慕容详
Murong Xiang (?–397), of the Xianbei people, was originally from Dajie City, Changli Commandery. He was the great-grandson of Murong Xuan (Emperor Wenwen of Former Yan), the grandnephew of Murong Chui (Emperor Wucheng of Later Yan), and the younger brother of Murong Qing (Prince Nan'an of Later Yan). Known for his cruelty and debauchery, he served as the Governor of Shanggu and held the rank of Duke of Kaifeng during the…
Murong Xiang (?–397), of the Xianbei people, was originally from Dajie City, Changli Commandery. He was the great-grandson of Murong Xuan (Emperor Wenwen of Former Yan), the grandnephew of Murong Chui (Emperor Wucheng of Later Yan), and the younger brother of Murong Qing (Prince Nan'an of Later Yan). Known for his cruelty and debauchery, he served as the Governor of Shanggu and held the rank of Duke of Kaifeng during the Jianxing era of Later Yan. In 397 AD (the first year of the Long'an era), following large-scale invasions by Northern Wei, Murong Bao retreated from Zhongshan. Due to his failure to retreat with the imperial forces, Murong Xiang was proclaimed leader by the military and civilians within the city. He subsequently declared himself emperor and established the regnal title Jianshi. However, his reign was marked by indiscriminate killings that alienated all supporters, eventually leading to his assassination by Zhao Wang Murong Lin.
396 CE（21st year of the Taiyuan era, Eastern Jin; 1st year of the Yongkang era, Later Yan） ｜ Northern Wei raids Guangning ｜ The Northern Wei raided Guangning and Murong Xiang abandoned Shanggu Commandery on hearing of it
397 CE（1st year of the Longan era, Eastern Jin; 2nd year of the Yongkang era, Later Yan） ｜ Murong Bao withdraws from Zhongshan ｜ Murong Bao withdrew from Zhongshan and Murong Xiang was raised as leader of the city; after the Wei army withdrew he made himself ruler and changed the era name to Jianshi
397 CE（1st year of the Longan era, Eastern Jin; 1st year of the Jianshi era, Later Yan） ｜ Murong Lin enters Zhongshan and kills Murong Xiang ｜ Murong Lin entered Zhongshan and killed Murong Xiang, then made himself ruler in the city
In his early years, Murong Xiang held various positions in Later Yan, reaching the rank of Governor of Shanggu and holding the title of Duke of Kaifeng. In 396 AD, the Emperor Taizu of Northern Wei sent General Wang Jian to attack Liu Kangni, the Governor of Guangning under Later Yan. Upon learning of Liu Kangni's death and the subsequent relocation of his tribe to Pingcheng, Murong Xiang fled alone out of fear, abandoning Shanggu.
In 397 AD, Northern Wei armies launched massive offensives against Later Yan. Unable to withstand the pressure, Emperor Murong Bao led the court in retreating from the capital, Zhongshan, causing widespread panic and chaos within the city. Having failed to follow Murong Bao’s retreat, Murong Xiang remained in the city. Amidst the instability, the soldiers and civilians of Zhongshan supported Murong Xiang as their commander, closing the city gates to defend against the invading Wei army.
After escaping Zhongshan, Murong Bao encountered Zhao Wang Murong Lin. Disturbed by the arrival of Murong Bao, Murong Lin led his troops toward Puyin and later stationed them at Wangdu. Murong Xiang dispatched troops to attack Murong Lin, capturing his wife and children, although Murong Lin himself escaped into the mountains.
In April 397 AD, Murong Hui, Prince of Qinghe and son of Murong Bao, rose in rebellion. Following a defeat, he fled into Zhongshan with about ten horsemen, where Murong Xiang seized the opportunity to kill him, eliminating a potential rival to the throne. Subsequently, Murong Xiang attacked the Northern Wei garrison; although defeated by Tuoba Gui, Murong Xiang believed he had intimidated the Wei forces enough to force a withdrawal, significantly increasing his prestige among local factions.
By June 397 AD, Kudi Guji, the Western River Public, entered Zhongshan and clashed with Murong Xiang. Murong Xiang murdered Kudi Guji along with the entire Kudi clan and then executed Fu Mo, the Administrator of Zhongshan, alongside his family. With no central authority left in Zhongshan and fears rising that the Wei army would exploit the vacuum, men, women, and children formed alliances to protect themselves. Taking advantage of the situation, Murong Xiang proclaimed himself emperor, adopted the era name Jianshi, and established a formal bureaucracy. He appointed Tugh Temür, the Duke of Xinping, as Grand Marshal and Minister of State, and stabilized his rule through terror by executing the hostage Tuoba Gu from the Northern Wei.
Following his accession, Murong Xiang became addicted to wine and lived a life of extreme luxury and debauchery. He showed total disregard for officials and commoners, ruling through excessive executions and lawlessness. He ordered the killing of over five hundred officials below the rank of prince and dukes, which caused both subordinates and lower-level citizens to turn against him. During famines in the city, he prohibited citizens from leaving to gather wild grass or uncultivated grain, resulting in countless deaths due to starvation.
In August 397 AD, Murong Xiang executed Tugh Temür. As conspiracy grew throughout the city to welcome Zhao Wang Murong Lin, Murong Xiang dispatched Zhang Xiang, a General Who Soars to Heaven, with over five thousand men to Changshan to enforce tax collection. Seizing the moment, Murong Lin infiltrated the camp of Zhang Xiang via the Dingling tribes and launched a surprise attack on Zhongshan. Because the city gates had been left open, Murong Lin successfully captured Murong Xiang and executed him along with over three hundred of his partisans. Shortly thereafter, Murong Lin ascended to the throne.
Murong Xiang was a great-grandson of Murong Huang, posthumously Emperor Wenming of Yan; his Xianbei name was Pulin and he came from Jicheng in Changli commandery. In the sixth month of 396, the Northern Wei ruler Tuoba Gui sent the general Wang Jian against Liu Kangni, governor of Guangning in the Later Yan, killed him and moved his tribe to Pingcheng; Murong Xiang, then governor of Shanggu, abandoned his command on hearing of it. The next year Wei forces besieged Zhongshan, the Later Yan capital, and Murong Bao with the Prince of Zhao, Murong Lin, fled north. Zhongshan was left without a master; the people panicked and the east gate stood open, and though Tuoba Gui wished to enter by night, the champion general Wang Jian feared looting of the treasury and asked to wait for morning, so Gui held back. Unable to join Murong Bao, Murong Xiang was raised by the soldiers and people of the city as their leader and shut the gates to hold out.
He then cleared away rivals inside and outside the walls. Murong Bao's son Murong Hui, defeated, fled to Zhongshan and was killed by him; the Prince of Zhao, Murong Lin, took to the mountains, and Murong Xiang sent troops to strike him, capturing his wife and children. Because his army lacked food, Tuoba Gui ordered the Duke of Dongping, Tuoba Yi, to leave Ye and camp at Julu, storing grain rents at Yangcheng. Murong Xiang sent six thousand foot soldiers to raid the Wei camps and was beaten by Tuoba Gui, who beheaded five thousand and took seven hundred alive, all of whom he released. Soon after, the Kuruguan Ji entered Zhongshan and fought him; Murong Xiang killed Ji and wiped out the whole Kuruguan clan, then killed the Zhongshan governor Fu Mo and exterminated his family. With no fixed master in the city, the people feared a Wei attack, swore pacts and fought each for himself. In the fifth month of 397 Tuoba Gui lifted the siege, went to Hejian for grain and called on the commanderies for contributions.
Believing he had driven off the Wei army and that his prestige was restored, Murong Xiang took the imperial title, changed the era name to Jianshi, appointed officials, made the Duke of Xinping, Kezuhun Tan, chariot-and-cavalry general and director of the Secretariat, and killed Tuoba Gu, brother of Tuoba Gui, who had been held in the city, to steady his followers. In the seventh month he killed Kezuhun Tan as well. As the Book of Jin and the Comprehensive Mirror record, he was a heavy drinker given to luxury and lechery, careless of scholars and commoners, with no measure in punishments and executions; more than five hundred from the princes down were put to death, leaving all within and without terrified and his subordinates estranged. Famine gripped Zhongshan, and when he forbade the people to leave and gather wild grain, the dead lay in heaps and the whole city plotted to bring back Murong Lin. He sent the general of the guard Zhang Xiang with more than five thousand men to collect rents in Changshan; Murong Lin slipped into Zhang Xiang's ranks from the Dingling and raided Zhongshan, whose gates stood unclosed, seized Murong Xiang and killed him together with three hundred of his partisans, then took the title himself and let the people go out to gather grain.
After Tuoba Gui took Zhongshan, he dug up Murong Xiang's coffin and cut the corpse to avenge Tuoba Gu, and arrested and sabred Gao Ba, Cheng Tong and others involved in the killing. Murong Xiang reigned less than two months, and his officials and Jianshi era were confined to the single city of Zhongshan; after his fall the Later Yan succession passed first to Murong Lin and then through the reigns of Murong Bao, Murong Sheng and Murong Xi. Northern historians classed him among the usurpers of the Later Yan clan; the Book of Jin calls him dissolute in wine and luxury and killing without limit, and the Comprehensive Mirror likewise condemns his drunken extravagance, neglect of officers and people, and unmeasured executions, the two agreeing on his tyranny at Zhongshan.
The fief and deeds of Murong Xiang are known chiefly from the account of Murong Chui in the Book of Jin and from chapters 108 and 109 of the Comprehensive Mirror. Both record the officials and era name of his self-proclamation at Zhongshan and, after his killing, Murong Lin's change of era to Yanping. Roughly contemporary, Murong De took the title at Huatai and Murong Yong at Zhangzi; all three set themselves up after the Later Yan split, and Murong Xiang's territory and duration were the shortest of them. Once Northern Wei took Zhongshan the Later Yan lost its last footholds in Hebei and Murong Bao fell back on Longcheng, never recovering its strength.
The Comprehensive Mirror records that upon taking the throne he made the Duke of Xinping, Kezuhun Tan, chariot-and-cavalry general and director of the Secretariat, and then narrates in turn his killing of Kezuhun Tan and of Tuoba Gu in an order that differs slightly from the Book of Jin; the two may be read together.
On the eve of declaring himself emperor, Murong Xiang engaged in conflict with Kudi Guji, who had entered Zhongshan. Beyond merely killing Kudi Guji, Murong Xiang proceeded to exterminate the entire Kudi clan, an act that exacerbated political turmoil and public panic within Zhongshan.
In April 397 AD, Murong Hui, son of Murong Bao, raised an uprising. Following an ambush by Gao Yun, his forces collapsed, and he attempted to flee into Zhongshan with approximately ten riders. Murong Xiang took the opportunity to execute him, thereby removing a major competitor for power.
During his brief reign, Murong Xiang governed through brutal methods. He slaughtered more than five hundred officials beneath the princely rank, including figures such as Tugh Temür. Furthermore, during periods of famine, his prohibition against foraging contributed to mass starvation among the peasantry. This tyranny ensured the rapid collapse of his regime as he lost all support from the administration and the populace.
FIGURES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DYNASTY