhaps believed that Tuoba Si had secretly returned to Pingcheng to launch a coup. So Tuoba Shao was asking the officials to choose between Tuoba Gui, Tuoba Si and him. The officials perhaps believed that Tuoba Shao already had the situation under his control, so Baba Song declared his support for him.

The officials soon realised that Tuoba Gui was, in fact, dead, but they did not know that Tuoba Shao had killed him. Only Tuoba Lie expressed objection, as he cried and left (WS016). Tuoba Shao's meeting at the gate may not have been suspicious; the old method of succession often relied on the Xianbei tribes choosing a leader, and as a representative of conservative interests, Tuoba Shao may have wanted to be elected into power that way.

TUOBA SI'S RISE TO POWER

However, Tuoba Shao's triumph did not last long. Tuoba Si, hearing of the chaos in Pingcheng, returned to the capital (WS016). Wang Luo'er (one of Tuoba Si's attendants from Article 10) worked tirelessly to get Tuoba Si support from the ministers, which led to many ministers defecting to his side (WS034).

The minister An Tong was in communication with Tuoba Si, and Tuoba Si had ordered him to gather together a support base from within Pingcheng (WS030). An Tong gathered together the skilled workers of Pingcheng, and the common people went to support Tuoba Si (WS030, WS034). This suggests that the power struggle between Tuoba Si and Tuoba Shao was not limited to the ruling class.

A group of officials led by Tuoba Mohun, Yizhan Jun and Baba Han plotted against Tuoba Shao. Tuoba Mohun and Yizhan Jun claimed to know Tuoba Si's whereabouts, so Tuoba Shao ordered them to escort two assassins to kill him (WS014). On the way, Tuoba Mohun and Yizhan Jun arrested the assassins, went to Tuoba Si, and killed them (WS014). Tuoba Si had been saved. Tuoba Si's sister Princess Huayin also had merits in protecting him during the succession crisis, but it's unclear exactly what she did to help him (WS108).

According to the old Dai succession, Tuoba Lie should have succession rights himself, as Tuoba Yi's younger brother and having a strong and intelligent character. However, Tuoba Lie chose not to exercise his own succession rights, but rather to play within the framework of father-son succession rights that Tuoba Gui had pushed for. Tuoba Lie pretended to submit to Tuoba Shao, and he asked to be sent out to arrest Tuoba Si, who had returned after hearing of Tuoba Gui's death (WS015). Tuoba Lie set out, but when he arrived, instead of arresting Tuoba Si, he received him and declared him as his emperor (WS015).

Meanwhile, Tuoba Shao tried to win over support by gifting people cloth and silk (WS016), which appeared unsuccessful at giving him a loyal support base. The Han minister Cui Hong refused the gifts, showing his indirect approval of Tuoba Si (WS024). Due to this, Cui Hong became even more trusted by Tuoba Si, and his son, Cui Hao, would also be able to gain the emperor's trust, and it was from Tuoba Si's reign that Cui Hao played a major role in Northern Wei politics (WS035), but that's for another article.

Helan Ni [3], a member of the Helan tribe, lit a beacon fire at Anyang city to gather together the Helan tribe and the other old tribes, presumably to support Tuoba Shao [4] (WS016). This, along with Baba Song leading the officials in showing support for Tuoba Shao, shows that Tuoba Shao's supporters lied mostly in the conservative Xianbei aristocrats.

Eventually, the imperial guard launched a coup, and they arrested Tuoba Shao (WS016). This was triggered by Tuoba Si moving to the west of Pingcheng, probably to gather further support for his claim to power. Their motives for acting are unclear; I find it unlikely that they acted alone. The military were perhaps influenced by the civilian and ministerial support for Tuoba Si, and so also switched to support Tuoba Si, leading to the imperial guards ousting Tuoba Shao.

Due to the way that the events are laid out in the WS, it's hard to establish a clear timeline for Tuoba Si's rise to power. The main summary is that Tuoba Si returned to the capital after hearing of Tuoba Gui's death, and he communicated with An Tong and sent Wang Luo'er to rally other ministers. This triggered a wave of defections, which culminated when Tuoba Si moved to gather more support, leading to the loss of military support for Tuoba Shao.

EVALUATION

But then this leads to a question: why did so many people switch sides? Tuoba Shao was made heir, and he had tried to avoid connecting himself to Tuoba Gui's death, which gave him initial support from the ministers. So why was it that when Tuoba Si arrived, there was a wave of defections?

I think that at some point, it became widely known that Tuoba Shao killed his father. Either the ministers started to suspect it or a defector outright stated that Tuoba Shao killed Tuoba Gui. This then led to a lot of people losing faith in Tuoba Shao due to his crime and the fact that he then lied about the circumstances of his father's death, which led them to distrust him and defect.

The second reason is that I think there was Helan tribe involvement in Tuoba Shao's coup. Consort Helan's execution suggests that she was a major player in the coup, and it was Helan Ni who led the old tribes to assemble. The Helan tribe had been rebellious against the Tuobas, which would have meant that many would have distrusted them. Nobody would want a Helan-backed patricide as emperor, so they defected to Tuoba Si rather than letting that happen.

So why did Tuoba Si win? I think it's because he played the political game right, and Tuoba Shao didn't. Tuoba Shao underestimated the support that would be shown for Tuoba Si, believed he could buy support with gifts, trusted the wrong people, and concentrated himself to the Helan tribe and other conservative factions. Meanwhile, Tuoba Si appealed to a broad support base, secured the support of key figures such as An Tong and Tuoba Lie, remained hidden and trusted the right people.

But I also think that the end result was also because Tuoba Shao and his reactionary faction were on the wrong side. The trend at the time was towards Sinicisation, and they were trying to resist. This already put them at a disadvantage, and coupled with Tuoba Shao's lack of political acumen, it was easy for the pro-Sinicisation parts of the court and population to switch sides.

AFTERMATH

Two weeks after Tuoba Gui's death, Tuoba Si ascended to the throne, starting a new era for Northern Wei. Rather than following the Chinese custom of waiting for the New Year to change the era name, Tuoba Si immediately changed the era name (WS003). This may be because the Tuobas were slow to pick up on that particular custom, or Tuoba Si wanted to put the chaos behind him and start fresh.

Tuoba Si had Tuoba Shao, Consort Helan and a dozen of their associates in the palace executed, but he spared everyone else (WS016). Baba Song was trusted by Tuoba Si (WS025), while Helan Ni disbanded the beacon fire and submitted to Tuoba Si (WS083). This showed that Tuoba Si was not overly harsh but also not too soft when he came into power.

Tuoba Si's pardon of Baba Song and the other conservatives was likely due to political reasons. He had only just ascended the throne, and his ascension was irregular. He knew that if he acted against the conservatives, then he could risk the conservatives launching a coup against him as well. He didn't have the power to completely ignore the conservative parts of the court who previously supported Tuoba Shao, so he had to appease them.

To quell the direct political chaos, Tuoba Si ordered that everyone who had previously been demoted would be reinstated to their positions (WS003). This appeased a large number of factions, including the meritorious officials suppressed by Tuoba Gui, conservatives who lost their positions during reform, and perhaps some reformists who may have lost their positions under Tuoba Shao's two-week control. This secured Tuoba Si with enough support to keep the throne and restored order to the political scene.

Tuoba Gui's attempt to assert Han ideas of father-son succession had failed. Not only was Tuoba Lie, a clan elder and possibly Tuoba Gui's brother, a key figure in deciding the ruler, but Tuoba Si's ascension had been decided by consensus between the military, officials and citizens rather than legitimacy as the eldest son. Northern Wei were unable to make the transition yet. And I think this was probably because Tuoba Gui was too aggressive and utilised overly harsh methods to try and push it through, which led to resistance.

Tuoba Si was young, aged 17, and while he was intelligent, determined, and respectful with a harsh streak, he lacked the same martial talent and commanding quality that his father had. This, coupled with his poor health and irregular ascension to the throne, meant that he was less powerful than his father Tuoba Gui or son Tuoba Tao was. This lack of power forced him to compromise with conservative elements of his court such as Baba Song, even though he was originally representative of reformist interests.

While immediate political stability had been restored, Tuoba Si's ascension couldn't solve everything. There was still uncertainty within court and in Northern Wei, and Northern Wei needed years to stabilise. So how would Tuoba Si deal with the chaotic hand that had been given to him? That's for the next article.

ENDNOTES

Unfortunately, the events surrounding Tuoba Si's rise to power are rather vague in WS descriptions, which means that we don't have much to go on. Therefore, this article is more speculative than most of the articles of this series simply because there are gaps in the WS account that have to be filled in. The account presented in this article therefore involves an amount of speculation, and so it only represents one version of what could have happened. I have used historical evidence to construct a version of how I think that Tuoba Si's rise to power might have happened, but due to lack of evidence, I cannot say that my speculation is correct. Speculative statements are in italics.

Tuoba Si's reign somewhat suffers from a lack of records throughout, not just in his rise to power. Tuoba Si's original WS annal has been lost for unclear reasons, and our current biography of him is a supplementation of the original. Therefore, there are likely parts of his original WS biography that are still missing, though the BS does supplant some of them. But his biography is full enough to give a decent picture of his reign.

1 The WS records Tuoba Si as ascending to the throne four days after his father's death, but the BS records this as being 14 days after. I follow the BS records, as four days seems like too strained a timeline for Tuoba Si to come back from his hiding place, gather supporters and declare himself emperor.

2. The ZZTJ states that Tuoba Shao said he had an "uncle" rather than a "father", and there is further academic speculation that this uncle refers to Tuoba Lie. There is an explanation for the WS quote, that Tuoba Shao was hiding his father's death to try and make it look as if he had quelled chaos from within the palace, is from another study, and it also works (though to incriminate Tuoba Si, it would have to be implied the officials believed him to have returned from hiding, or Tuoba Shao was trying to emphasise Tuoba Si's traitorous status).

3. Helan Ni is also referred to as Helan Hu in Tuoba Shao and An Tong's biographies, which is likely a mistransliteration of a Xianbei name. I follow the name given to him in his own biography.

4. Helan Ni's allegiance in the succession crisis is debated. Some believe that he was supporting Tuoba Shao, others that he was supporting Tuoba Si, and others that he was just trying to protect himself. Given the link between Tuoba Shao and the Helan tribe, I speculate that Helan Ni initially gathered the old tribes to support Tuoba Shao, but when Tuoba Si came to power, he led the Xianbei aristocrats to surrender to him, which is why Tuoba Si continued to trust him.