Coming to a Disgraceful End
2 min readUnable to deal with the messy situation, Yang Guang simply moved south to Jiangduin 616 accompanied by his wife Empress Xiao and some trusted aides. He had ever since become addicted to drinking and womanizing there. He pretended to be cheerful, but deep down in his heart lay hidden a tremendous load of horror and anxiety. According to historical records, one day he held up a mirror t look at himself, and said suddenly to Empress Xiao:”What a good head I have, but don’t know who will chop it off!”
When Yang Guang was leading a befuddled life in Jiangdu, his cousin Li Yuan (566-635) rebelled in Jinyang(present Taiyuan City in Shanxi Province) in 617, and commanded an army of some 200,000 to occupy Chang’ an. Li Yuan then made Yang You (605-619, grandson of Yang Guang) emperor, whilst honoring Yang Guang with the title of “super-emperor”l.
Hearing the news from afar, Yang Guang intended to move further south to Danyang(present Nanjing of Jiangsu). However, as most of his followers were originally from the central Shaanxi Plain, naturally they became homesick and were very much opposed to Yang Guang’s scheme.
In the third lunar month of 618, general Yuwen Huaji plotted with others to stage a mutiny, and captured Yang Guang alive. Witnessing his 12-year-old son Yang Gao(Prince of Zhao) was beheaded, Yang Guang pleaded:”An emperor was not supposed to be executed with a knife.”He was eventually killed by strangling. Empress Xiao ordered her maidservants to make a coffin with wooden boards of the imperial bed, and hastily buried the once conquering monarch.
Traditional geographical term for the region in the lower Yangtze valley, including today’s southern Jiangsu and Anhui and northern Zhejiang.
An ancient geographical term for the area west of the Yumen Pass in Gansu, including what’s now Xinjiang and parts of central Asia.
Along with Baekje and silla, Goguryeo was one of the Three Kingdoms on the Korean Peninsula in ancient times.
Atraditional geographical term for the region west of the Liao River, namely whats now the western part of Liaoning Province in northeast china.
The Turk was an ethnic nationality in ancient north China. Under heavy attack from the Sui army, they split into two tribes of the east and the westin the early years ofthe Sui Dynasty.
Usually its a title assumed by an emperor who abdicated in favor of his son.
