39 Facts About Shi Hu

Shi Hu, courtesy name Jilong, known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Wu of Later Zhao, was an emperor of the Jie-led Chinese Later Zhao dynasty.

Shi Hu was a talented general who rarely lost battles, and Shi Le relied on him heavily in his conquest of northern and central China.

Shi Hu's father was named Koumi and was a son of a cousin of Shi Le's father Zhouhezhu.

Shi Hu's father died early and he was raised by Zhouhezhu and his wife, Shi Le's mother Lady Wang, so Shi Hu was sometimes referred to as Shi Le's brother.

Shi Hu grew up in Shi Le's army, and when he was young, he became known for incessantly hunting and not following military orders, and particularly liked hitting people with sling bullets.

Shi Hu Le gave him the sister of the general Guo Rong in marriage to him, but he favored his concubine Zheng Yingtao and, at Zheng's instigation, killed Lady Guo.

Shi Hu became known for his cruelty in governing his soldiers and in battle, as he often executed officers who disagreed with his wishes or had great abilities, and whenever he captured a city, he often slaughtered the entire population.

Therefore, Shi Hu Le trusted him greatly and made him one of his top lieutenants.

The enemies that Shi Hu engaged while serving under Shi Le included:.

However, Shi Hu became incensed that he was not given the title of Grand Chanyu, which Shi Le had granted to his son Shi Hong, and he secretly started plotting taking over after Shi Le's death.

In 332, Shi Le tried to curb his powers by having the crown prince and the eunuch Yan Zhen participate in important decisions that were previously Shi Hu's to make, which only served to anger Shi Hu.

Shi Hu then issued false edicts summoning Shi Hong the Prince of Qin and Shi Le's adopted son Shi Kan the Prince of Pengcheng back to the capital Xiangguo and then detained them.

When Shi Le died in the fall, Shi Hu immediately seized the crown prince Shi Hong and arrested and executed Cheng and Xu.

All of Shi Le's trusted officials were demoted or moved to posts with no real power, while Shi Hu's subordinates were moved into key positions.

In winter 333, Shi Sheng the Prince of Hedong, in defense of Chang'an, and Shi Lang, in defense of Luoyang, declared a rebellion against Shi Hu and sought assistance from Jin.

Shi Hu personally attacked Shi Lang and captured Luoyang easily, killing Shi Lang.

Shi Hu then attacked Chang'an with his son Shi Ting the Prince of Liang, but Shi Ting was defeated by Shi Sheng's subordinate Guo Quan and killed.

However, Shi Hu Sheng did not know about this victory and, when the Xianbei chief Shegui rebelled, panicked and fled, abandoning Chang'an, and was killed in flight.

Shi Hu declined with sarcastic language, and Shi Hong, knowing that Shi Hu had even crueler intentions, could carry out no other intentions.

In 335, Shi Hu moved the capital from Xiangguo to Yecheng.

Shi Hu further built nine additional palaces and selected many women to fill the palaces.

In 337, Shi Hu claimed the title Heavenly King, and he give title to his wife Zheng Yingtao empress and his son Shi Sui crown prince, while his sons who were previously given title of princes were given duke titles instead.

Later in 337, Shi Hu would kill his recently appointed crown prince.

Shi Hu Sui was himself no less cruel than his father, and one of his favorite pastimes was to order a woman to dress well, and then behead her and eat her body.

Shi Hu discovered this and killed Shi Sui's co-conspirators, but initially pardoned him.

However, Shi Sui refused to apologize, and this angered Shi Hu, who deposed him and then executed him, along with his wife Crown Princess Zhang and his 26 children, burying them in one humongous coffin.

Shi Hu killed some 200 subordinates of Shi Sui, and he deposed Empress Zheng to the title of Duchess Dowager of Donghai.

Shi Hu instead give title to his second son Shi Xuan as crown prince and his mother Du Zhu as empress.

In late 337, Shi Hu entered into an alliance with the Former Yan prince Murong Huang to attack the Xianbei Duan tribe.

In 339, displeased that the Jin general Yu Liang was planning an attack against Later Zhao, Shi Hu acted first, sending his adopted grandson Shi Min to attack the borders with Jin, pillaging the border region and capturing Zhucheng, ending Yu's hopes of a northern campaign.

In 340, Shi Hu briefly entered into an alliance with Cheng Han's emperor Li Shou against Jin.

In 342, Shi Hu continued a large number of construction projects, and further ordered major conscriptions, with plans to attack not only Jin but Former Liang and Former Yan.

Shi Hu quickly suspected Shi Xuan, and his suspicions were fanned by that Shi Xuan showed no sign of mourning for Shi Tao.

Shi Hu detained Shi Xuan and arrested his followers, discovering the assassination plot.

Shi Hu planned to execute Shi Xuan, despite opposition from the Buddhist monk Fu Tucheng, whose prophecies he had respected greatly and who had predicted that Shi Xuan's death would bring great disaster on the empire.

Shi Hu Xuan was placed near a wooden platform with a ladder leading up to it.

Shi Hu, shocked by his young grandson's death, grew ill.

In spring 349, Shi Hu claimed the title of emperor and promoted all of his duke sons to princes.

In summer 349, Shi Hu was near death, and he ordered that Shi Zun and Shi Bin be made regents for Shi Shi.