Xiao Ze

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Xiao Ze was born in 440, the seventeenth year of the Yuanjia era under Emperor Wen of Liu Song, at the Qingxi residence in Jiankang. His father Xiao Daocheng was then a lower-ranking military officer under Liu Song, and his mother was Liu Zhirong. According to the Book of Southern Qi, on the night of his birth his grandmother Empress Chen Xiao and his mother Empress Liu Zhao both dreamed of a dragon coiling above the house, so Xiao Daocheng gave him the childhood name “Long'er.” Xiao Ze's courtesy name was Xuanyuan. He was the eldest son and had eighteen younger brothers, including Xiao Ni.

Xiao Ze entered official service through family privilege, initially serving in minor posts such as Gentleman of the Principality of Xunyang, western bureau clerk in Jiangzhou, and magistrate of Gan County. His early career unfolded amid the political struggles and local disorder of the reigns of the Former Deposed Emperor and Emperor Ming of Liu Song.

Rise through Rebellion Suppression and Wartime Experience

In 466, the second year of the Taishi era, Emperor Ming of Liu Song, Liu Yu, and Liu Zixun, Prince of Jin'an, fought over the throne. Liu Zixun, then governor of Jiangzhou, rebelled. Xiao Ze, serving as magistrate of Gan County, refused to join him and was imprisoned in Nankang by its administrator Shen Suzhi. His clansman Xiao Xinzu and retainer Huan Kang broke into the commandery seat and rescued him. With slightly more than one hundred followers, Xiao Ze fought desperately, captured Shen Suzhi alive, killed more than one hundred enemy soldiers, and then raised troops.

Yin Fu, administrator of Shixing, led ten thousand men toward Xunyang to join Liu Zixun. Some urged Xiao Ze to intercept them, but he judged that his force was too small and withdrew to Jieyang Mountain, where he gathered as many as three thousand men. He later attacked Nankang, defeated several hundred soldiers under Cheng Chao at the mouth of Nankang, crushed Zhang Zongzhi's force and killed him, and then besieged the commandery seat. Liu Zixun's general Dai Kaizhi held the city with several thousand men, but Xiao Ze personally led the assault and captured it in a single day; Dai fled. After taking the city, Xiao Ze sent Zhang Yingqi and Deng Huizhen with three thousand men against Yuzhang, where they faced seven thousand troops under Tan Xiuzhi and others at Xichang. On hearing that Xiao Ze himself was coming, Tan Xiuzhi withdrew without fighting.

After Liu Zixun's rebellion was suppressed, Xiao Ze was summoned to the capital. He served as a bureau gentleman in the Department of State Affairs and as a military officer in the Northern Expedition command, was enfeoffed as Baron of Xiyang County, and concurrently held several other posts. He later became chief clerk of Liu Yun's Pacifying Army command and administrator of Xiangyang. He was separately offered the title Baron of Gan County with three hundred households, but firmly declined it, and instead became General Who Pacifies the North and administrator of Guangxing.

In 474, the second year of Yuanhui, Liu Xiufan, Prince of Guiyang, rebelled at Xunyang. Xiao Ze sent troops toward Xunyang, but by the time they reached Beijiao the rebellion had already been suppressed. The Later Deposed Emperor of Liu Song appointed him adviser to Liu Xie, Prince of Jinxi, in the Western Pacification command, but he declined and returned to his own jurisdiction. He was later appointed Right Chief Clerk to the Minister over the Masses and Yellow Gate Gentleman. In 476, he became Chief Clerk of the Western Pacification command for the Prince of Jinxi, administrator of Jiangxia, and acting head of Yingzhou affairs.

Assisting His Father in Founding Southern Qi and the Crown Prince Years

In 477, the fifth year of Yuanhui, Emperor Shun of Liu Song, Liu Zhun, came to the throne. Liu Xie, Prince of Jinxi, was transferred to be General Who Pacifies the Army and governor of Yangzhou, and Xiao Ze was appointed General of the Left Guard to accompany and assist him. In the twelfth lunar month Shen Youzhi rebelled at Jiangling. Before the relevant court appointment even arrived, Xiao Ze judged that Penkou offered a position from which to await the enemy and led troops there to prepare its defenses. His father Xiao Daocheng was delighted, saying, “This is truly my son!” Xiao Ze requested permission to advance west against the rebels but was refused, so he sent a detachment to reinforce Yingcheng. Huang Hui and other generals came under his command, and the court added the titles General of the Champion and Bearer of the Imperial Tally.

In 478, after Shen Youzhi's rebellion was suppressed, Xiao Ze became Cavalier in Regular Attendance, commander of military affairs in Jiangzhou and the two commanderies of Xincai and Jinxi in Yuzhou, General Who Pacifies the Caitiffs, and governor of Jiangzhou. He was enfeoffed as Marquis of Wenxi County with two thousand households. Later that year he was transferred to Attendant and General of the Guards, given a ceremonial music unit, placed in charge of the Shitou garrison, and granted military authority over the metropolitan area.

In 479, Xiao Ze became Cavalier in Regular Attendance, Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, General-in-Chief of the Central Army, and was granted the privilege of opening an office with the same ceremonial as the Three Excellencies. He was promoted to Duke of Wenxi and given twenty ceremonial sword-bearers. In the third lunar month Emperor Shun made Xiao Daocheng Duke of Qi and granted him the Nine Bestowments. Xiao Ze was named heir to the Duke of Qi and additionally made Attendant and governor of Southern Yuzhou, receiving the ceremonial carriage, feathered canopy, music, and forty sword-bearers. Shitou Palace was converted into the heir's residence, with officials organized like those of the Eastern Palace. He was later promoted to crown prince of the Prince of Qi.

In the fourth lunar month of 479, the first year of Jianyuan, Xiao Daocheng accepted the abdication of Emperor Shun and founded Southern Qi, making Xiao Ze crown prince. On the eighth day of the third lunar month of 482, Emperor Gao died and Xiao Ze succeeded to the throne. Three days later, following the late emperor's instructions, he appointed Chu Yuan to supervise the Department of State Affairs, Wang Jian as Director of the Department, and Zhang Jing'er as an official with the ceremonial privileges of the Three Excellencies. On the first day of the sixth lunar month he made his eldest son Xiao Changmao crown prince.

The Yongming Governance

Xiao Ze adopted the era name Yongming and reigned for eleven years. He showed concern for the hardships of common people and, soon after accession, ordered relief for the poor in the metropolitan region. In 484, the second year of Yongming, he ordered prisoners serving with the army to be sent home, granted amnesty to prisoners, and provided additional relief for widowers, widows, and the poor. He encouraged agriculture and sericulture and reduced taxes in years of disaster. In 486, he ordered that in Yangzhou and Southern Xuzhou two-thirds of the household tax be commuted into cloth and one-third into cash, and reduced the assessed value of cloth elsewhere where cash was paid, establishing the measure as a permanent rule.

Xiao Ze promoted frugality and disliked extravagant banquets. He ordered that weddings not be excessively lavish. He valued education, ordered the establishment of more schools, and selected learned men as instructors. He also paid attention to the suffering caused by natural disasters and reduced taxes in Yangzhou and Southern Xuzhou in years of poor harvest.

In foreign relations, Xiao Ze maintained peaceful ties with Northern Wei and sent Fan Zhen as envoy. Fan's learning and ability were praised at the Northern Wei court. The frontier remained comparatively quiet and military mobilizations were reduced.

The most important domestic policy of Xiao Ze's reign was the continuation of his father's household-register verification campaign. Since the Liu Song period, many non-aristocratic landholders had bribed officials to fabricate ancestral titles in the Yellow Registers so that they could pose as aristocrats and avoid taxes and service. Xiao Ze established register-verification officers and clerks to investigate. Falsified registrations were returned to their home counties for correction, a process called “register rejection”; those who had evaded taxes and corvée through fraudulent registration were restored to their proper status, called “register rectification.” Corruption and manipulation during the process, however, meant that some people who should have been rejected were not, while others who should not have been rejected were. In 486, Tang Yuzhi of Fuyang gathered followers in rebellion, captured Qiantang, and proclaimed himself emperor. People in the Three Wu region affected by register rejection flocked to him, and his following reached thirty thousand. Xiao Ze sent several thousand imperial guards and several hundred cavalry east. Tang's followers, described in the source as an undisciplined crowd, feared the cavalry and collapsed after one battle; Tang was captured and executed.

Although the rebellion was quickly suppressed, the policy continued to provoke intense opposition. In 490, the eighth year of Yongming, Xiao Ze compromised, declared the “register rejection” measures invalid, allowed people banished to frontier garrisons because of the policy to return home, and restored the household registers to their condition under the late Liu Song Shengming era.

Later Years and Legacy

On the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month of 493, the eleventh year of Yongming, Crown Prince Xiao Changmao died and received the posthumous title Crown Prince Wenhui. On the fourteenth day of the fourth lunar month, Xiao Ze appointed Xiao Changmao's eldest son, Xiao Zhaoye, Prince of Nanjun, as imperial grandson.

In the seventh lunar month Xiao Ze became ill. On the thirtieth day, as his condition became critical, he ordered that the imperial grandson Xiao Zhaoye inherit the throne and that the officials assist him with full devotion. His final edict required a simple funeral: he was to be dressed in summer clothing with painted celestial garments, without jewels or costly woven fabrics, and only one set each of lined garments; two iron ring-pommel sabers were to be placed in the coffin; offerings before the spirit were to consist of cakes, tea, cooked rice, wine, and dried meat rather than sacrificial animals; high and low throughout the realm were to observe the same standard. The burial ground was to be the easternmost of three sites to the east and was named Jing'an Mausoleum; no pagoda or monastery was to be built. Xiao Ze died that day at age fifty-four, with the temple name Shizu and posthumous title Emperor Wu. He was buried at Jing'an Mausoleum on the eighteenth day of the ninth lunar month.

The source criticizes Xiao Ze's decision to pass over his politically experienced second son Xiao Ziliang, Prince of Jingling, and instead make his young grandson Xiao Zhaoye heir. Xiao Zhaoye lived extravagantly after accession and was killed the following year by Xiao Luan, a nephew of Xiao Daocheng. Xiao Luan then killed many of Xiao Ze's sons. The source states that most of Xiao Ze's twenty-three sons died at the hands of Xiao Luan or his successors.

Xiao Ze entered office early, serving as attendant of the Xunyang principality, aide of the provincial western bureau and magistrate of Gan county. In 466 the governor of Jiangzhou, Liu Zixun, Prince of Jin'an, rose in revolt; because Xiao Ze would not obey him, the chancellor of Nankang, Shen Suzhi, threw him into the commandery jail. His kinsman Xiao Xinzu and his retainer Huan Kang broke into the commandery and freed him, and when Shen Suzhi pursued with several hundred officers and men, Xiao Ze fought desperately with those about him, took Shen alive and cut off more than a hundred heads, then raised a loyalist force of a hundred followers. Judging himself too few to face the enemy, he withdrew into the Jieyang hills and gathered three thousand men. Liu Zixun sent his general Dai Kaizhi as chancellor of Nankang with the commander Zhang Zongzhi and more than a thousand men to help him. Xiao Ze marched on the commandery, first drove off several hundred of Dai's men under Cheng Chao at the Nankang mouth, then attacked Zhang Zongzhi, broke and killed him, and besieged the commandery city. Dai Kaizhi held it with several thousand men, and Xiao Ze led his officers and men in a whole day's assault until the city fell; Dai fled and Xiao Ze killed Tao Chongzhi, the magistrate of Gan appointed by Liu Zixun. Holding the city, he sent the commanders Zhang Yingqi and Deng Huizhen with three thousand men against Yuzhang, and when Liu Zixun sent the commander Tan Xiuzhi with seven thousand to face Zhang Yingqi at Xichang, the two sides built ramparts and fought without decision until Tan, hearing Xiao Ze was coming himself, withdrew. After the affair was settled the court summoned him to the capital as a bureau director in the ministry of works and enfeoffed him as a viscount, and though a further fief at Gan was granted him he firmly declined it.

He went on to serve as general and chancellor of Guangxing, and when Liu Xiufan, Prince of Guiyang, rebelled he was sent to raid Xunyang, reaching Beiqiao when the rising was already put down. In 476 he was appointed chief of staff to the Prince of Jinxi and administrator of Jiangxia with charge of Yingzhou affairs. When Emperor Shun succeeded, the Prince of Jinxi, Liu Xie, was summoned as commissioner of Yangzhou and Xiao Ze went east with him as general of the left guard. When Shen Youzhi rose, and before the court's orders arrived, Xiao Ze judged the middle river the place to meet the enemy and occupied Penkou city to prepare for war and defense; his father Xiao Daocheng, hearing of it, was delighted and said, "This is truly my son!" His request to march west was refused, so he sent a detachment to relieve Yingcheng, and the general of the west Huang Hui and others came under his command; he was made champion general with the tally. When Shen Youzhi's revolt was put down in 478, he became cavalier attendant in ordinary with command of military affairs in Jiangzhou and in the Xin Cai and Jinxi commanderies of Yuzhou, general of the conquest of the south, governor of Jiangzhou and Marquis of Wenxi with two thousand households; that year he was summoned as palace attendant and general of the guards, granted a band of drums and fifes, given charge of the Shitou garrison and soon the tally and command of the capital region. In 479 he was advanced to Duke of Wenxi, and in the third month Emperor Shun made him heir of the Duke of Qi, clearing the way for his father's founding of the Qi dynasty.

When Xiao Daocheng replaced the Song with Qi in 479, Xiao Ze was made heir apparent, and on the Gaodi's death in 482 he took the throne with the era name Yongming. His eleven-year reign is known as the government of Yongming: taxes and labor services were reduced, household registers reorganized, farming encouraged, schools founded, and an embassy exchange with the Northern Wei kept the north and south in comparative peace. He also inherited the Song-Qi habit of strife within the imperial clan, keeping his royal kinsmen under suspicion and restraint; when the heir apparent Xiao Changmao died before him, he made his eldest grandson Xiao Zhaoye heir instead. He died in 493 at fifty-four, buried at Jing'anling with the temple name Shizu and the posthumous name Emperor Wu. Soon after, conflict among the princes intensified and the Southern Qi entered a period of turmoil.

In the Yongming years embassies passed frequently between the Southern Qi and the Northern Wei, the two sides keeping a rough balance along the Huai; the court also revised the statutes and reorganized the household registers, checking concealed households and fields, measures that steadied finance and order in the earlier part of the dynasty. He favored letters and gathered literary men about him, and the Book of Southern Qi claims that in his time the people were free even of the alarm of cocks and dogs — flattering, but reflecting the comparative calm of the Yongming era.

He attended to local administration, issuing repeated edicts to encourage farming, lighten taxes in stricken districts and sending commissioners through the provinces to assess officials; his brother Xiao Yi and his son Xiao Ziliang were also known for letters, giving the Yongming era its literary name, and poetry and tonal theory advanced notably in this period of the Southern Dynasties.

His tomb, Jing'anling, stands with the other Southern Qi imperial tombs in the Danyang district.

Major Activities

The Yongming Governance

Xiao Ze reigned for eleven years under the era name Yongming, and the period became known as the “Yongming governance.” The Book of Southern Qi described more than ten years without major alarms among the population and portrayed prosperous cities, wealthy men and women, music, dance, and fine dress amid an atmosphere of peace. The source characterizes this as a rare period of relative stability in the Southern Dynasties: there were no major wars within the realm for more than a decade, the economy of the lower Yangzi developed to some extent, and society was temporarily settled.

Measures attributed to Xiao Ze include relief for disaster victims and tax reductions; encouragement of agriculture and sericulture; expansion of schools and emphasis on education; advocacy of frugality and restrictions on extravagance; and peaceful relations with Northern Wei to stabilize the frontier. His 486 order on commuting household taxes into cloth and cash in Yangzhou and Southern Xuzhou was made a permanent rule and, according to the source, reduced peasant burdens.

Household-Register Verification and the Tang Yuzhi Rebellion

Xiao Ze continued Xiao Daocheng's register-verification policy, establishing officers and clerks to investigate household registers. Officials were reportedly required to identify a fixed number of fraudulent cases each day, year after year, causing anxiety among the population. Lü Wendu, an external palace official from Kuaiji, proposed that people whose registrations were rejected be sent to distant garrisons, and many fled because they feared punishment.

In the winter of 485, the third year of Yongming, Tang Yuzhi, a commoner of Fuyang, used religious magic to attract followers and rebelled, taking Fuyang. People in the Three Wu region affected by register rejection joined him and his force reached thirty thousand. In the first lunar month of 486 he captured Qiantang, proclaimed himself emperor, created official posts, sent forces that took Dongyang and killed its governor Xiao Chongzhi, and dispatched Sun Hong against Shanyin. Xiao Ze sent several thousand imperial guards and several hundred cavalry east. Tang's followers feared the cavalry and broke in a single engagement; Tang was captured and executed.

Though the rebellion was quickly suppressed, opposition to the register-verification policy remained strong. In 490 Xiao Ze was forced to invalidate the “register rejection” measures and end the campaign.

Peaceful Relations with Northern Wei

During Xiao Ze's reign, Southern Qi maintained peaceful relations with Northern Wei and the frontier remained relatively stable. He sent Fan Zhen as envoy to Northern Wei, where Fan's learning and ability were praised. Reduced military mobilization contributed to the relative stability of the Yongming era.

Frugal Final Edict

Xiao Ze advocated frugality, and his final edict prescribed a simple funeral in detail: he was to wear summer clothing and painted celestial garments, without jewels or costly woven fabrics; only two iron ring-pommel sabers were to accompany him in burial; offerings were to be cakes, tea, rice, wine, and dried meat rather than animal sacrifices; the same standard was to apply throughout the realm; and no pagoda or monastery was to be constructed. It also reduced ceremonial attendance by officials and stated that palace women and imperial princesses need not accompany the burial procession to the mausoleum.

Personal Relations

• Father: Xiao Daocheng, Emperor Gao of Southern Qi.
• Mother: Liu Zhirong, Empress Gaozhao.
• Younger brothers: Xiao Ni, Xiao Ying, Xiao Huang, Xiao Ye, Xiao Gao, Xiao Qiang, Xiao Shuo, Xiao Jian, Xiao Jun, Xiao Feng, Xiao Rui, Xiao Qiu, Xiao Xuan, and others.
• Consorts: Pei Huizhao, Empress Wumu; Noble Consort Fan; Noble Consort Yang; Consort Zhang; Zhaohua Xun; Shuyi Zhou; Shuyi Wang; Shuyi Jiang; Shuyuan Ruan; Jieyu Cai; Jieyu Yan; Ronghua Yue; Chonghua Fu; Chonghua He; Zhaoyi Xie; Zhaorong Yu; palace woman Xie.
• Sons: Xiao Changmao, Crown Prince Wenhui; Xiao Ziliang, Prince Wenxuan of Jingling; Xiao Ziqing; Xiao Zixiang; Xiao Zijing; Xiao Zimao; Xiao Zilong; Xiao Zizhen; Xiao Ziming; Xiao Zihan; Xiao Zilun; Xiao Zizhen; Xiao Ziyue; Xiao Ziwen; Xiao Zijun; Xiao Zilin; Xiao Zimin; Xiao Zijian; Xiao Zixia.
• Daughters: Princess of Wuxian (married Wang Guan); Princess of Changcheng (married He Jingrong); Princess of Wukang (married Xu Yan).
• Chu Yuan: Minister over the Masses; received the late emperor's order to assist the new ruler.
• Wang Jian: Director of the Department of State Affairs; senior minister under both Emperor Gao and Emperor Wu.
• Zhang Jing'er: General of Chariots and Cavalry; granted the privilege of opening an office with the same ceremonial as the Three Excellencies.
• Yu Wanzhi: Yellow Gate Gentleman; presided over household-register revision.
• Lü Wendu: external palace official; participated in the register-verification policy.
• Fan Zhen: envoy to Northern Wei.
• Huan Kang: retainer who helped rescue Xiao Ze from prison in his early years.
• Xiao Xinzu: clansman who participated in his rescue.
• Liu Yu, Emperor Ming of Liu Song: Liu Song emperor.
• Liu Zhun, Emperor Shun of Liu Song: last Liu Song emperor.
• Xiao Zhaoye: imperial grandson and the successor designated by Xiao Ze before his death.
• Shen Suzhi: administrator of Nankang who imprisoned Xiao Ze and was later captured by him.
• Liu Zixun: Prince of Jin'an; rebelled in 466 and was opposed by Xiao Ze.
• Dai Kaizhi: general under Liu Zixun who defended Nankang and was defeated by Xiao Ze.
• Tang Yuzhi: rebel from Fuyang who rose amid the register-verification controversy and was defeated and executed.

Historical Assessment

Southern Dynasties and Tang Period

• Xiao Zixian, author of the Book of Southern Qi and a member of Xiao Ze's clan, praised him for inheriting a secure foundation, attending to the people's affairs, valuing frugality, avoiding costly banquets and hunts, and maintaining a peaceful realm. He also described the Yongming era as a decade in which the people suffered no alarms and the cities prospered.
• Li Yanshou, author of the History of the Southern Dynasties, recorded the regard in which Xiao Ze was held and characterized him as attentive to government, committed to frugality, and accepted by the people.
• Tang historian Du You, in the Comprehensive Institutions, described the Yongming years as a period in which “the realm was at peace and the regions had no disturbances,” making it one of the relatively stable periods of the Southern Dynasties.

Song and Yuan Periods

• Sima Guang, in the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, recorded Xiao Ze's frugal final edict and described him as frugal by nature and not fond of sensual entertainment. Although he did not explicitly condemn Xiao Ze for passing over Xiao Ziliang and selecting Xiao Zhaoye, the narrative gives the decision considerable attention.
• Hong Mai, in Random Notes from the Rongzhai Studio, described Emperor Wu of Qi as famous for frugality and called Yongming governance a condition of modest prosperity, while also identifying the register-verification abuses that triggered Tang Yuzhi's rebellion as a blemish on the era.
• Hu Sansheng, in his commentary on the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, questioned Xiao Ze's decision to pass over Xiao Ziliang and choose his imperial grandson, linking it to the later disaster under Xiao Luan.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wang Fuzhi, in Reflections on Reading the Comprehensive Mirror, praised Xiao Ze's frugality and diligence and described Yongming governance as comparatively successful, but criticized the register-verification policy for disturbing the people and blamed the succession decision for opening the way to Xiao Luan's violence.
• Zhao Yi, in Critical Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories, described the Yongming period as among the most stable in the Southern Dynasties and noted the frugality of Xiao Daocheng and Xiao Ze, while arguing that household-register reform intended to bring order instead created disturbance.
• Wang Mingsheng, in Discussions on the Seventeen Histories, praised Xiao Ze's frugal character but regarded his decision not to appoint Xiao Ziliang as a major error that contributed to violence within the imperial clan.

Modern Assessments

• Lü Simian, in History of the Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, regarded Xiao Ze's reign as relatively well governed and peaceful but described the register-verification campaign as harsh and ultimately unsuccessful, and the succession decision as especially damaging.
• Wang Zhongluo, in History of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, characterized the Yongming era as relatively stable, crediting Xiao Ze's frugality, agricultural policies, and peaceful relations with Northern Wei while noting that the register-verification policy intensified social conflict.
• Tian Yuqing, in Aristocratic Politics of the Eastern Jin, discussed the attempts of Xiao Daocheng and Xiao Ze, rulers from a military background, to strengthen imperial power and reorganize household registration, while noting that resistance from non-aristocratic landholders forced a compromise.
• Zhou Yiliang, in Notes on the History of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, praised Xiao Ze's frugal funeral order as unusual among Southern Dynasties emperors.