“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades take place.”
It’s an out and out brawl as everything comes to a head at once in the 550s, all across China. In the south, the Liang princes struggle against both the rebel general Hou Jing who holds the capital and the emperor, but also among themselves. In the north, Eastern and Western Wei similarly are undergoing their own internal struggles, which will see the overthrow of all the dynasties we’ve come to know with a whole new batch of contenders.
Time Period Covered:
549-557 CE
Major Figures:
Liang/Han/Chen
Warlord/Emperor Hou Jing
Emperor Jianwen
Prince Xiao Yi of Xiangdong (Emperor Yuan of Liang)
Prince Xiao Ji of Wuling (Emperor of Western Liang) [posthumously renamed Taotie]
Prince Xiao Huan
Prince Xiao Yu
Prince Xiao Cha (Emperor Xuan of Western Liang)
General Chen Baxian (Emperor Wu of Chen)
Western Wei/Northern Zhou
Warlord Yuwen Tai
Yuwen Jue (Emperor Xiaomin of Zhou)
Eastern Wei/Northern Qi
Warlord Gao Cheng
Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei
General Murong Shaozong
Gao Yang (Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi)
Lan Qin
