Yao Hong

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Yao Hong was born into the Yao ruling house of Later Qin during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. His grandfather Yao Chang founded Later Qin in 384, the ninth year of Taiyuan, and his father Yao Xing ruled for twenty-two years during the state’s greatest period of strength. Yao Hong, Yao Xing’s eldest son, was born in 388. According to the Book of Jin, he was “filial, friendly, generous, and mild, but without talent for managing the affairs of the age, and often ill.” Yao Xing therefore hesitated for a long time before naming him Crown Prince. Whenever Yao Xing left on campaign or traveled, he frequently left Yao Hong behind to oversee government affairs, both as training and as a test.

Yao Hong was widely read and talented in discussion and especially enjoyed composing poetry. A circle of literary and Confucian scholars gathered around him. Wang Shang, Duan Zhang, and Fu Yunwen taught him Confucian learning, while Hu Yizhou and Xiahou Zhi associated with him through literary composition. He studied the classics under the erudite scholar Chunyu Qi and showed great respect toward his teacher. When Chunyu Qi fell ill, Yao Hong personally visited him and bowed beside his bed. Thereafter, Later Qin dukes and marquises were said to bow to their own teachers, showing the influence of Yao Hong’s emphasis on filial respect and learning.

Years as Crown Prince

As Crown Prince, Yao Hong repeatedly remained in Chang'an to manage affairs while Yao Xing was away. In 415, the eleventh year of Yixi, Yao Xing traveled to Pingliang. Liu Jue of Fengyi gathered several thousand followers, seized Wannian, and rebelled. Yao Hong sent General Who Pacifies the Army Peng Bailang with troops of the Eastern Palace to suppress the revolt. After Liu Jue was killed, Yao Hong’s officers urged him to issue a public victory proclamation. Yao Hong declined, arguing that the ruler had entrusted the rear to him so that he would restrain rebels, and that the appearance of such a rebellion reflected his own failure in administration rather than a reason to boast. Right Vice Director Wei Hua, hearing of the episode, praised the Crown Prince’s humility and benevolence as a blessing to the state.

Yao Hong’s position as heir, however, was not secure. His younger brother Yao Bi coveted the succession and secretly plotted to displace him. Yao Hong nonetheless continued to treat Yao Bi with the same favor and showed no resentment. Yao Shao often advised Yao Bi, yet Yao Hong still treated him with the courtesy due a member of the imperial clan and displayed no suspicion. This broad-mindedness won Yao Hong support within the ruling family but also exposed a weakness in his character that later contributed to internal instability.

Accession and Internal Rebellion

In the first month of 416, the twelfth year of Yixi, Yao Xing died. Yao Hong concealed the death temporarily, quickly executed the Duke of Nanyang Yao Yin, General-in-Chief Yin Yuan, and others who were plotting disorder, and then publicly mourned Yao Xing and ascended the throne. He changed the era name to Yonghe. He ordered a general amnesty for crimes below the gravest category, resided in mourning at the Consultative Hall, and personally took up government only after Yao Xing’s burial. At the beginning of his reign, he made several gestures toward reform: civil and military officials inside and outside the capital were advanced in rank, and officials were encouraged to remonstrate openly. He declared that measures ill-suited to the times or proposals beneficial to the ancestral state should be discussed without concealment.

Later Qin’s problems, however, followed one after another. The Qiang leader Dang Rong first led his people in revolt and flight, and Yao Hong sent Yao Zan to suppress him. Mao Yong, governor of Beidi, then rebelled from the Zhao family fort and was captured by Yao Shao. Encouraged by his staff officer Wei Zong, Yao Xuan led 38,000 households away from Lirun and moved south to Xingwang. Yao Shao attacked him, and Yao Xuan was later killed after acknowledging guilt. Tens of thousands of Hu villages in Bingzhou, Dingyang, and Ercheng rebelled and moved toward Pingyang, setting up the Xiongnu Cao Hong as Grand Chanyu. Yao Yi marched from Puban and defeated them. Although each rebellion was suppressed, the cumulative fighting severely drained Later Qin’s strength.

External Threats and the Fall of Later Qin

When Yao Hong came to the throne, Later Qin was already surrounded by threats. Helian Bobo, ruler of Great Xia, repeatedly attacked the northern frontier, captured Yinmi, buried more than five thousand captives alive, and killed the unyielding Inspector of Qinzhou Yao Jundu. Yang Sheng, Duke of Chouchi, captured Qishan and advanced toward Qinzhou. Yao Song and Yao Ping were killed in succession. Yao Shao led 50,000 infantry and cavalry against Helian Bobo and defeated his forces at Ma'an Slope, but the victory did not fundamentally reverse the situation.

In 417, the thirteenth year of Yixi, Liu Yu, Defender-in-chief of Eastern Jin, launched a major northern campaign and sent Tan Daoji, Wang Zhene, Shen Linzi, and others by separate routes. Later Qin commanders surrendered in succession. Dong Zun, governor of Xincai, held out and was killed by Tan Daoji after the city fell. Yao Shao proposed moving households from the regional garrisons into the capital region and raising an elite force of 100,000 to resist the invasion, but Left Vice Director Liang Xi objected, arguing that the Duke of Qi Yao Hui could be relied upon, and the plan was not implemented. Yao Yi then proclaimed himself emperor in rebellion at Puban, followed by Yao Hui’s rising at Anding. Although both were suppressed, Later Qin was left badly weakened.

In the eighth month, Wang Zhene’s troops entered Chang'an through the Pingshuo Gate. With no remaining strategy, Yao Hong prepared to surrender. His eleven-year-old son Yao Fonian argued that the Jin troops intended to indulge their desires and that surrender could not save them; he preferred suicide. Yao Hong was left speechless, and the boy climbed the wall and threw himself to his death. Yao Hong then led his entire household to Wang Zhene’s camp and surrendered. His paternal cousin Yao Zan also surrendered with more than one hundred members of the ruling clan. Liu Yu had the Later Qin imperial household executed and moved other members of the clan south of the Yangtze. Yao Hong was taken to Jiankang and beheaded in the marketplace at the age of thirty. Later Qin thereby came to an end.

Doubts about His Succession, His Love of the Classics, and His Argument for Leniency

Yao Hong, whose courtesy name was Yuanzi, was the eldest son of Yao Xing; the histories say that he was "filial and fraternal, generous and mild, but without the capacity to govern the world, and much afflicted with illness," so that Yao Xing, intending to make him heir, doubted, and only after long delay made him heir apparent; and whenever Yao Xing went on campaign or on tour he would leave him to take charge of affairs. He was widely learned and good at discussion, and especially fond of poetry; the president Wang Shang, the yellow-gate attendant Duan Zhang and the secretary of the board Fu Yunwen lectured to him on the Confucian arts, and Hu Yizhou and Xiahou Zhi gathered with him over letters. At that time the president Wang Min and the right assistant Guo Bo, thinking the criminal law and discipline too lenient, discussed making them strict, and Yao Hong said that when a man is thwarted and humiliated his heart turns to fierce resolve, that when government and instruction are vexatious and harsh men take to evasion, and that those above transform those below as the wind bends the grass; and he asked whether their part in assisting the court's transformation and spreading the tracks of government was served by seeking severity of law and cruelty of punishment rather than the way of benevolence and forbearance, and whether that was the principle of settling those above and ruling those below — at which Wang Min and the rest desisted. He received the classics from the erudite Chunyu Qi, and when Chunyu Qi fell ill he went himself to inquire and bowed at his bed, "and from that time all princes and marquises bowed to their teachers."

His Charge in the Emperor's Absence: The Suppression of Liu Jue and His Refusal to Boast

When Yao Xing went to Pingliang, Liu Jue of Fengyi gathered several thousand men and rebelled, holding Wannian; and Yao Hong sent the garrison general Peng Bailang with the guards of the eastern palace against him, killed Liu Jue and pardoned the rest. The generals all urged him that his divine reckoning had flashed out and the rebels were swept away, and that he should publish a proclamation, multiply the tale of heads taken and so comfort the far and near; and Yao Hong answered that the emperor had charged him with affairs and with checking the rebels, that his own failure of government had bred the robbers, and that he should rather take the blame himself and confess his fault in the field, and asked how he dared make himself great and add to his own guilt. His right president Wei Hua, hearing it, told the governor of Henan, Murong Zhu, that the heir apparent had in truth the virtue of reverence and kindness and was the blessing of the altars. His younger brother Yao Bi plotted to seize the succession, yet Yao Hong cherished him as before and never showed it in his face; and Yao Shao, who was always Yao Bi's wing, he trusted with all his heart as a kinsman and held no grudge, and after taking the throne he gave Yao Shao military power, so that Yao Shao was moved and gave him his true loyalty and kept it to the end.

His Accession, the Punishment of the Plotters, and His Welcome of Plain Speech

After Yao Xing's death Yao Hong kept the death secret; the duke of Nanyang, Yao Yin, and the general-in-chief Yin Yuan plotted rebellion and he put them all to death; and he had Yao Hui, duke of Qi, kill the governor of Anding, Lü Chao, and when Yao Hui long delayed, he suspected a plot, and Yao Hui from that time harboured other designs and secretly gathered arms. Yao Hong then published the death and in 416 usurped the throne, proclaiming a pardon for all below the death penalty and changing the era name to Yonghe, and lodged in the hall of consultation; after the burial he took the government himself, raised all the officials within and without by one degree, and ordered the civil and military to speak their minds, saying that whatever was inconvenient to the times or would add lustre to the ancestral temple should be spoken plainly without reserve. He decreed that soldiers who died in the imperial service should be given posthumous rank and their households freed of labour service forever. When he would have enfeoffed sixteen of the officers of the eastern palace as viscounts and barons of the five ranks, Yao Zan remonstrated that the civil and military of the eastern palace owed him loyalty of themselves but had no conspicuous merit, and asked why so many should be enfeoffed; and Yao Hong said that ranks were hung before the court to encourage those who came to serve and to show forth great virtue, that he, the eldest son, had met with family misfortune and shared every sorrow with the officers of the eastern palace, and asked whether he could enjoy his fortune alone without shame; and Yao Zan was silent, while Yao Shao observed that the emperor did not forget to requite service and that the enfeoffment was right, but that the ancients had honoured such things and fixed them from the beginning, so that it might wait till the spring; and it was stopped.

The Affair of Xingwang, Qiuchi, and the Inroads of Helian Bobo

Yao Xing had moved three thousand Qiang households from Lirun to Anding and then to Xinzhi; and now the Qiang chief Dang Rong rebelled with his people, and Yao Hong sent the general of the pacification army Yao Zan against him. Dang Rong surrendered, and several hundred of his magnates were moved to Chang'an and the rest sent back to Lirun. The governor of Beidi, Mao Yong, rebelled and held Zhaoshi dock, and Yao Shao took him. Yao Xuan, then holding Lirun and not knowing that Mao Yong had been beaten, sent his officer Yao Fosheng to guard Chang'an; and the troops having set out, his army adjutant Wei Zong, a flatterer and lover of disorder, told Yao Xuan that the emperor was newly come to the throne and his majesty and teaching not yet shown, that Bobo was strong and his inroads would be deep, that the troubles of the state could not yet be removed, and that as a prince of the imperial house he should think deeply on it, that Xingwang was a place of natural strength commanding the junction of three quarters, and that if he could hold it and with an open mind soothe the people he would not only strengthen his own position in the imperial house but lay the foundation of a hegemony. So Yao Xuan took thirty-eight thousand households, abandoned Lirun and went south to hold Xingwang. When he had moved south the Qiang tribes seized Lirun and rebelled, and Yao Shao marched against and broke them; and Yao Xuan came to Yao Shao to confess his fault and Yao Shao in anger killed him. Earlier, when Yao Xuan was at Xingwang, Yao Hong had sent Yao Fosheng to admonish him, and Yao Fosheng had come to approve his plan; and Yao Shao, recounting his crimes, killed him too. Afterwards Yang Sheng, duke of Qiuchi, took Qishan and captured the general Wang Zong, pressing on Qinzhou, and Yao Hong sent the general of the rear Yao Ping to relieve it, at which Yang Sheng withdrew; and Yao Song with Yao Ping pursued Yang Sheng to Zhuling, while Yao Zan led the governor of Longxi, Yao Qindu, and the governor of Lüeyang, Wang Huan, with the guards to join them. Yao Zan reached Qingshui, but Yao Song was beaten by Yang Sheng, and Yao Song with Yao Qindu and Wang Huan all died in the fighting, and Yao Zan, reaching Qinzhou, fell back to Qiuchi. Earlier the stone drum at Jixian in Tianshui had sounded with a noise heard for several hundred li, and all the pheasants crowed; there were thirty-two earthquakes in Qinzhou and eight with a rumbling sound, with landslides and falling houses, and all took them for evil omens. When Yao Song was about to march his colleagues strongly urged him not to, and he said that if there were evil omens it was fate and where could he escape it; and so he met his death, and men of understanding held that Qinzhou, Yao Hong's own country, was showing the signs of its coming destruction. Helian Bobo took Yinmi and captured the governor of Qinzhou, Yao Jundu, burying more than five thousand officers and men alive; and Yao Jundu, glaring and raising his voice, recounted Bobo's cruelty and would not bend, so that Bobo in anger killed him. Having taken Yinmi, Bobo marched against Yong, and all the mixed households north of the ridges fled to Wujiang mountain; Yao Hui, general of the northern expedition, abandoned Anding and fled to Xinping with five thousand households, and the men of Anding, Hu Yan and Hua Tao, led the people against him so that he came back to Chang'an alone, while the general Mijie Cheng and the general Pei Qi were killed by Hu Yan and the garrison general Yao Chen abandoned his post and fled east; and Bobo accordingly held Yong and plundered Meicheng. Yao Shao with the general Yin Zhao and the garrison general Yao Qia marched against Bobo with fifty thousand foot and horse, Yao Hui following with ten thousand picked cavalry; the army halted at Hengshui, and Bobo fell back on Anding, where Hu Yan shut the gates against him, killed several thousand Xianbei and surrendered Anding. Yao Shao pressed on after Bobo, beat him at Ma'an slope and pursued him to Zhaona without coming up with him before returning.

The Proposal to Move the Garrison Households, the Loss of Luoyang, and the Death of Zhao Xuan

At this point Yao Shao returned to Chang'an and told Yao Hong that the Jin army had already passed Xuchang, that Yuzhou and Anding were isolated and far off and could hardly be relieved in time, and that the garrison households should be moved to fill the capital region, whereby a hundred thousand picked troops might be had, enough to overrun the realm, and that even if the two enemies invaded together it would do no great harm; whereas otherwise, if Jin invaded Yuzhou and Bobo raided Anding, what would be done, and that the moment had come and a quick decision was needed. His left president Liang Xi said that the duke of Qi, Yao Hui, was brave and of high name and feared north of the ridges, that the garrison men already had a deep feud with Bobo and would surely hold to the death without divided minds, and that Bobo could not abandon Anding to raid the capital region from afar, whereas if Anding were lost the enemy horse would come to Mei and Yong, and that the troops in Guanzhong were enough to hold off the Jin, so that they should not first weaken themselves before any danger had arisen; and Yao Hong followed him. The secretary of the board of civil office Yi Heng then said privately that the duke of Qi had done loyal and brave service in the affair of Guangping, that since the emperor's accession no special reward had answered it, that his place abroad was one of danger and at home he had no part in the government, that the men of Anding thought themselves isolated and pressed by the enemy so that nine households in ten wished to move south, and that with forty thousand picked troops he might beat the drums towards the capital and would he not be a burden on the altars; so he should be recalled to court to comfort him. And Yao Hong said that if Yao Hui harboured disloyal designs, to summon him would only hasten the trouble; and again he would not listen. The grand commandant of Jin, Liu Yu, then led a great army against Yao Hong and camped at Pengcheng, sending the general of champions Tan Daoji and the general of the dragon and fierce Wang Zhen'e in by the Huai and the Fei against Qiqiu and Xiangcheng, and the general Shen Linzi up the Bian into the Yellow River against Cangyuan. Yao Hong's officer Wang Gousheng surrendered Qiqiu to Wang Zhen'e and the governor of Xuzhou, Yao Zhang, surrendered Xiangcheng to Tan Daoji, so that the imperial army entered the mouth of the Ying and most places surrendered as it came; only the governor of Xincai, Dong Zun, held out and was broken by Tan Daoji, who bound him and brought him to the camp gate, where Dong Zun said with a stern face that the kings of old made war on a state and treated its scholars with courtesy, and asked how he could wage war unrighteously and treat a man of the land discourteously — at which Tan Daoji in anger killed him. When the imperial army reached Chenggao, the general of the southern expedition Yao Guang, then holding Luoyang, sent a rider to ask help, and Yao Hong sent the colonel of the mounted scouts Yan Sheng with three thousand horse and the guardsman Yao Yinan with ten thousand foot to help hold Luoyang, and sent the general of the eastern expedition and governor of Bingzhou Yao Yi south to camp at Shanjin in support. Yao Guang's officer Zhao Xuan told him that the enemy was now deep in and the people in terror, and that with such disparity of numbers they could not meet them in the field, so that they should gather the garrisons and hold Jinyong fast awaiting relief from the capital and not fight, since if they lost, the cause would be lost; whereas with Jinyong held fast and the army undefeated the Wu enemy could never pass it westward, and would be fixed beneath a strong city and could be worn down where they stood. But Yao Guang's adjutant Yao Yu was secretly in touch with Tan Daoji, and the secretaries Yan Hui and Yang Qian and others of Yao Yu's party, envying Zhao Xuan his loyalty, spoke against him together and urged Yao Guang to fight. Yao Guang followed them, sending Zhao Xuan with more than a thousand picked men south to hold Baigu dock and the general of wide martiality Shi Wuhui east to guard Gong city. Zhao Xuan said to Yao Guang with tears that he had received the weighty grace of three emperors and could only hold to the right and die, but that the governor would not take a loyal minister's word and was misled by knavish spawns, and would repent when it was too late. Afterwards Yangcheng with Chenggao, Xingyang and Wulao all surrendered and Tan Daoji came on without a check; Shi Wuhui fled back from Shiguan; and Zhao Xuan fought Mao Dezu of Jin at Baigu, was beaten for want of numbers, and with more than ten wounds cried aloud where he lay, while his adjutant Qian Jian, shielding him with his body from the blades, embraced him and wept, and Zhao Xuan said that his wounds were grave and the other should go quickly, and Qian Jian answered that if the general did not come through he would die with him and where else could he go — and both died in the line. Yao Yu went over the wall to the imperial army, and Tan Daoji came on to Luoyang, where Yao Guang in fear surrendered. Yan Sheng had reached Xin'an and Yao Yinan the city of Hu, and finding that Luoyang had already fallen they halted where they were.

The Revolts of Yao Yi and Yao Hui and Their Suppression

Yao Yi was of a crooked and slight temper, misled by those who flattered and obeyed him, and his adjutant Sun Chang, cunning, plausible, reversible and fawning, a lover of disorder and rejoicer in calamity, urged him to attack Chang'an, kill Yao Shao, depose Yao Hong and make himself emperor. Yao Yi took his advice and led troops to Shanjin, scattering grain to the Chinese and barbarians north of the river, wishing to empty the state's stores, draw in the Qiang tribes of the He region and build up private favour for himself. His left regular attendant Zhang Chang and the attendant of the household Zuo Ya firmly remonstrated, saying that with the close kinship of a full brother to the emperor and a charge dividing the province with him, his safety and danger, weal and woe were bound up with the state; that in Han the troubles of the seven kingdoms had been met by the king of Liang; that now with Wu invading from within and four provinces lost, the western barbarians harrying the frontier and Qin and Liang in ruin, the danger of the court was as that of eggs piled up, and this was the time for the feudal lords to come to the rescue of the throne; and that grain was the root of the state and he was scattering it, and if the court asked him, with what words would he answer. Yao Yi in a rage had him beaten to death. Yao Hong, hearing of it, summoned Yao Shao and the rest to a secret council in the court hall, and Yao Shao said that Yao Yi was of shallow understanding and drifted with things, and that the man who had made this was surely Sun Chang; that they had only to send a swift rider to summon Sun Chang and send the general of the pacification army Yao Zan to hold Shanjin while he himself went to Tongguan to marshal the armies, and that if Sun Chang came at the summons he would have Yao Yi lead the troops of Hedong against the Wu enemy, whereas if the rebellion were already afoot and the edicts disobeyed, then his crime should be published to the realm and he should be attacked with drums and proclamation. Yao Hong said that his uncle's words were the plan of the altars, and sent Yao Zan with the champion adjutant Sima Guofan and the general She Xuan to camp at Shanjin and the guardsman Yao Lü at Tongguan. Afterwards the general of the eastern pacification Yao Chengdu took Yao Yi's officer Wang Guo, the commander of nimble cavalry, and imprisoned him, sending to reproach Yao Yi that with the kinship of a full brother he had received the charge of the commander's carriage at a time when the altars hung as a banner in the wind, and should have been reverent and diligent in supporting the imperial house, yet harboured villainy and plotted against the ancestral temple, and asked whether the spirits of the three ancestors would be at peace with him; that the grain of the garrison was the reliance of a whole region and what merit had the garrison men that he should give it to them; and that Wang Guo, painting legs on a snake, was a criminal of the state, already imprisoned and awaiting the edict for execution; and that Yao Chengdu was gathering the righteous host to punish his crime and would, when all the armies were mustered, meet him on the river. He then proclaimed to all the cities, encouraging them by loyalty and righteousness, sharpened his weapons and fed his horses and called in the righteous tax; and none of the Hedong troops came to Yao Yi, who was greatly troubled. Several thousand households at Linjin turned rebel for him, and Yao Shao crossed at Bo ford, attacked and broke the rebellious households of Linjin, so that Yao Yi and his party were shaken with fear; and the garrison men of Anding, Guo Chun and Wang Nu, with their followers surrounded him, and Yao Shao entered Puban, took him and imprisoned him, and put Sun Chang and the rest to death. Yao Hong, with things within and without falling away and the imperial army coming on, held court over his ministers in the front hall on the first day of the year and wept bitterly, and all the ministers wept. At this time Yao Hui, general of the northern expedition, led thirty-eight thousand garrison households of Anding, burned his houses, formed a square of carts and drove straight from the northern Yong province at Chang'an, calling himself grand commander and general of establishing righteousness, and sent proclamations to the commanderies to rid the ruler's side of the wicked; and the general Jiang Ji came over to him, while the general Peng Wandu, hearing of his approach, abandoned Yinmi and fled to Chang'an. When Yao Hui reached Xinzhi, Jiang Ji told him that the state's chief generals were all in the east and the capital was empty, so that he might strike with light troops straight at it and the thing would surely be accomplished; but Yao Hui would not listen and marched south against Meicheng, defeating the garrison general Yao Chen, so that his power grew and Chang'an was shaken. Yao Hong sent a swift rider to summon Yao Shao, and sent Yao Yu with the general Hu Yidu to camp west of the Feng. The governor of Fufeng, Yao Jun, the protector of the An-Yi, Yao Momo, the general of establishing might Yao Edu and the general of spreading might Peng Hao all went over to Yao Hui in fear. Yao Hui's uncle Gou He, then general of establishing the right, kept his loyalty undivided, and Yao Hong summoned him and asked how he could be so easy while all men were deliberating which way to turn; and Gou He answered that if Heaven let the traitor have his way and his rebellion prosper, the bond of uncle and nephew needed no running about to make it closer, but that if his crime were consummated and his rebellion destroyed, and Heaven filled up his punishment, then to hold to loyalty and keep one's purpose was a subject's duty and to break kinship and betray the ruler was a subject's shame. Yao Hong approved his loyalty and forbearance and gave him a golden seal with purple ribbons. Yao Shao with light horse went first to the point of danger and sent Yao Qia with Sima Guofan and thirty thousand foot to Chang'an; Yao Hui advanced from Qulao and camped at Ducheng, and Yao Shao and Yao Hui faced one another at Lingtai; and Yao Zan, hearing that Yao Hui was coming on, left the general Yin Ya as governor of Hongnong to hold Tongguan and brought the armies back to Chang'an. Yao Hong thanked Yao Zan, saying that he, the eldest son, had been unable to make bright his virtue and lead his hosts, so that disaster had risen at his own threshold and the revolt came of his own brother, and that he had failed his ancestors above and had no face for his uncles below, and asked what was to be done now that Yao Yi had first plotted and perished and Yao Hui again led his host in revolt. Yao Zan answered that the reason Yao Yi and the rest dared raise troops against the court was surely that men like himself were weak and had no means of prevention; and gathering his sleeves he wept aloud and said that unless he and the general-in-chief destroyed this traitor he would never show his face to the emperor again. Yao Hong then distributed gifts to the soldiers and sent them out. Yao Hui's men, seeing all the armies gathered, were all afraid and thought of better things, and his officer Qi Huang and others left him and surrendered; and Yao Hui pressed on against Yao Shao, while Yao Zan struck him from behind and broke him utterly, killing Yao Hui and his three younger brothers. Yao Hong wept bitterly for them and buried them with the honours of a duke.

The Stand at Tongguan, the Deaths of His Generals, and His Surrender and Execution

Tan Daoji and Shen Linzi stormed Xiangyi fort, and the general Xue Bo fled to Hedong; Tan Daoji crossed north at Shan and attacked Puban, sending the general Gou Zhuo against the Xiongnu fort, who was beaten by Yao Hong's general of the eastern pacification Yao Chengdu. Yao Hong sent Yao Lü to relieve Puban and Hu Yidu to hold Tongguan, and advanced Yao Shao to grand steward, general-in-chief, grand commander and commander of military affairs within and without, with the yellow battle-axe, changing his fief to duke of Lu, his offices of palace attendant, colonel of the capital province and imperial clansman remaining as before, all the great affairs of court being brought to him for decision; and Yao Shao firmly declined it without permission. He was then sent with the guardsman Yao Luan and fifty thousand foot and horse to hold Tongguan against the imperial army, while Yao Lü and the governor of Bingzhou, Yin Zhao, made a front and a rear against Tan Daoji. Tan Daoji deepened his ramparts and would not fight, and Shen Linzi told him that Puban had strong walls and deep moats and could not be taken quickly, that to attack it would cost men and to besiege it would waste days, so that it were better to leave it and deal first with Tongguan; that Tongguan was Heaven's barrier and ground of advantage, that Wang Zhen'e's lone army was in danger and of small strength, and that if Yao Shao held it the thing would be hard, whereas if Tongguan were taken Yao Shao could be subdued without fighting. Tan Daoji followed him, abandoned Puban and went south to Tongguan. Yao Zan with seven thousand guards went east from the north of the Wei and occupied Pujin; and Liu Yu sent Shen Tianzi and Fu Hongzhi with more than ten thousand men into Shangluo, where most places abandoned their cities and fled to Chang'an, Shen Tianzi and the rest coming as far as Qingni. Yao Shao advanced in square formation to hold off Tan Daoji, who kept to his ramparts and would not fight, so that Yao Shao attacked his western camp without success and then pressed him with the whole host, whereupon Tan Daoji with Wang Jing and Shen Linzi charged back into Yao Shao's army, so that his officers and men broke and scattered and he fell back on Dingcheng; and Yao Shao left Yao Luan to hold the defile and cut Tan Daoji's supply road. Yao Shao told his generals that Tan Daoji and the rest, having come far to their deaths with no great host, kept within their ramparts only to drag out the days until relief should come, and that he wished to divide the army to hold Wenxiang and so cut their grain, after which within a month Tan Daoji's head would hang at his standard, and when he was gone Liu Yu's plan would collapse of itself. All the generals agreed, but his officer Hu Yidu said that the army's force should be gathered and not divided, for if the detached force were worsted the men's hearts would be terrified and how could they fight; and Yao Shao desisted. Afterwards he disposed his forces in several directions like the horns of a beast, sending the general Hu Yidu to hold the eastern plain and the guardsman Yao Luan to camp on the high road facing the Jin army; and Shen Linzi picked picked men, gagged them and attacked by night, so that Yao Luan's men broke and he died in the fighting with more than nine thousand of his soldiers. Yao Zan camped on the river and sent the general Yao Nan to bring the grain of Puban to his army, who was beaten by the imperial army at Xiangcheng; and Yao Shao again sent the senior secretary Yao Qia with Yao Momo and three thousand horse to camp at Jiuyuan north of the river to cut the transport of taxes from the counties to Tan Daoji. Yao Qia objected that against a small enemy firmness made for capture by the great, that their troops were now few and weak and far beyond the river, and that though the governor were divinely martial his whip was short and the disparity great, so that he feared no good would come of it; but Yao Shao would not listen, and Shen Linzi with eight thousand men fell on Yao Qia by the river, killed him and destroyed his whole force. Yao Shao, hearing of the defeat, fell ill with rage, entrusted his affairs to Yao Zan, sent Yao Nan to camp west of the pass and "vomited blood and died." Liu Yu camped at Shancheng and sent Shen Linzi with more than ten thousand picked men to cut a road over the mountains and join Shen Tianzi at Qingni to attack Yaoliu; and Yao Hong sent Yao Yu with eight thousand foot and horse to hold them, himself following with the host, but Yao Yu was beaten by Shen Tianzi and Yao Hong fell back to Bashang, upon which most of the commanderies and counties of Guanzhong secretly opened relations with the imperial army. Liu Yu came to Tongguan and sent the generals Zhu Chaosheng and Xu Yizhi to join Xue Bo north of the river against Puban, while Yao Zan held Liu Yu west of the pass and Yao Nan camped at Xiangcheng; and Liu Yu sent Wang Zhen'e and Wang Jing across the Wei west of Qiushe to press Yao Nan's army. The garrison general Yao Pu and Yao Hedu beat Xu Yizhi and the rest at Puban, Xu Yizhi being killed and Zhu Chaosheng abandoning his men and fleeing to Tongguan. Yao Zan sent Sima Xiuzhi and Sima Guofan by the Zhi pass towards Henei to bring in the Wei army and follow on Liu Yu's rear; and Yao Nan, pressed by Wang Zhen'e, drew west, when with heavy rain the Wei overflowed so that Yao Zan and the rest could not cross north; and Wang Zhen'e pressed on by water and land and came up with Yao Nan, while Yao Hong returned from Bashang and camped at Shiqiao to support him, and Yao Zan fell back on Zhengcheng. The garrison general Yao Qiang with several thousand of the commandery men formed against Wang Zhen'e on the Jing, and Wang Zhen'e sent Mao Dezu against him and beat him heavily, Yao Qiang dying in the fighting and Yao Nan fleeing back to Chang'an. When Liu Yu occupied Zhengcheng, Yao Hong set Yao Yu and the president Pang Tong with troops in the palace, Yao Guang west of the Feng, the president Yao Baigua moved the mixed households of the four armies into Chang'an, Yao Pi held the Wei bridge, Hu Yidu camped at Shiji, Yao Zan east of Ba, and Yao Hong himself at the Xiaoyao garden; and Wang Zhen'e advanced along both sides of the Wei and broke Yao Pi at the Wei bridge. Yao Hong came from the Xiaoyao garden, but with the water close and the ground narrow, and with Yao Pi's defeat, his men trampled one another in retreat, and Yao Chen with the vanguard general Yao Lie, the left guardsman Yao Baoan, the attendant cavalier Wang Bo, the general of establishing might Yao Jin, the general of spreading might Yao Hao and the right assistant of the secretariat Sun Xuan all died in the fighting, while Yao Hong got back to the palace alone on horseback. Wang Zhen'e entered by the Pingshuo gate, and Yao Hong with Yao Yu and several hundred horse fled from the palace to Shiqiao. Yao Zan, hearing of the defeat, called his officers and told them, and all struck the ground with their swords and wept aloud, gathering their sleeves; and Hu Yidu, who had long been in secret communication with Liu Yu, abandoned his men that day and went over to him. Yao Zan led the armies by night to join Yao Hong at Shiqiao, but the imperial troops had already secured the gates and his men could not enter and all broke and scattered in alarm. Yao Hong, at a loss what to do, came out of the city and surrendered; and he was afterwards sent under guard by Liu Yu to Jiankang and beheaded in its marketplace at the age of thirty.

Major Activities

Literature and Scholarship

Yao Hong was learned, skilled in discussion, and especially fond of poetry, making him one of the more literary rulers of the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Wang Shang, Duan Zhang, Fu Yunwen, Hu Yizhou, Xiahou Zhi, and other scholars formed a literary circle around the Crown Prince. He studied under Chunyu Qi and showed exceptional respect for teachers, personally visiting his sick instructor and encouraging a broader court culture of honoring teachers.

Political Activity

After his accession Yao Hong attempted to stabilize the situation through lenient government. He opposed excessively severe punishments and argued that the ruler’s influence on the people was like wind bending grass, favoring government through benevolence and forgiveness. He ordered that soldiers killed in battle receive ranks and that their households receive labor exemptions. He also intended to enfeoff sixteen Eastern Palace retainers with lower noble ranks, though he delayed the plan after Yao Zan remonstrated. These measures reflected his generosity toward subordinates. At the same time, he lacked decisiveness, reacted slowly to the rebellions of Yao Yi and Yao Hui, and could not reverse the decline of Later Qin.

Movements and Places

As Crown Prince, Yao Hong often remained in Chang'an and managed government in his father’s absence. After becoming emperor, he was mainly active in Chang'an and the surrounding Guanzhong region. Facing Helian Bobo’s attacks and Liu Yu’s northern campaign, he considered relocating the capital or moving populations but never carried out such plans. His recorded activities remained largely confined to Guanzhong.

Relations with Contemporaries

Yao Hong had complex relations with imperial-clan commanders such as Yao Shao and Yao Zan. Yao Shao had once supported Yao Bi’s succession ambitions, but Yao Hong still entrusted him with military authority after becoming emperor. Yao Shao was moved by this treatment and ultimately remained loyal. Yao Zan remonstrated on several occasions; Yao Hong did not always accept his advice but consistently treated him with respect. His relations with hostile powers such as Helian Bobo and Liu Yu were entirely adversarial and conducted through military conflict rather than personal contact.

His Lenient Government, What His Use of Men Achieved, and What It Revealed of His Limits

Yao Hong reigned for a very short time, but several fairly consistent features may be traced in his conduct. First, leniency and the acceptance of counsel: when Wang Min and Guo Bo proposed harsh measures he rebutted them with the thought that those above transform those below as the wind bends the grass, and at his accession he ordered the civil and military to speak their minds, saying that whatever was inconvenient to the times or would add lustre to the ancestral temple should be spoken plainly without reserve; and he went himself to inquire after his teacher Chunyu Qi and bowed at his bedside, after which all princes and marquises bowed to their teachers, which shows how much he valued the Confucian arts and the reverence due to teachers. Second, his refusal to claim merit and to grant rank too freely: after the suppression of Liu Jue the generals urged him to proclaim the victory and multiply the tale of heads to comfort the far and near, and he refused, saying that his own failure of government had bred the robbers and that he should rather take the blame on himself; and when he would have enfeoffed sixteen officers of the eastern palace, Yao Zan held that they had no conspicuous merit to warrant so many enfeoffments, and Yao Shao advised postponing the matter to the spring, and though he spoke of sharing every sorrow with his household officers he in the end followed them and desisted. Third, his trust in the imperial kin without guarding against them: to Yao Bi's plot to seize the succession he was as affectionate as before, and to Yao Shao, who had repeatedly been Yao Bi's wing, he gave his whole heart and held no grudge, and after his accession gave him military power, so that Yao Shao was moved to true loyalty and kept it to the end; and this did much to delay the outbreak of internal trouble and left him with usable generals when Yao Yi and Yao Hui rose one after the other. Fourth, his limits were equally plain: on the proposal to move the garrison households he followed Liang Xi's argument that they should not first weaken themselves before any danger had arisen and rejected Yao Shao's view that moving the garrison households into the capital region would yield a hundred thousand picked troops; on the matter of Yao Hui he neither recalled him to court to comfort him nor gave him any special reward, so that Yao Hui at last revolted with thirty-eight thousand garrison households; in the matter of Luoyang, though he had such a loyal officer as Zhao Xuan, Yao Guang's trust in Yao Yu, Yan Hui and the rest lost him the city and Zhao Xuan and Qian Jian died together in the line at Baigu; and at the stand at Tongguan Hu Yidu, who had long been in secret communication with Liu Yu, at last abandoned his men and went over to him. As to the judgements of his contemporaries, Wei Hua spoke of his virtue of reverence and kindness while the histories also record that he had no capacity for governing the world; the two stand together and are the key to understanding how the last years of the Later Qin collapsed so quickly under the double pressure of a strong enemy without and revolt within the imperial house.

Personal Relations

• Father: Yao Xing, Emperor Wenhuan of Later Qin
• Younger brothers: Yao Bi, who failed in an attempt to seize the succession; Yao Yi, who rebelled and was killed; Yao Hui, who rebelled and was killed
• Son: Yao Fonian, who committed suicide before the fall of Chang'an
• Empress: surname unknown; captured with Yao Hong and later killed at Jiankang
• Teacher: Chunyu Qi, erudite scholar
• Literary associates: Wang Shang, Duan Zhang, Fu Yunwen, Hu Yizhou, Xiahou Zhi
• Subordinates: Yao Shao, Yao Zan, Yao Song, Yao Ping, Yao Chengdu, Yin Zhao, Yao Qia, Lian Manwei, and others
• Enemies: Helian Bobo, ruler of Great Xia; Liu Yu, Defender-in-chief of Eastern Jin; Yang Sheng, Duke of Chouchi
• Yao Bi: younger brother involved in a succession plot
• Yao Yin: Duke of Nanyang, involved in a plot for disorder
• Yin Yuan: General-in-Chief, involved in the same plot
• Yao Yi: General Who Conquers the East, later rebelled
• Yao Hui: Duke of Qi, later rebelled

Historical Assessment

Contemporary

• The Book of Jin described Yao Hong as “filial, friendly, generous, and mild, but without talent for managing the affairs of the age,” summarizing the contrast between his personal virtue and political weakness.
• Right Vice Director Wei Hua praised him as possessing humility and benevolence and called him a blessing to the state.
• His son Yao Fonian believed that the Jin army intended to act without restraint and that surrender would not save the family, expressing the hopelessness of Yao Hong’s position at the fall of his regime.

Tang through Yuan Periods

• The Tang historians who compiled the Book of Jin largely preserved the tension between Yao Hong’s kindness and his lack of governing ability, showing sympathy for his character while criticizing his ineffectiveness.
• Sima Guang’s Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance gave a detailed account of the fall of Later Qin and emphasized Yao Hong’s softness and the fragmentation of authority under his rule.
• Hu Sanxing, commenting on the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, characterized Yao Hong as benevolent but lacking martial strength and therefore unable to survive in an age of conflict.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wang Fuzhi criticized Yao Hong for possessing the reputation of benevolence without the political substance to control his relatives, arguing that indecision led to the destruction of the state and his family.
• Zhao Yi noted that rulers of the Sixteen Kingdoms were often violent and that Yao Hong stood out for kindness, but argued that such kindness hastened his downfall.
• Tang Qiu’s compilation of the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms treated Yao Hong more neutrally and emphasized the contrast between his personal character and political failure.

Modern Period

• Lü Simian described Yao Hong as kind but weak and lacking the talent to govern, attributing the fall of Later Qin to both Yao Xing’s late policies and Yao Hong’s own limitations.
• Tian Yuqing, in discussing the fall of Later Qin, connected the success of Liu Yu’s northern campaign to the regime’s severe internal conflict and argued that Yao Hong’s leniency was inadequate to manage disputes within the ruling clan.
• Modern scholars generally regard Yao Hong as one of the gentler rulers of the Sixteen Kingdoms period but also as a ruler whose limited political skill made his tragic end highly likely in a violent age.