Yuwen Hu (; 513Yuwen Hu's mother Lady Yan once wrote a letter to him; in it, she mentioned that Yuwen was born in the Year of the Snake. Volume 11 of Book of Zhou also recorded that Yuwen was 11 (by East Asian reckoning) when his father died (in 524). Putting the two together, it is likely that Book of Zhou had a slight error here, and that Yuwen was actually 12 (by East Asian reckoning) when his father died. – 14 April 572Volume 171 of Zizhi Tongjian recorded that Yuwen was killed on the bingchen day of the 3rd month of the 4th year of the Taijian era of the reign of Emperor Xuan of Chen. This date corresponds to 14 April 572 on the Gregorian calendar.), courtesy name Sabao (薩保, also a title, which can be traced back to sartpāw “caravan leader”, but was used as given name, in many cases by Buddhists - referring to the metaphorical meaning of wise leader),Grenet F. et al., Zoroastrian scenes on a newly discovered Sogdian tomb in Xi’an, Northern China//Studia Iranica 33, 2, 2004, p. 274Fuxi S., Investigations on the Chinese version of the Sino-Sogdian bilingual inscription of the tomb of Lord Shi//E. de la Vaissière and É. Trombert (eds.), Les Sogdiens en Chine, Paris, 2005, p. 52 posthumous name Duke Dang of Jin (晉蕩公), was a regent of the Xianbei-led Northern Zhou dynasty of China. He first came into prominence as the nephew of Western Wei's paramount general Yuwen Tai, and after Yuwen Tai's death in 556, he became the guardian to Yuwen Tai's son Yuwen Jue.
In 557, he forced Emperor Gong of Western Wei to yield the throne to Yuwen Jue (Emperor Xiaomin), establishing the Northern Zhou dynasty. However, Yuwen Hu dominated the political scene, and after Emperor Xiaomin tried to seize power later that year, he killed Emperor Xiaomin and replaced him with another son of Yuwen Tai, Emperor Ming. In 560, he poisoned Emperor Ming, who was succeeded by another son of Yuwen Tai, Emperor Wu. In 572, Emperor Wu ambushed Yuwen Hu and killed him, personally taking power.
Background Yuwen Hu was born in 513 as a son of Yuwen Hao (宇文顥), a son of the local peasant leader Yuwen Gong (宇文肱) at Wuchuan (武川, in modern Hohhot, Inner Mongolia). His mother was Lady Yan, who was probably Yuwen Hao's wife. He was said to be particularly bright as a child and was favored by Yuwen Gong. In 524, with Northern Wei's northern provinces engulfed in peasant rebellions, Yuwen Gong and his sons, along with another local leader, Heba Duba (賀拔度拔) and his sons, led a counter-rebellion against one of the major rebels, Poliuhan Baling (破六韓拔陵), who had taken Wuchuan earlier, and they killed Poliuhan's general Wei Kegu (衛可孤), temporarily restoring order. However, soon Yuwen Gong and his sons were forced to flee and join the army of another rebel leader, Xianyu Xiuli (鮮于修禮). It was while serving under Xianyu that Yuwen Gong died in battle, and it was probably also at the same time that Yuwen Hao died as well. After Xianyu Xiuli was killed by his general Yuan Hongye (元洪業) in 526, another general, Ge Rong, in turn, killed Yuan and took over Xianyu's troops, and Yuwen Hu stayed with his uncles in Ge's army. In 528, after Ge was defeated by Northern Wei's paramount general Erzhu Rong, Erzhu forcibly moved Ge's troops, including the Yuwens, to his power base at Jinyang (晉陽, in modern Taiyuan, Shandong), where he remained for several years.
In 531 or 532, when Yuwen Hu's uncle Yuwen Tai was serving under the general Heba Yue (Heba Duba's son) in the western provinces, Yuwen Hu went to join Yuwen Tai at Pingliang. (When he did so, he left both his mother Lady Yan and his aunt (Yuwen Hao's sister) at Jinyang.) As Yuwen Tai had no sons at that point,The Book of Zhou actually stated, "The sons of Taizu [Yuwen Tai's temple name] were all young at that point," but Yuwen Tai's oldest son Yuwen Yu was not born until 534. Presumably, the Book of Zhou was including the several years thereafter, not just this particular year. when he was out on military campaigns, he entrusted his household to Yuwen Hu. Yuwen Hu was said not to be strict as the household's governor but was nevertheless able to keep the household organized and solemn. Yuwen Tai, when he saw this, stated, "this child's ambitions and talents are like mine." In 533, when Heba added the strategically important Xia Province (夏州, roughly modern Yulin, Shaanxi) to the ones he controlled, he made Yuwen Tai its governor. Yuwen Tai left Yuwen Hu to serve under Heba. When Heba's associate Houmochen Yue assassinated Heba in early 534, Heba's generals invited Yuwen Tai to serve as their commander, and he agreed. In the subsequent armed confrontation with Houmochen (in which Yuwen Tai defeated Houmochen, causing Houmochen to kill himself), Yuwen Hu served as one of his uncle's generals.
During Western Wei In 534, displeased at the control that the paramount general Gao Huan had on the military, Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei entered into an alliance with Yuwen Tai and Heba Sheng (Heba Yue's brother), who controlled the southern provinces. When Gao realized this, he marched on the capital Luoyang, and Emperor Xiaowu decided to flee to Yuwen Tai's territory, sending messengers informing Yuwen Tai of his decision. Yuwen Hu was part of the army that Yuwen Tai sent to escort Emperor Xiaowu to Yuwen Tai's headquarters at Chang'an, commanded by general Li Xian (李賢). For his participation in protecting the emperor, Yuwen Hu was created the Count of Shuichi. Later in 534, when Emperor Xiaowu refused to return to Luoyang despite requests by Gao, Gao declared Yuan Shanjian, the son of Emperor Xiaowu's cousin Yuan Dan (元亶), emperor (as Emperor Xiaojing), and moved the capital to Yecheng (鄴城, in modern Handan, Hebei), thus dividing Northern Wei into two—Western Wei, with Emperor Xiaowu as emperor and its capital at Chang'an, and Eastern Wei, with Emperor Xiaojing as emperor.
During the reign of Emperor Xiaowu's cousin and successor Emperor Wen of Western Wei, Yuwen Hu received a number of promotions, and he also had a number of accomplishments on the battlefield. He was made a duke. In 543, though, he was nearly killed in a battle at Luoyang and was only saved from capture or death by his subordinates Hou Fu (侯伏) and Hou Long'en (侯龍恩). Yuwen Tai removed him from his posts but soon returned him to those posts. In 546, he was given the greater title of Duke of Zhongshan. In 554, when Yuwen Tai sent the general Yu Jin to launch a major attack on the Liang dynasty's capital Jiangling, Yuwen Hu served as Yu's lieutenant. The Western Wei army was able to capture Jiangling and put Emperor Yuan of Liang to death, declaring his nephew Emperor Xuan of Western Liang as Liang's emperor instead (albeit controlling only the Jiangling region, known in history as the Western Liang). For this accomplishment, Yuwen Hu's son Yuwen Hui (宇文會) was made the Duke of Jiangling.
In fall 556, while Yuwen Tai was on a tour of the northern provinces, he became ill at Qiantun Mountain (牽屯山, in modern Guyuan, Ningxia). He summoned Yuwen Hu to Qiantun and entrusted the affairs of the state as well as his sons to Yuwen Hu. He soon died, and his heir apparent Yuwen Jue took over his titles, while Yuwen Hu took the reins of the state. (The senior generals and officials, who obeyed Yuwen Tai as effectively the first among equals, were initially reluctant to follow the leadership of the younger Yuwen Hu, only doing so after Yu Jin, previously Yuwen Hu's commanding general, declared his support on the basis that Yuwen Hu was the senior member of the Yuwen clan.) Around the new year 557, believing that Yuwen Jue, who was 14 at this time, needed to have his authority affirmed through an imperial title, Yuwen Hu had Emperor Gong of Western Wei (Emperor Wen's son) yield the throne to Yuwen Jue, ending Western Wei and establishing Northern Zhou.
During Emperor Xiaomin's reign Yuwen Jue took the throne (as Emperor Xiaomin) but did not use the title "emperor" (皇帝, huáng dì), using instead the Zhou dynasty-style title "Heavenly Prince" (Tian Wang). He created Yuwen Hu the greater title of Duke of Jin.
The political situation, with Yuwen Hu as regent, was unstable. About a month after Emperor Xiaomin took the throne, two of the most senior officials, Zhao Gui the Duke of Chu and Dugu Xin the Duke of Wei, showed signs of displeasure about Yuwen Hu's hold on power. Zhao wanted to kill Yuwen Hu, an action that Dugu tried to persuade him against. Soon thereafter, however, Zhao's plans were revealed by another official, Yuwen Sheng (宇文盛), and Yuwen Hu had Zhao executed and removed Dugu from his office. Soon, he also forced Dugu to commit suicide. When another official, Qi Gui (齊軌), criticized Yuwen Hu's regency, he was also executed.
Meanwhile, Emperor Xiaomin himself, wanting to take power, was engaging in a plot to kill Yuwen Hu. His plot included two of Yuwen Tai's key associates, Li Zhi (李植) and Sun Heng (孫恆), as well as the other officials Yifu Feng (乙弗鳳) and Heba Ti (賀拔提), each of whom was ambitious and therefore further tried to fan Emperor Xiaomin's suspicions against Yuwen Hu. After Li tried to engage another official, Zhang Guangluo (張光洛) in the plot, however, Zhang revealed the plot to Yuwen Hu. Yuwen Hu, not wanting to take drastic actions at first, sent Li and Sun away to be provincial governors. When Emperor Xiaomin wanted to summon Li and Sun back to the capital Chang'an, Yuwen Hu urged against it, pledging his loyalty. However, Yifu and Heba became fearful and plotted to carry out the plot anyway. Zhang again informed Yuwen Hu, who discussed the matter with the generals Helan Xiang (賀蘭祥) and Yuchi Gang (尉遲綱). Helan suggested to him to depose Emperor Xiaomin, and Yuwen Hu had Yuchi arrest Yifu and Heba and disband the imperial guards. Emperor Xiaomin, surprised by the move, barricaded himself in the palace and armed his ladies in waiting and eunuchs. Yuwen Hu sent Helan into the palace to force Emperor Xiaomin to leave the palace and put him under house arrest at his old residence as the Duke of Lüeyang.
Yuwen Hu summoned the high-level officials and informed them of the situation, proposing to depose Emperor Xiaomin and replace him with Emperor Xiaomin's older brother Yuwen Yu the Duke of Ningdu (who was not named heir by Yuwen Tai because his mother Lady Yao was a concubine). The high-level officials, not daring to oppose Yuwen Hu, agreed. Emperor Xiaomin's coconspirators were executed, while he himself was demoted to the rank of Duke of Lüeyang. A month later, Yuwen Hu executed him and forced his wife, Princess Yuan, to become a Buddhist nun. Soon thereafter, Yuwen Yu arrived at Chang'an and took the throne (as Emperor Ming), still using the title of Heavenly Prince.
During Emperor Ming's reign Emperor Ming continued to honor Yuwen Hu with greater titles and honor, and in 558, he made Yuwen Hu's son Yuwen Zhi (宇文至) the Duke of Chongye.
In the spring of 559, Yuwen Hu formally returned his authority to Emperor Ming, and Emperor Ming began to formally rule on all governmental matters, but Yuwen Hu retained authority over the military. In 559, Emperor Ming began to use the title of emperor.
In the summer of 560, Yuwen Hu, apprehensive of Emperor Ming's intelligence and abilities, instructed the imperial chef Li An (李安) to poison sugar cookies that were submitted to the emperor. Emperor Ming ate them and became ill. Knowing that he was near death, he instructed that, because his sons were young, the throne should be passed to his younger brother Yuwen Yong the Duke of Lu. He died soon thereafter, and Yuwen Yong took the throne as Emperor Wu. Yuwen Hu again took control of both political and military matters.
During Emperor Wu's reign