Legacy of King Xiao: Understanding Liu Wu and Chinese Imperial History

Liu Wu, known as King Xiao of Liang, was the son of Emperor Xiaowen and Empress Dowager Dou, sharing the same mother as Emperor Jing. During Emperor Xiaowen’s reign, Liu Wu was appointed as the Prince of Dai, Liu Can as the Prince of Taiyuan, and Liu Sheng as the Prince of Liang. Two years later, Liu Wu was relocated to become the Prince of Huaiyang.

The territories of Dai and Taiyuan were combined, and Liu Can was renamed the Prince of Dai. Liu Sheng succeeded to the throne, posthumously known as King Xiao. His son, Liu Deng, became the King of Dai. During the reign of Emperor Yuan of Han, the territory of the King of Dai extended to Qinghe.

Initially, Liu Wu was the Prince of Huaiyang for ten years before becoming the King of Liang upon the death of his brother Liu Sheng. At the beginning of his reign as King of Liang, it marked the twelfth year of Emperor Xiaowen’s reign. Liu Wu had been administering Liang for eleven years since his initial appointment as Prince of Dai in the second year of Emperor Xiaowen’s reign.

In the fourteenth year of his rule, Liu Wu attended the court. In the seventeenth and eighteenth years, he frequently visited the capital and stayed for extended periods, returning to his kingdom the following year. He returned to the capital in the twenty-first year and again in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth years. During this period, Emperor Xiaowen had not yet appointed a Crown Prince. Liu Wu and Emperor Xiaowen would drink and converse leisurely, with the Emperor once remarking, “May your rule endure for millennia.”

In spring, the seven states of Wu, Chu, Qi, and Zhao rebelled. Wu and Chu first attacked Liang at Jibi, where tens of thousands were killed. King Xiao defended Suiyang and appointed Han Anguo and Zhang Yu as generals to resist Wu and Chu. The rebels were halted at Liang and did not dare to proceed westward. They faced off against General Yafu for three months. Wu and Chu were defeated, and Liu Wu’s forces captured and plundered the enemy, sharing the spoils with the Han forces.

The following year, Emperor Xiaowen appointed a Crown Prince. Afterward, Liang, being most trusted and meritorious, grew into a powerful state occupying fertile lands across the country. Its northern border extended to Mount Tai and its western border to Gaoyang, encompassing over forty cities, many of which were large counties.

King Xiao, the youngest son of Empress Dowager Dou, was cherished and lavished with rewards and honors. He constructed the Eastern Palace Garden, covering an area of over three hundred square miles, expanding the Suiyang city by seventy miles. He constructed magnificent palaces and roads, connecting palaces and platforms over thirty miles from the palace.

He was granted the emperor’s banners and flags and led a procession of a thousand carriages and ten thousand cavalry. He engaged in east-west hunting expeditions, emulating the emperor. His words were always thoughtful and his actions decisive. He attracted talented individuals from all corners and entertained them with mountainous scholars from the east. Everyone came to his call, including Yang Sheng from Qi, Gongsun Gui from the Gongsun family, and Zou Yang.

Gongsun Gui was adept at employing cunning tactics and was rewarded generously upon his first meeting with the king. He eventually rose to the rank of Grand General, and Liang began to amass hundreds of thousands of weapons, crossbows, and spears, with the treasury accumulating millions in gold and silver coins, as well as numerous jewels, and precious objects.

In the twenty-ninth year of his reign, King Xiao paid homage to the court. Emperor Jing sent an envoy with a chariot and horses to meet King Xiao at the pass. After the court meeting, King Xiao stayed behind due to his close relationship with the Empress Dowager. When King Xiao entered the capital, he accompanied Emperor Jing in the same chariot and hunted together in the imperial forest, shooting birds and beasts.

Officials from King Xiao’s court, attendants, and visitors were registered at the palace gate, much like officials of the Han court. In November, Emperor Jing deposed Crown Prince Li, and Empress Dowager Dou wanted to make King Xiao her successor. However, courtiers, including Yuan Ang, persuaded Emperor Jing otherwise, and Empress Dowager Dou acquiesced, maintaining the secrecy of the succession.

In the summer of April, Emperor Jing declared the Prince of Jiaodong as the Crown Prince. King Xiao harbored grievances against Yuan Ang and other courtiers who had advised against him becoming the heir apparent. He secretly dispatched agents to assassinate Yuan Ang and more than ten other advisers. They pursued the criminals but did not apprehend them. Consequently, Emperor Jing suspected King Xiao of the assassination plot.

He sent envoys to intercept King Xiao on the road, set up camps along the border, and searched Liang, capturing Gongsun Gui and Yang Sheng. Gongsun Gui and Yang Sheng hid in the rear palace of King Xiao. The envoys pressed the officials urgently, and Xuanqiu Bao, the Prime Minister of Liang, and Han Anguo, the Interior Minister, pleaded with the king. King Xiao then ordered Sheng and Gui to commit suicide and presented them.

As a result, Emperor Jing grew increasingly resentful of King Xiao. King Xiao feared the emperor and sent Han Anguo to apologize to the Empress Dowager and the king was then released. Emperor Jing’s anger gradually subsided, and King Xiao subsequently petitioned to attend court. Upon arrival at the pass, Maolan persuaded the king to travel in a plain carriage, and he entered, hiding in the garden of the Empress Dowager.

The Han envoy sought the king, but he had already entered the pass, and the carriages and horses remained outside, unaware of the king’s whereabouts. The Empress Dowager wept, “The Emperor killed my son!” Emperor Jing was worried. King Xiao then presented himself beneath the axe at the gate, apologizing for his offense. The Empress Dowager and Emperor Jing were overjoyed, embracing and shedding tears, as they returned to their previous relationship.

King Xiao summoned all of his attendants to enter the pass. However, Emperor Jing grew increasingly distant from King Xiao, and they no longer rode together in the same carriage. In the winter of the thirty-fifth year, he returned to court. He petitioned to remain, but Emperor Jing did not permit it. Upon returning to his kingdom, King Xiao felt inexplicably melancholy. He hunted north in the good mountains, offering cattle with his feet on his back, and King Xiao hated it.

In the middle of June, he fell ill with fever and died on the sixth day, posthumously known as King Xiao