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13 Facts About Helian Ding

1.

Helian Ding was a son of the founding emperor Helian Bobo and a younger brother of his predecessor Helian Chang.

2.

Helian Ding was said to have been a delinquent and frivolous youth, and Helian Bobo had low opinions of him and gave him little authority.

3.

Helian Ding Chang agreed and did not engage Northern Wei forces.

4.

In spring 428, after initially withdrawing further from Shanggui to Pingliang, Helian Chang went back on the offensive and besieged Daxi's army, which was then afflicted by illnesses, at Anding.

5.

Helian Ding gathered the remaining troops and withdrew to Pingliang.

6.

In summer 428, Helian Ding sent an embassy to Northern Wei requesting peace.

7.

Helian Ding, hearing that Pingliang was under attack, tried to return to Pingliang to relieve it, but on the way he encountered the Northern Wei general Tuxi Bi, who tricked him by pretending to be a weak force, drawing an attack from him.

8.

Tuxi then defeated Helian Ding, who was then forced to withdraw to Chungu Plains.

9.

Helian Ding gathered the remaining forces and fled to Shanggui.

10.

Helian Ding himself felt he could not hold Shanggui much further, sent his uncle Helian Weifa the Duke of Beiping to attack Western Qin's only remaining city, Nan'an.

11.

Helian Weifa delivered Qifu Mumo to Shanggui, and Helian Ding executed Qifu Mumo and his clan.

12.

Helian Ding then headed west and crossed the Yellow River at Zhicheng, intending to attack Northern Liang and seize its territory.

13.

Helian Ding took the throne in 428 after his brother Helian Chang was captured by rival Northern Wei's forces, and it was sometime after that he created her empress.