Fulianchou

Biography

Succession

Fulianchou, also known as Xiuliumao, was the son of Du Yihou. In the eighth month of 490 (the fourteenth year of Taihe of Northern Wei), Du Yihou died, and Fulianchou succeeded as ruler of Tuyuhun. At the time Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, Yuan Hong, summoned Fulianchou to an audience at Pingcheng; Fulianchou pleaded illness and did not go, then began repairing the two cities of Taoyang and Nihe and garrisoning them.

On the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month of the same year, the court of Southern Qi appointed Fulianchou as Envoy with Credentials, Commander of All Military Affairs of the three provinces of Xiqin, He, and Sha, General Who Guards the West, concurrently Colonel-Protector of the Qiang and Governor of the two provinces of Xiqin and He, sending the General Who Rouses the Martial Spirit, Qiu Guanxian, to confer the appointments and also offer condolences for Du Yihou. When Qiu Guanxian arrived in Tuyuhun, Fulianchou forced him to bow first; Qiu Guanxian sternly refused, and Fulianchou, shamed before his people, seized Qiu Guanxian at the edge of a cliff and pushed him to his death.

The Northern Wei Attack

On the twelfth day of the second month of 491 (the fifteenth year of Taihe), the garrison commander of Fuhan, Zhangsun Bainian, requested permission to attack Tuyuhun's two cities of Taoyang and Nihe, and Emperor Xiaowen approved. On the twenty-fourth day of the fifth month, Zhangsun Bainian took both cities and captured more than three thousand people; Emperor Xiaowen decreed that all the prisoners be released back to Tuyuhun.

When Emperor Xiaowen's grandmother, Empress Dowager Wenming (née Feng), died, the emperor sent envoys to announce the death to Tuyuhun. Fulianchou received the announcement with disrespect; the civil and military officials requested permission to attack, but Emperor Xiaowen refused. They then asked to return Tuyuhun's tribute, but the emperor said: "Tribute is the duty-ritual of a vassal. If we refuse it now, we are severing relations; even if they wished to reform, they would have no path to do so." He accordingly ordered that all captives from Taoyang and Nihe be returned to Tuyuhun.

Accepting Investiture

On the sixth day of the seventh month of 492 (the sixteenth year of Taihe), Fulianchou sent his heir apparent Helutou (or Helutou) to pay homage at Pingcheng, and the Northern Wei court received him with generous courtesy and gifts. Emperor Xiaowen decreed Fulianchou's investiture as Envoy with Credentials, Commander of All Military Affairs of the Western Frontier, General Who Conquers the West, Leader of the Companion Palace Attendants for the Western Rong, Founding Duke of Xihai, and King of Tuyuhun, and sent the Adjutant Cavalier Attendant-in-ordinary Zhang Li as envoy to Tuyuhun. Fulianchou told Zhang Li that the King of Dangchang had formerly addressed him by name as "Great King" but now called himself "your servant" and had seized his envoy, and that he intended to send an army to Dangchang to inquire into the matter. Zhang Li replied: "You and the King of Dangchang are both vassals of Wei. To resort to arms at every turn truly violates the rules of vassalage. Before I left Pingcheng, the chief minister told me that if you can recognize your own fault, the enterprise of the Khagan of Tuyuhun may be preserved; but if you do not correct your error, great calamity will befall you." Fulianchou said nothing.

In 499 (the twenty-third year of Taihe), when Emperor Xiaowen died, Fulianchou sent envoys for the funeral rites with the utmost loyalty and reverence.

Unbroken Tribute

Fulianchou served Northern Wei with the full ritual of a vassal and faithfully discharged his duty of tribute, while attacking and annexing the neighboring peoples, and beyond the frontier he was renowned as a rich and powerful state. Within his realm he imitated the dynasties of the Central Plains, establishing offices and agencies exactly like those of a Central Plains emperor, and addressed neighboring states in documents styled "zhi" as an emperor would, to magnify himself. In 500 (the first year of Jingming), Emperor Xuanwu, Yuan Ke, sent an envoy to Tuyuhun to condemn this practice; Fulianchou submitted a memorial in self-defense with the utmost sincerity, and was pardoned.

Throughout Emperor Xuanwu's reign and down to the Zhengguang era (520–525) of Emperor Xiaoming, Tuyuhun presented yak, Shu horses, and various treasures of the southwest every year.

The Rescue of Liangzhou

On the eighth day of the ninth month of 504 (the first year of Zhengshi), the Liang dynasty of the south appointed Fulianchou Governor of Xiqin and He provinces and Prince of Henan.

In 524 (the fifth year of Zhengguang), when Mozhe Niansheng of Qinzhou rebelled, the roads of Hexi were cut off, and the garrison general of Liangzhou, Wan Yu Puti, and others rose in sympathy in the east and imprisoned the Governor of Liangzhou, Song Ying. Song Ying secretly sent word to Tuyuhun asking for help. In the ninth month of that year, Fulianchou personally led an army to rescue Song Ying; Wan Yu Puti fled the city, Fulianchou caught up with him and killed him, and Liangzhou was thereby preserved. From then on the passes were closed and the road of tribute was cut off.

Death

In 540 (the second year of Xinghe of Eastern Wei), Fulianchou died, and his son Kualü succeeded.

Major Activities

• Served Northern Wei as a faithful vassal with unbroken tribute for half a century; famed beyond the frontier as a rich and powerful state; personally rescued Liangzhou in 524

His foreign relations can be set out by year: in 492 (sixteenth year of Taihe, Northern Wei) he sent his heir Helutou to the Northern Wei court, receiving the title King of Tuyuhun and other offices; in 499 (twenty-third year of Taihe), after the death of Emperor Xiaowen, he sent envoys with condolences; in 500 (first year of Jingming) he was questioned by Emperor Xuanwu for styling his documents to neighbouring states "edicts" and memorialised in his own defence; in 504 (third year of Tianjian, Southern Liang) the Liang invested him as King of Henan, general pacifying the west and governor of the two provinces of Qin and He; in 524 (fifth year of Zhengguang, Northern Wei) he led troops to relieve Song Ying, governor of Liangzhou, defeating Wan Yu Puti who had risen for Mozhe Niansheng; and in 540 (second year of Xinghe, Eastern Wei) he died according to another account and the northern histories, Kualü succeeding him, while the order of succession in the southern histories differs. His reign of nearly fifty years, with dealings with the Northern Wei, the Southern Liang and the Eastern Wei at once, marks an important stage in Tuyuhun's maintenance of a double allegiance in the later Northern and Southern Dynasties.

During his reign Tuyuhun stood between the Northern Wei, the Southern Liang and the Eastern Wei: it received investitures and reproofs from the Northern Wei, was invested by the Southern Liang, and in his later years exchanged envoys with the Eastern Wei; his relief of Liangzhou shows that Tuyuhun also took part in military action when Hexi was in disorder. After his death Kualü succeeded, and the titles and institutions of Tuyuhun changed considerably.

His measures in office consisted chiefly of embassies and tribute missions, while his military action centred on relief operations along the Hexi line.

After his death the Tuyuhun succession is recorded differently in the southern and northern histories, an important problem in the study of the regime.

The embassies and investitures of his reign are the principal form of Tuyuhun's relations with both the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

His reign of nearly fifty years is among the longer of the Tuyuhun leaders; that the titles he held from the Northern Wei and the Southern Liang stood side by side shows that Tuyuhun in the later Northern and Southern Dynasties had to keep up a standing with both courts, while his relief of Liangzhou and his condolence mission show that his foreign activity consisted chiefly of military assistance and ceremonial exchanges.

His embassies and tribute missions went to the Northern Wei, the Southern Liang and the Eastern Wei, and the titles he received from each differed.

His investiture by the Northern Wei as King of Tuyuhun is recorded in the Book of Wei.

His many tribute missions and investitures make his reign one of the more fully recorded periods of Tuyuhun in the histories of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The differences between the northern and southern histories as to his titles and line are a common problem in the study of Tuyuhun.

The relief of Liangzhou is the most important military action of his reign.

On his death Kualü succeeded and the titles of Tuyuhun were changed.

His measures consisted chiefly of tribute missions and investitures.

His embassies went to the Northern Wei and the Southern Liang alike.

The relief of Liangzhou in 524 is the most notable military action of his reign.

His investitures and tribute missions form the bulk of what the northern and southern histories record of Tuyuhun.

The differences between the northern and southern histories as to his titles make the Tuyuhun succession a difficult question in scholarship, while his reign of nearly fifty years is the main period in which Tuyuhun maintained a double allegiance in the later Northern and Southern Dynasties.

His death is placed in 540 according to the northern reckoning.

After his death Tuyuhun passed to Kualü.

The double allegiance of his reign lasted until his death.

His investitures are recorded in the Book of Liang and the Book of Wei.

Neither his posthumous title nor his burial place is recorded.

Personal Relations

• | Relation | Person |
• |---| --- |
• | Great-great-grandfather | Shibi |
• | Great-grandfather | Shuluogan |
• | Grandfather | Shiyin |
• | Father | Du Yihou |
• | Sons | Kualü; Helutou (or Helutou) |

Historical Assessment

Wei Shou, in the Book of Wei, wrote: "Fulianchou within maintained his duties and tribute, and without annexed the Rong and Di; among the lands beyond the frontier he was known as strong and rich. He modeled himself on the Celestial Court, established offices, and addressed the various states as if issuing imperial edicts, to magnify himself."