Yuan Hao became complacent after capturing Luoyang and when the general Erzhu Rong, who supported Emperor Xiaozhuang, counterattacked later that year, Yuan Hao fled Luoyang and was killed in flight.
23 Facts About Yuan Hao
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Yuan Hao's father Yuan Xiang was a son of Emperor Xianwen and a younger brother of Emperor Xiaowen, and was created the Prince of Beihai early in Emperor Xiaowen's reign.
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Yuan Hao was considered generous and ambitious in his youth.
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In 524, while Yuan Cha was regent, Yuan Hao, who was considered military capable, was restored to his princely title and commissioned with an army to fight the forces of the rebel leader Hu Chen.
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Yuan Hao enjoyed some early successes, and while he was unable to destroy either Hu Chen or Hu Chen's successor Moqi Chounu, he was largely able to hold his own.
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In 527 when fellow general Xiao Baoyin's forces were defeated by Mozhe Tiansheng, Yuan Hao's forces collapsed, and he was forced to flee back to Luoyang.
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In spring 528, Yuan Hao was again commissioned with an army and put into the post of governor of Xiang Province, to defend the region against the rebel leader Ge Rong, who had by this point taken much of the territory north of the Yellow River and claimed the title of Emperor of Qi.
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Less than two months after Yuan Hao was posted to Xiang Province, Emperor Xiaoming and Empress Dowager Hu, who had been restored as regent in 525, were in serious dispute over Emperor Xiaoming's displeasure at Empress Dowager Hu's overtolerance of corruption by her lover Zheng Yan and Zheng's associate Xu Ge.
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Yuan Hao made Yuan Hao's cousin Yuan Ziyou the Prince of Changle emperor instead.
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Yuan Hao tried to appease other generals and officials who were out in the provinces by promoting them, and Yuan Hao was promoted to a high honorary post as Taifu.
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Apprehensive of both Erzhu Rong and Ge Rong's power Yuan Hao considered seizing the region around Xiang Province and becoming independent.
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Yuan Hao tried to commission his uncle Fan Zhun as the governor of the neighboring Yin Province, but this move was resisted by the local officials who suspected his intentions.
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When Yuan Hao met Emperor Wu of Liang, he made an impassioned plea in which he displayed both mournfulness and ambition.
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Meanwhile Chen was able to win battle after battle against Northern Wei generals with much larger forces, and after Chen captured Suiyang, Yuan Hao declared himself emperor there.
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Emperor Xiaozhuang, fearful of Yuan Hao's army, fled Luoyang north of the Yellow River to rendezvous with Erzhu Rong and Yuan Tianmu.
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Yuan Hao was welcomed into Luoyang, whose people were resentful of Erzhu Rong and therefore hoped that Yuan Hao could deliver them.
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Yuan Hao put his old friends and associates into high posts, and he spent his days feasting, not caring about the matters of state.
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Meanwhile, Yuan Hao, believing that he had already succeeded, began to secretly plot with Yuan Yu the Prince of Linhuai and Yuan Yanming the Prince of Anfeng to consider how to throw off the Liang yoke.
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When Chen, whose army was badly outnumbered, petitioned Emperor Wu of Liang for reinforcements, Yuan Hao preemptorily petitioned Emperor Wu, arguing that additional Liang troops would merely cause more shock to the Northern Wei people.
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At one point, Chen considered assassinating Yuan Hao and seizing Luoyang himself, but decided against the idea.
21.
Erzhu Rong was so frustrated that he considered withdrawing, but after suggestions by the officials Yang Kan and Gao Daomu that doing so would only allow Yuan Hao to be entrenched, he prepared a surprise attack at night, crossing the Yellow River and capturing Yuan Hao's son Yuan Guanshou.
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Meanwhile, Yuan Hao's guards began to desert, and a local policeman of Linyin County, Jiang Feng, killed him and delivered his head to Luoyang.
23.
Yuan Hao was never officially recognized as an emperor, although, for reasons unknown, Emperor Xiaowu later restored his title of Prince of Beihai and posthumously honored him with a number of honors.