Gao Changgong

Biography

Imperial Lineage and Virtuous Demeanour Gao Changgong was born in 541 AD into the paramount ruling house of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi, originating from the prominent Gao clan of Bohai. His grandfather Gao Huan laid the foundations of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties, and his father Gao Cheng governed as Prime Minister and was posthumously honored as Emperor Wenxiang. While his elder brothers Gao Xiaoyu, Gao Xiaoheng, and younger brother Gao Yanzong were born to noble consorts, historical records note that Gao Changgong’s birth mother was of humble background and her surname remains unrecorded. Despite this status, Gao Changgong possessed extraordinary personal grace, modesty, and benevolence. Ancient historical chronicles, notably the Book of Northern Qi, record that he possessed "a countenance of peerless feminine beauty, coupled with an indomitable martial spirit." He was exceptionally gentle and considerate, treating servants, subordinates, and common infantrymen with profound empathy. Whenever he received seasonal fruits or minor royal gifts, he made a point of dividing them equally with his attendant guards. ### The Battle of Mount Mang and the Mask of Valour In the winter of 564 AD (3rd year of Heqing), the Northern Zhou mobilized an enormous invasion army under Yuwen Hu, Daxi Wu, and other veteran marshals, laying siege to the strategic fortress of Jinyong (Luoyang). Northern Qi Emperor Wucheng dispatched Marshal Duan Shao, Grand General Hulyu Guang, and the Prince of Lanling to relieve the besieged citadel. The Northern Qi army deployed along the high slopes of Mount Mang. As the clash intensified, the fortress of Jinyong found itself entirely cut off and on the verge of falling to Zhou assault battalions. Gao Changgong assembled a strike corps of five hundred elite armored horsemen. Legend relates that because his visage was so delicate and handsome that it failed to inspire terror in adversaries, he routinely wore a terrifyingly grotesque wooden battle mask into melee combat. Charging down the slopes like a thunderbolt, Gao Changgong pierced three lines of Northern Zhou defensive rings, fighting directly to the base of Jinyong Castle's ramparts. The garrison troops above, unable to recognize the masked warrior and suspecting a Zhou subterfuge, held back from opening the gates. Gao Changgong raised his helmet and cast aside his mask, revealing his unmistakably gorgeous face. Recognizing their beloved prince, the garrison cheered deliriously, lowered archers' support barrages, and flung open the gates. Coordinated strikes inside and outside routed the Northern Zhou armies completely; thirty thousand Zhou troops abandoned their equipment and surrendered or drowned in the Yellow River. In celebration of this miraculous rescue, Northern Qi soldiers created the renowned choral and mask dance The Prince of Lanling in Battle (Lanling Wang Ru Zhen Qu), commemorating his heroism across centuries and influencing court music as far as Japan. ### Northern Expeditions and Territorial Consolidation Following the Mangshan victory, Gao Changgong was dispatched to consolidate northern border frontiers. In 571 AD, Northern Zhou forces attacked Fenyin and established a fortified garrison at Baigu. Gao Changgong led imperial expeditionary columns, stormed Baigu by night, and annihilated the defenders. Later that same year, Northern Zhou general Puji attacked Dingyang. Gao Changgong, collaborating with the aging Marshal Duan Shao, encircled Dingyang. When Duan Shao fell mortally ill during the siege, Gao assumed unified operational command, storming the exterior ramparts, capturing thousands of enemy combatants, and driving the remaining Zhou garrisons out of the Fen River valley. His spotless military record established him alongside Hulyu Guang as the dual shields of Northern Qi. ### Court Paranoia and Tragic End Gao Changgong’s towering fame and popularity among the ranks, however, sowed the seeds of his destruction. Northern Qi’s youthful ruler, Emperor Gao Wei, was notoriously insecure, superstitious, and hedonistic. After the Battle of Mount Mang, Gao Wei had asked Gao Changgong: "You charged so deep into enemy cordons; had you suffered a mishap, there would have been no time for regrets." Gao Changgong innocently replied: "It was a matter of our family's household affairs (jia shi); I didn't think of danger." Gao Wei took visceral umbrage at the phrase "family affairs," suspecting that Changgong harbored pretensions of usurping the imperial throne. Recognizing the brewing storm, Gao Changgong intentionally adopted a posture of greed, accepting bribes and amassing real estate to sully his public virtue and diminish his popularity. Subordinate officer Yuchi Weizhi warned him that such transparent subterfuge would only accelerate imperial wrath rather than avert it. Changgong wept and asked how to survive. Yuchi advised him to withdraw from political and military offices under the pretext of illness. Changgong followed this counsel, persistently declining appointments and avoiding court life. Nonetheless, in 572 AD, after Gao Wei murdered the premier marshal Hulyu Guang, the paranoid emperor turned his sights upon Gao Changgong. In May 573 AD (4th year of Wuping), Gao Wei dispatched an envoy named Jia Baofen to deliver a cup of poisoned wine to the prince's residence. Gao Changgong said weeping to his beloved consort, Lady Zheng: "I have served the sovereign with boundless loyalty; what crime have I committed against Heaven that I should receive poison?" Lady Zheng urged him: "Why not request an audience with the Emperor to plead your innocence?" Changgong answered: "How could the Emperor ever agree to grant me an audience?" He then calmly drank the poison and died at the age of thirty-three. Gao Changgong’s judicial murder destroyed the last military bastion of Northern Qi. Four years later, in 577 AD, Northern Zhou launched an overwhelming campaign, conquering Ye and wiping Northern Qi from the map.

At the battle of Luoyang in 564 he led five hundred horse into the Northern Zhou lines and reached the walls of the city, raising the siege of Jinyong, and the soldiers afterward composed the "Prince of Lanling Entering the Ranks" tune in his honor. He is said to have worn a mask in battle because of his handsome looks, an image widely carried in later drama and pictures.

Major Activities

The Legendary Rescue at Jinyong In the 564 AD Battle of Mount Mang, Gao Changgong spearheaded five hundred armored cavalry through massive Northern Zhou lines, relieved Jinyong Fortress at Luoyang, and shattered Zhou's southern army, giving birth to the legendary dance and musical tradition The Prince of Lanling in Battle. ### Relieving Jinyong Fortress and the Dance of Lanling

According to the Book of Northern Qi and the Zizhi Tongjian, in the twelfth month of 564 CE during the Battle of Mount Mang, Northern Zhou forces laid heavy siege to Jinyong Fortress near Luoyang. Senior commanders Duan Shao, Gao Changgong, and Hulyu Guang marched to its relief. As Northern Zhou forces held commanding ground, Gao Changgong personally led five hundred elite armored horsemen in a direct charge through hostile formations, cutting his way to the gates of Jinyong. Uncertain of the cavalry's allegiance, the garrison hesitated to open the gates until Gao Changgong removed his helmet to display his face. Recognizing the Prince of Lanling, the defenders unleashed devastating crossbow salvos and mounted a coordinated sally. The Zhou forces broke in rout, abandoning tents, armor, and supplies for thirty li between Mount Mang and the Gu River. In honor of his valor, Northern Qi soldiers composed the martial song and dance The Prince of Lanling in Battle.

Capturing Baigu and Ambush at Dingyang

In 571 CE, when Northern Zhou Pillar of State Yuwen Xian crossed the Yellow River at Longmen, Gao Changgong campaigned alongside Grand Marshal Duan Shao, assaulting and capturing the strategic stronghold of Baigu. In the sixth month of that year, the army laid siege to Dingyang, where Zhou general Yang Fu mounted stubborn resistance. Falling critically ill, Duan Shao instructed Gao Changgong that the fortress was bordered on three sides by precipitous gorges, leaving only a single narrow pass to the southeast through which starving defenders would inevitably seek to break out. Gao Changgong placed more than a thousand elite troops in ambush at the southeastern ravine. When Yang Fu led his garrison in a nighttime breakout attempt, Gao's concealed forces sprang the trap, capturing Yang Fu and annihilating the garrison.

Benevolence toward Subordinates and Tragic Demise

Gao Changgong was celebrated for his unassuming demeanor, personal modesty, and deep concern for common soldiers. Whenever he received seasonal delicacies or rare fruits, he shared them scrupulously with his rank-and-file troops. Earlier in his career, Adjutant Yang Shishen had submitted charges that resulted in Gao's temporary dismissal; when Shishen later served under him during the Dingyang campaign and panicked over anticipated retribution, Gao deliberately found a minor technical infraction and imposed a nominal twenty-stroke reprimand solely to put the subordinate's anxieties to rest. On his deathbed, he ordered all personal loan documents worth thousands in gold to be burned. Despite his efforts to avert imperial jealousy byfeigning illness, Emperor Gao Wei's paranoiac fear of his military stature culminated in his forced suicide by poison in 573 CE at the age of thirty-three.

Frontier Pacification at Baigu and Dingyang Between 571 and 572 AD, Gao Changgong crushed Northern Zhou forces at Baigu, successfully assumed supreme command during the siege of Dingyang upon Duan Shao's sickness, and stabilized the northern borders against Turkic incursions. ### Cultural Icon of Ancient Martial Chivalry Combining exquisite male physical beauty with gentle aristocratic temperament and ferocious personal valor on the battlefield, Gao Changgong entered Chinese literary and dramatic tradition as the quintessential chivalric hero, inspiring timeless operas, poems, and dramatic adaptations across East Asia.

Personal Relations

• Grandfather: Gao Huan (Emperor Shenwu of Northern Qi)
• Father: Gao Cheng (Emperor Wenxiang of Northern Qi)
• Brothers: Gao Xiaoyu (Prince of Henan), Gao Xiaoheng (Prince of Guangning), Gao Yanzong (Prince of Ande), Gao Shaoyi (Prince of Fanyang)
• Wife: Lady Zheng (Consort of Lanling)
• Sovereigns: Emperor Fei (Gao Yin), Emperor Xiaozhao (Gao Yan), Emperor Wucheng (Gao Zhan), Emperor Gao Wei (executioner)
• Comrades-in-Arms: Duan Shao (Grand Marshal), Hulyu Guang (Grand General)
• Adversaries: Yuwen Hu (Regent of Northern Zhou), Daxi Wu, Yuwen Xian

Historical Assessment

• *Book of Northern Qi (Bei Qi Shu)*: "Gao Changgong was gentle, modest, and upright; he possessed the face of a beautiful maiden yet the heart of a warrior. Entering the fray at Jinyong, his five hundred riders broke through like thunder, and the soldiers sang his praise in song."
• *History of the Northern Dynasties (Bei Shi)*: "The Prince of Lanling was courageous and skilled in combat. His benevolence towards his soldiers was complete; when given a single melon or fruit, he would invariably share it among his retinue."
• Zizhi Tongjian: "When Northern Qi slew Hulyu Guang and poisoned the Prince of Lanling, it demolished its own pillars; within four years, the dynasty crumbled into dust."
• Sima Guang: "Gao Changgong possessed loyalty, filial devotion, and unblemished merit, yet he fell victim to the capricious suspicions of a foolish sovereign, leaving posterity to weep for his tragic fate."