法苑珠林 91.81

91.81

After Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi, Gao Yang, died, the Crown Prince Yin succeeded to the throne, adopting the reign era Qianming. Wenxuan's younger brother by the same mother, Yan, Prince of Changshan, originally held immense power in Bingzhou. On the occasion of Wenxuan's imperial funeral, he accompanied the imperial coffin to Ye, but because of his local prestige, he was viewed with suspicion; nonetheless, he was retained as Overseer of the Department of State Affairs. The prince was enraged and secretly harbored treasonous designs. On the day he went to the department, all officials from within and without assembled, and he immediately arrested and bound five of Qianming's confidants, including Yang Zunchan, Supervisor of the Department of State Affairs, and memorialized to have them all beheaded for offenses. Soon he also deposed Qianming and set himself up as ruler, becoming Emperor Xiaozhao. Later, while he was in Bingzhou, a seer of atmospheric phenomena memorialized that there was the aura of a Son of Heaven in Ye. Gao Guiyan, Prince of Pingqin, urged him to kill Qianming, so Qianming was brought in chains toward Bingzhou and put to death. That year, Xiaozhao frequently saw Wenxuan conjuring all sorts of strange apparitions and coming to demand his son. Though Xiaozhao performed every manner of exorcism and apotropaic ritual, he could never dispel them, and so he died.