1. Yuwen Tai was born in 505, and was a descendant of the last chieftain of the Xianbei Yuwen tribe Yuwen Yidougui, whose tribe was destroyed by Murong Huang, the founding ruler of Former Yan.
53 Facts About Yuwen Tai
1. 2.
Yuwen Gong died in a battle between Xianyu's troops and Northern Wei troops, but Yuwen Tai continued to serve in Xianyu's troops.
3.
Yuwen Tai made Yuwen his lieutenant, and consulted him on most important matters.
4.
In 533, Yuwen Tai volunteered to serve as messenger to Gao in order to observe Gao's abilities, and Heba agreed.
5.
When Gao met Yuwen, Gao was impressed by the answers Yuwen had to his questions and wanted to detain Yuwen, but Yuwen left Gao's domain before Gao could seize him.
6.
Subsequently, Heba sent Yuwen Tai to confer with Emperor Xiaowu, who was not happy about Gao's hold on power, and Emperor Xiaowu and Heba were able to enter into a secret alliance against Gao.
7.
Yuwen Tai agreed, and Du and he quickly headed back toward Heba's army.
8.
Houmochen outright refused, and Yuwen Tai persuaded Emperor Xiaowu to allow him to remain in command.
9.
Yuwen Tai next sent a letter to Houmochen to rebuke him, and when Houmochen did not answer, prepared to launch an attack on Houmochen.
10.
Yuwen Tai decided to try to flee to Cao's territory, but on the way, believing that Yuwen's forces were close, committed suicide.
11.
However, Heba Sheng did not arrive at Luoyang, while Yuwen Tai sent forces east, commanded by Li Xian, to welcome Emperor Xiaowu.
12.
Yuwen Tai made Yuwen his commander in chief, and married his sister Princess Pingyi to Yuwen.
13.
Yuwen Tai disapproved of the relationship, and he persuaded the imperial princes to arrest Yuan Mingyue and put her to death.
14.
Around the new year 535, Yuwen Tai poisoned him to death and made his cousin Yuan Baoju the Prince of Nanyang emperor.
15.
Yuwen Tai spent much of his effort on preserving existence of Western Wei against repeated attacks led by Gao Huan.
16.
Yuwen Tai gradually began to show a trend of following both ancient Chinese customs, as largely encapsulated by the governmental structures of the Zhou dynasty, and restoring Xianbei customs that had largely been abolished by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei.
17.
Yuwen Tai worked on earning the respect of other officials and generals, including Emperor Xiaowu's confidant Wang Sizheng and Pei Xia, both of whom initially been suspicious of Yuwen and yet later became important and faithful generals serving under him.
18.
Yuwen Tai, correctly judging that Gao Huan was trying to draw Yuwen Tai toward him while allowing Dou to penetrate Western Wei defenses, announced that he was going to lead a withdraw to modern eastern Gansu but instead made a surprise attack on Dou's army at Xiaoguan, crushing Dou's forces.
19.
In fall 537, Yuwen Tai led an attack on Eastern Wei and captured Hengnong.
20.
In spring 538, in order to create an alliance with Rouran, Yuwen Tai first had Emperor Wen bestow the title of Princess Huazheng to Yuan Yi, the daughter of a member of the imperial clan, to marry her to Yujiulu Tahan, the brother of Rouran's Chiliantoubingdoufa Khan Yujiulu Anagui.
21.
When Yuwen Tai arrived, Hou and Gao initially lifted the siege on Luoyang, but when Yuwen Tai chased after them, his horse was shot by an arrow, and he fell off his horse and was nearly captured, but both he and his general Li Mu pretended to be common soldiers and were able to escape.
22.
Once Yuwen Tai returned to Western Wei camp, Western Wei forces again attacked and killed Gao.
23.
Later that day an Eastern Wei counterattack inflicted major losses on Western Wei forces, forcing Yuwen Tai to withdraw and rendezvous with Emperor Wen at Hengnong.
24.
Under the advice of Lu Tong, Yuwen Tai quickly returned west and defeated Zhao, suppressing his rebellion.
25.
Around this time, Yuwen started setting up his headquarters at Hua Province, not far from Chang'an but maintaining some distance from the capital, incorporate many talented officials and generals into his staff.
26.
Yuwen Tai further established a night school for the junior officers and officials in his administration at Hua Province.
27.
In 541, under Su's suggestion, Yuwen Tai had Emperor Wen issue an edict outlining six principles of government, intending to reduce corruption and wastefulness and strengthen the economy:.
28.
Yuwen Tai ordered that all of the officials of the state must study the six principles and further be able to balance budgets, at the pain of being relieved from their offices.
29.
Yuwen Tai personally led troops to try to save Gao Zhongmi.
30.
Yuwen Tai was forced to withdraw, but against advice from Feng Zihui and Chen Yuankang, Gao Huan failed to chase Yuwen Tai and allowed him to escape.
31.
The defeat was considered so major that Yuwen Tai offered to have his rank reduced, but Emperor Wen did not accept the request.
32.
In 545, Yuwen Tai, seeing that one of Rouran's vassals, Tujue, was growing in strength, sent a messenger, Annuo Pantuo to Tujue to greet its chief Ashina Tumen, to try to establish friendly relations.
33.
In 546, Gao Huan launched another major attack on Western Wei, putting Yubi under siege, intending to draw Western Wei forces to try to save Yubi, but Yuwen Tai took no reaction to it, instead leaving Yubi's defense to the general Wei Xiaokuan.
34.
Yuwen Tai mourned him greatly, and personally attended Su's burial, crying bitterly.
35.
Yuwen Tai conferred honorary titles on Hou, but was initially unwilling to send relief troops.
36.
Soon Western Wei generals and Hou began to suspect each other, and after Yuwen Tai ordered Hou to proceed to Chang'an to greet Emperor Wen and Hou refused, the sides officially broke, and the Western Wei generals held onto the four provinces without rendering further aid to Hou, who from that point on depended solely on Liang aid.
37.
However, when they did, Emperor Wen had already been healed, and Yuwen Tai thereafter returned to his headquarters at Hua Province.
38.
Yuwen Tai sent Zhao to try to lift the siege, but Zhao was impeded by the water and was unable to proceed to Yingchuan.
40.
Yuwen Tai created Xiao Cha the title "Prince of Liang," preparing to have him claim the Liang throne as Western Wei's vassal.
41.
Yuwen Tai sent Yang to relieve Anlu, and Yang not only did so, but proceeded to siege Xiao Guan's headquarters at Ru'nan, capturing it and then executing Xiao Guan.
42.
Yuwen Tai appeared to hold an even firmer grip on power after Emperor Wen's death.
43.
Yuwen Tai took this opportunity to create an alliance with Tujue, sending the Princess Changle to Tujue to marry Ashina Tumen.
44.
Yuwen Tai instead compared himself to Yi Yin and Duke of Zhou, apparently disavowing intentions on the throne for the time being.
45.
Yuwen Tai sent his nephew Yuchi Jiong to attack Xiao Ji's domain.
46.
Yuwen Tai took this opportunity to change the Han names for the Xianbei that Emperor Xiaowen had instituted back to the original Xianbei names, including changing the imperial surname Yuan back to Tuoba.
47.
Further, because Xianbei legends indicated that originally, the Tuoba tribe had 36 subtribes and 99 subclans, Yuwen Tai chose 36 key Han generals and 99 commanders and changed their names to Xianbei names, to fill out the original names.
48.
In spring 554, while on a diplomatic mission to Liang, the Western Wei official Yuwen Renshu was slighted by Emperor Yuan, who treated Northern Qi's ambassador with far greater respect.
49.
Emperor Yuan then further aggravated the situation by sending an impolite letter to Yuwen Tai demanding that the borders be redrawn in accordance with old borders.
50.
Also around the new year 556, Yuwen Tai promulgated a new government structure, dividing the government into six ministries, based on the Zhou dynasty model.
51.
Yuwen Tai's wife Princess Pingyi had one son, Yuwen Jue, but his oldest son, Yuwen Yu, was born of his concubine Lady Yao, and was married to the daughter of one of his chief generals, Dugu Xin.
52.
Yuwen Tai summoned his nephew Yuwen Hu to Qiantun and entrusted the affairs of the state as well as his sons to Yuwen Hu.
53.
Yuwen Tai soon died, and Yuwen Jue took over his titles, while Yuwen Hu took the reins of the state, and under Yuwen Hu's tutelage, Yuwen Jue soon took the throne from Emperor Gong, ending Western Wei and establishing Northern Zhou.