Murong Xi

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Murong Xi was born in Changshan Commandery as the youngest son of Murong Chui. In 393, he was enfeoffed as King of Hejian. In 396, he accompanied his brother Murong Bao to Longcheng, where he held the position of Acting Censor-in-chief of Sili. In 397, when Duan Sugu launched a rebellion, many members of the Murong imperial clan were killed; Murong Xi survived because he enjoyed the favor of Prince Gaoyang, Murong Chong, who belonged to the faction of Duan Sugu.

Succession and Restoration of Yan Rites

In 398, during the usurpation by Lan Han, Murong Xi became the sole remaining living son of Murong Chui, thus he was appointed Duke of Leidong to ensure the continuity of the Yan dynastic sacrifices. Soon thereafter, his nephew Murong Sheng killed Lan Han and restored the Later Yan regime. Under Murong Sheng's rule, Murong Xi was demoted to Duke of Hejian and appointed as Commander-in-Chief of All Military Affairs Inside and Outside, General of Agile Cavalry, and Left Vice Director of the Secretariat, while also holding the post of General of the Central Guards. While campaigning against Goguryeo and the Khitan alongside Murong Sheng, he demonstrated great courage and was praised by Murong Sheng for having "the heroic spirit and vigor of the Great Ancestor [Murong Chui]," although it was noted that his strategic depth did not match that of his grandfather.

Accession to the Throne

In the third year of Changle (401), Murong Sheng was murdered by his subordinates. Empress Dowager Ding (his sister-in-law) believed the state needed an adult ruler amidst turmoil. Although officials initially hoped to install Murong Yuan, the fourth son of Murong Bao (Prince Pingyuan), Empress Dowager Ding sought to promote Murong Xi due to her private relationship with him. Consequently, Crown Prince Murong Ding was deposed, and Murong Xi was brought into the palace. Despite initial refusals and attempts by Murong Yuan to decline the throne, Murong Xi eventually ascended. After taking power, he purged ministers like Duan Ji and Qin Xing along with their clans, and Murong Yuan was put to death on suspicion. Murong Xi issued a general amnesty for crimes below capital punishment, changed the era name to Guangshi, renamed the Northern Yan Tai to the Grand Chanyu Platform, and established the positions of Left Assistant and Right Assistant.

Purging the Ding Clan and Favoring the Fu Clan

In October of the second year of Guangshi (402), Murong Xi took two daughters of Fu Mo from Zhongyin, Former Qin, as concubines; the eldest daughter, Fu Song'e, was named Consort Gui, and the younger, Fuhun Yingying, was named Consort Bin, with the latter receiving exceptional favor. Resentful of this, Empress Dowager Ding conspired with her nephew, Dengxin, the Junior Minister of Autumn Ministry, to depose Murong Xi in favor of Murong Yuan, the Marquess of Zhangwu Gong. When the plot was discovered, a furious Murong Xi forced Empress Dowager Ding to commit suicide, granting her funeral honors befitting an empress and posthumously honoring her as Empress Xuanyou. Subsequently, he executed both Murong Yuan and Deng Xin.

Excessive Construction and Decadence

In May of the third year of Guangshi (403), Murong Xi initiated massive construction works for Yongteng Garden, covering more than ten li, involving over 20,000 laborers. Within the garden, he built Mount Jingyun, seventeen zhang high, as well as Xiaoyao Palace and Ganlu Hall, even carving channels to bring water into the palace and digging lakes like Quguanghai and Qingliangchi for Fu Song'e. Due to working through intense summer heat without rest, over half of the laborers died of heatstroke. In December of the same year, Fuhun Yingying was installed as Empress. Murong Xi showed extreme favoritism toward the sisters of the Fu clan, allowing them to influence major political matters, including executions and rewards. In July of the fourth year of Guangshi (404), upon the death of Consort Fu Song'e, she was posthumously titled Empress Min. Out of rage that physician Wang Wen could not cure Fu Song'e, Murong Xi reportedly dismembered and burned her body.

Failures in Foreign Campaigns

Murong Xi conducted several military expeditions abroad, all of which ended in failure. In the sixth year of Guangshi (406), he attempted to strike the Khitan but retreated out of fear of their strength; ignoring the advice of Fuhun Yingying, he instead launched a sudden, lightweight raid on Goguryeo via a three-thousand-li detour. The troops arrived exhausted and freezing, suffering immense casualties before returning empty-handed after failing to take Mudicheng. This followed a previous failure in 405, when, during the siege of Lidao Castle in Goguryeo, Murong Xi delayed the assault so that he might enter the city in the same carriage as the Empress, thereby losing the opportunity to conquer the fortress.

Death of the Empress and Escalating Tyranny

In the first year of Jianshi (407), Empress Fuhun Yingying passed away. Devastated by grief, Murong Xi wept uncontrollably and went so far as to open her coffin to engage in sexual intercourse with her corpse. Wearing mourning attire, he commanded all officials to observe collective mourning and inspected whether they were shedding tears; those found without tears were punished, forcing officials to consume spicy substances to induce weeping. Furthermore, he ordered the execution of Lady Zhang, wife of Prince Chaogong, Murong Long, to serve as a funerary sacrifice. Terrified of being buried alive, officials such as Wei Jiu feared similar fates and spent their days bathing in anticipation of death. Finally, he decreed that every household participate in building his mausoleum, completely draining the national treasury.

Assassination

In July of the first year of Jianshi (407), Mid-level General Feng Ba, Deputy Governor-General of the Left Guard Zhang Xing, and twenty-one others allied with Feng Wanni due to Murong Xi's tyranny. They proclaimed Murong Yun, the adopted son of Murong Bao, as their leader and launched a coup. Upon learning of the uprising, Murong Xi donned his armor and returned to the city to fight, but unable to take the North Gate, he fled to Yongteng Garden. There, he was captured while hiding in the woods. Murong Yun had him executed and buried Murong Xi and his sons north of the city. At the age of 23, after a seven-year reign, Murong Xi was given the posthumous title Emperor Zhaowen.

• Cutting the Tree to Reveal a Snake: In the third year of Guangshi (403), while traveling south of the city, Murong Xi stopped beneath a large willow tree and heard a voice seemingly crying, "Great King, cease your construction!" Disturbed by the sound, he cut down the tree, only to find a snake over ten feet long crawling from within.
• Tears Induced by Spices: Following the death of Fuhun Yingying, Murong Xi mandated formal public mourning and inspections to ensure officials were actually weeping. To avoid punishment for lack of visible emotion, officials resorted to consuming pungent spices to force themselves to cry.
• Necrophilia: Overcome by grief after the passing of Fuhun Yingying, Murong Xi opened her coffin and committed acts of necrophilia before proceeding with her burial.

Murong Xi, courtesy name Daowen and also Changsheng, was born in Changshan commandery in 385 and belonged to the Later Yan imperial clan. When Lan Han rose at Longcheng in 398, Murong Xi was only thirteen and most of the clan's princes were killed, he himself escaping death by chance. After Lan Han usurped the throne only Murong Xi remained of Murong Chui's sons, and he was enfeoffed as Duke of Liaodong to continue the sacrifices of the Yan house; shortly after, his nephew Murong Sheng killed Lan Han and restored the state, and Murong Xi was reduced to Duke of Hejian with the offices of commander of all military affairs, general of chariots and cavalry, left vice director of the Secretariat and concurrently commander of the central guard. He campaigned thereafter as the bravest of the commanders, and Murong Sheng praised him as martial and resolute with something of his grandfather Murong Chui's manner, though not his strategic depth.

In 401 Murong Sheng was killed by mutinous troops; the ministers meant to raise another, but the empress dowager Ding favored Murong Xi and had him secretly brought into the palace to take the heavenly king's seat, Murong Yuan being put to death, and Murong Xi changed the era to Guangshi. In 402 he took the two daughters of the former Zhongshan governor Fu Mo as noble consorts, Fu Xunying especially favored, whereupon the empress dowager Ding, resenting it, plotted his removal and was discovered and killed by him instead. Thereafter he gave himself to debauchery at home, killing the innocent and slaughtering the princes of his own clan and building lavish palaces, so that the government decayed and the people were driven from their homes; abroad he was defeated again and again and Liaodong was lost to Koguryo.

On 14 September 407 he was killed at only twenty-three, having reigned seven years, and was given the posthumous name Emperor Zhaowen. After his death Gao Yun was raised as heavenly king and the Later Yan came to an end, Murong rule in western Liaoning giving way to the Northern Yan. Murong Xi's life runs parallel with the last years of the Later Yan: famed in the army for valor and ruined as a ruler by debauchery, he carries both judgments in the histories, martial and resolute on one side, dissolute without measure on the other.

The Later Yan declined rapidly after Murong Chui's death. Under Murong Bao it was beaten repeatedly by Tuoba Gui of the Northern Wei, the capital Zhongshan was lost, and the clan and commanders dispersed or submitted; Murong Sheng, after restoring the state, killed clansmen and ministers with a heavy hand and at last died among mutinous troops. Murong Xi's accession resulted from this chain of upheavals: not the ministers' ideal choice but the empress dowager Ding's personal preference, his legitimacy resting from the outset on support within the palace rather than broad acceptance by the military and political groups.

His policies at home and abroad deepened the crisis. Building palaces and slaughtering his kin left the Murong with no force they could rely on; defeats abroad cost Liaodong to Koguryo and shrank the state's territory. In 407 he was killed by the faction that raised Murong Yun, and the Later Yan ended, Murong Yun's Northern Yan taking its place in western Liaoning. From Murong Chui's restoration to Murong Xi's death the Later Yan lasted only some twenty years, rising swiftly and falling suddenly, a course directly bound up with the long mutual slaughter within the Murong clan.

Palace politics in the last years of the Later Yan continued the long succession disputes within the Xianbei Murong clan. Among Murong Chui's sons, Murong Bao, Murong Lin, Murong De and Murong Xi each had troops and partisans; Murong Bao died among mutinous soldiers, Murong Lin briefly took the imperial title before his fall, and Murong De went south to Huatai to found the Southern Yan. Murong Xi's accession at Longcheng was in effect one branch of that divided house in western Liaoning, and the problems he faced included the clan's distrust as well as pressure from the Northern Wei and Koguryo abroad.

After his death no one in the Later Yan clan could hold matters together; Gao Yun, of Koguryo origin, was raised as heavenly king and was then supplanted by Feng Ba, who founded the Northern Yan. The Murong enterprise in western Liaoning ended there, and the Southern Yan to the south was destroyed by Liu Yu of the Eastern Jin a dozen years later. The debauchery and slaughter of Murong Xi's reign are among the more extreme instances in this series of dynastic changes, and later historians, narrating the decline of the Sixteen Kingdoms, often cite him as the type of the ruler undone by lewd cruelty.

What is recorded of Murong Xi comes chiefly from his account in the Book of Jin and the relevant chapters of the Comprehensive Mirror. Both describe his building and his killings in concrete terms: the great Longteng park, the Xiaoyao palace, the Quguang sea, with laborers conscripted by the tens of thousands; and because his favorite consort Fu Xunying loved excursions, he hunted and feasted without measure far afield, the soldiers and laborers accompanying him dying in numbers. The influence of the Fu sisters is especially marked in these accounts, and historians generally attribute the misgovernment of the Later Yan's last years to his infatuation with them.

After Murong Xi was killed, most of the clan and old ministers served the Northern Yan and the Northern Wei, and Murong rule in western Liaoning ended entirely. The states of the Sixteen Kingdoms generally fell swiftly through clan strife and a ruler's misconduct, and Murong Xi's reign is among the shorter and more dramatic instances; the contrast between his posthumous name Zhaowen, "illustrious and cultured," and his conduct in life is a recurring subject in later historical comment.

The Later Yan's territory had shrunk greatly by Murong Xi's time: Zhongshan and Hebei were lost to the west, the Northern Yan and Northern Wei lay to the south, Koguryo to the east. Of these neighbors the Northern Wei grew rapidly strong under Tuoba Gui, while Koguryo had long coveted Liaodong. Facing enemies on two sides, the Later Yan still campaigned frequently with the ruler often in person, so that military exhaustion and political disorder worsened together — the direct setting for its repeated defeats under Murong Xi.

His era name at accession, Guangshi, and the arrangements made for his favorite consort Fu Xunying, are both recorded. Her elder sister Fu Song'e was also a noble consort, and the two were favored together; because Fu Xunying loved excursions, Murong Xi traveled far for pleasure, and even after her death gave her lavish funeral rites and followed her bier in person. These matters and the state's military defeats appear side by side in the sources, focusing later judgment of him on the theme of a favorite consort ruining the government.

In seven years he never established a stable order of government, and after his killing most of the Later Yan clan and old ministers served other houses.

The place of his burial is not recorded in detail.

Major Activities

Political Achievements

At the beginning of his reign, Murong Xi consolidated imperial authority by executing dissenting ministers like Duan Ji and Qin Xing and ordering the death of Murong Yuan. He restructured the bureaucracy by renaming the Northern Yan Tai to the Grand Chanyu Platform and establishing the roles of Left and Right Assistants. However, in the later part of his reign, he neglected state affairs, showing excessive favoritism toward external relatives and the ladies of the Fu clan; any official who failed to satisfy the extravagant demands of the Fu sisters faced execution, leading to administrative collapse and widespread displacement of the populace.

Military Achievements

During his tenure, Murong Xi led numerous campaigns. In his early years, following Murong Sheng, he fought bravely against Goguryeo and the Khitan. Once enthroned, he personally led armies against these groups but suffered defeats caused by strategic errors or logistical failures. Specifically, in 405, personal desires regarding the Empress delayed victory at Lidao Castle, and in 406, the decision to abandon baggage for a rapid strike on Goguryeo resulted in catastrophic losses. These military setbacks severely weakened the foundations of Later Yan.

Large-Scale Construction

Murong Xi engaged in grand architectural endeavors, constructing palaces and gardens such as Yongteng Garden, Mount Jingyun, Xiaoyao Palace, Ganlu Hall, Hongguang Gate, and Chenghua Hall. These projects required enormous resources and mobilized vast numbers of corvée labor, exhausting the nation’s manpower and causing severe hardship for the peasantry. For instance, during the construction of Yongteng Garden, more than half of the 20,000 workers perished from heat exhaustion.

Personal Relations

• Father**: Murong Chui (Emperor Chengwu of Later Yan)
• Siblings**: Murong Bao (Emperor Weimin of Later Yan); Murong Ling; Murong Nong; Murong Long; Murong Lin; Murong Rou; Murong Lang; Murong Jian; Murong Wenu.
• Sister-in-law**: Lady Ding (Empress Xianyou, wife of Murong Ling, with whom Murong Xi had a scandalous affair).
• Consorts/Empresses**:
• Fu Song'e (Consort Gui, posthumously honored as Empress Min).
• Fuhun Yingying (Empress).
• Nephews**: Murong Sheng (Emperor of Later Yan); Murong Yuan (Prince Pingyuan, executed under suspicion).
• Political Adversaries / Killers**: Feng Ba, Murong Yun.

Historical Assessment

• Book of Jin: "[He] rose to power through improper means... His conduct was characterized by lust and extravagance, seeking pleasure in trivialities rather than governance. Through reckless excursions across seas and mountains, and wasteful constructions driven by vanity, he depleted the people until the ancestral sacrifices were extinguished, ultimately becoming prey to the Feng family." It further notes that "during his service under Murong Sheng against Goguryeo and the Khitan, he displayed bravery surpassing all other generals."
• Murong Sheng: "[His uncle] possessed heroism and vigor akin to the Great Ancestor, though his strategic vision lacked the breadth of our forefather."
• Feng Ba: "The house of Murong has declined; the Ruler of Hejian was tyrannical and debauched, indulging in women and defying heaven's order. The common people could no longer endure it, with nine out of ten desiring rebellion—this is indeed the time when Heaven withdraws its mandate."