Xiao Lun (蕭綸, 507? – 5511) was a member of the imperial family of the Liang during the Northern and Southern dynasties period of China. His courtesy name was Shitiao (世調) and his small name was Liuzhen (六眞). He was the sixth son of Emperor Wu of Liang.
Life
He was erudite and skilled at writing. On the 29th day of the 7th lunar month of 514, he was enfeoffed as Duke of Shaoling (邵陵郡王) and served as General Ningyuan (寧遠將軍). Afterwards he served as Governor of Jiangzhou (江州刺史).
In 525, Xiao Lun took charge of the affairs of Nanxuzhou (攝南徐州事), but during his time in the prefecture his joy and anger were inconsistent, and he committed unlawful acts. One day he went out to a market and village and asked a fishmonger what the prefect was like. The man replied that he was hasty and cruel. Xiao Lun became angry and made him swallow a fish, causing his death, and the people, frightened and astonished, dared only to exchange glances on the roads. Furthermore, once when he met a funeral procession, he seized the mourning garments of a filial son, put them on, and crawled prostrate while wailing loudly. The attendant officials, fearing punishment, secretly reported this to the Emperor. The Emperor at last sharply reprimanded Xiao Lun, but he could not be corrected, so he temporarily dispatched a deputy.
Xiao Lun's rebelliousness and arrogance grew even more severe. He finally found an old man, small and gaunt, resembling Emperor Wu, dressed him in a dragon robe and crown, enthroned him on a high seat, and paid court to him, regarding him as the Emperor, while stating that he himself was innocent. After that, he had the old man come to his seat, and suddenly tore his clothes and whipped him in the courtyard. He also made a new coffin, placed the Sima Cui Huiyi (崔會意) inside it, and with funeral songs and dirges performed the appearance of sending off a funeral procession, and had an old woman climb onto the carriage and wail sorrowfully. Cui Huiyi could not endure it, and rode a horse in light armor back to the capital to report it. Fearing that Xiao Lun would flee swiftly, the Emperor ordered the Golden Guards to arrest Xiao Lun, intending to have him die in prison, but Crown Prince Xiao Tong wept and firmly pleaded, so that he was able to escape death. In the end, on the 18th day of the 12th lunar month, the Emperor dismissed Xiao Lun from office and stripped him of his rank and fief. However, afterwards all were restored to him, and he was made Western Zhonglang General (西中郞將) and Governor of Nanyanzhou (南兗州刺史).
On the 17th day of the 4th lunar month of 526, Xiao Hong (蕭宏), Governor of Yangzhou (揚州刺史), died, and the Emperor appointed Xiao Lun as Governor of Yangzhou in place of Governor of Nanyanzhou.
In the 2nd lunar month of 532, on a certain day, Xiao Lun sent people to the market to buy several hundred bolts of patterned silk and cotton cloth on credit, and the people in the market all closed their shops and did not come out. Vice Minister of the Palace Treasury (少府丞) He Zhitong (何智通) reported the facts by memorial. Xiao Lun was rebuked by the Emperor and sent home, but he eventually dispatched his Fangge (防閤) Dai Zigao (戴子高) and others, who stabbed He Zhitong to death with a shuo (槊, a long spear 1 zhang 8 chi in length) in a city street, the spearhead piercing through his back. He Zhitong, recognizing that Dai Zigao was a retainer of Xiao Lun, caught his blood and, with his finger, wrote "Shaoling (邵陵)" on the wall of the carriage, and died. Eventually the matter was thereby exposed, and on the 15th day of the 2nd lunar month Xiao Lun was implicated, dismissed from office, demoted to commoner status, and confined at home under lock, but after twenty days the lock was removed, and shortly afterwards his title was restored.
Because the Emperor was advanced in age and the various sons were unwilling in their hearts to yield to one another, in the 7th lunar month of 546 the Emperor made Xiao Lun Yin (尹) of Danyang, kept Xiao Yi at Jiangzhou, and kept Xiao Ji at Yizhou, but all of them held power equal to that of the sovereign. Crown Prince Xiao Gang disliked this and constantly selected elite troops to guard the Eastern Palace. In the 8th lunar month, the Emperor made Xiao Lun Governor of Nanxuzhou and sent him to its seat at Jingkou (京口).
In 548, when the Hou Jing rebellion broke out, Xiao Lun led his army and reached Zhongli (鍾離), and upon hearing that Hou Jing had already crossed Caishi (采石), he raced day and night at twice the speed, turned his army back, and entered Jiankang to relieve it; but while crossing the Yangtze a wind arose midway, and among the men and horses, one or two in ten fell into the water. Eventually he dispatched his second son Xiao Huo and Xiao Daichun, son of Xiao Gang, along with other marquises, and an infantry and cavalry force of thirty thousand advanced westward from Jingkou. Then Hou Jing dispatched troops to block Xiao Lun's army at Jiangcheng (江乘). Zhao Bochao (趙伯超) proposed that they should follow the Huang Cheng (黃城) highway without encountering the enemy, and head by a shortcut toward Zhong Mountain (鍾山) to suddenly seize Guangmo Gate (廣莫門) and lift the siege of Jiankang; Xiao Lun followed this plan, but while marching at night they lost their way and, after circling more than twenty li, arrived on the morning of the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month and established their camp at Jiang Mountain (蔣山, Zhong Mountain). Hou Jing, seeing this, was greatly alarmed and tried to load all the women and wealth he had plundered at Shitou (石頭) onto boats and flee, but he divided his troops into three routes and attacked Xiao Lun, and Xiao Lun fought and defeated them all. At this time the mountaintop was cold and snowy, so he led his troops down to Aijing Temple (愛敬寺). Hou Jing deployed his troops to the north of Fuzhou Mountain (覆舟山) north of Jiankang; on the 28th, Xiao Lun advanced his troops beside Xuanwu Lake (玄武湖) and faced Hou Jing, but did not fight. At evening, Hou Jing agreed to fight the next day, and Xiao Lun consented. Xiao Jun (蕭駿), Marquis of Annan (安南侯), who was in Xiao Lun's army, seeing Hou Jing's troops withdrawing, took them to be fleeing and immediately pursued them with brave warriors; but Hou Jing turned his troops and counterattacked, and Xiao Jun was defeated and fled toward where Xiao Lun's troops were. Zhao Bochao, seeing this from afar, also led his troops in flight, and Hou Jing, riding the momentum, pursued and attacked them, and all the troops collapsed. When Xiao Lun gathered the remaining soldiers, there were nearly a thousand, and he entered Tianbao Temple (天保寺), but Hou Jing pursued him and burned the temple. Thereupon Xiao Lun fled to Zhufang (朱方), his soldiers treading on ice and snow, and at times had their feet amputated due to frostbite. Afterwards Xiao Lun retreated again to Jingkou. Hou Jing seized all of Xiao Lun's baggage and captured some of the marquises, including Xiao Daichun. On the 29th, Hou Jing displayed beneath the city walls the heads and captives of the soldiers under Xiao Lun's command, along with armor, weapons, and Xiao Daichun and others, and had a man announce that Xiao Lun had already been killed by rebel troops.
In 549, Xiao Lun again gathered his scattered soldiers, and together with Xiao Dalian (蕭大連), Governor of Dongyangzhou (東揚州刺史), and Xiao Dasheng and others, all arrived by the eastern route; on the 4th day of the 1st lunar month, they set up camp south of the Heng (桁) and enthroned Liu Zhongli (柳仲禮) as Grand Commander. Liu Zhongli was arrogant and perverse in temperament and character, and he despised and belittled the generals. When Xiao Lun received his superiors, he performed the etiquette of carrying a whip and arriving at the military gate every day, but Liu also shifted the time and did not appear, and because of this Xiao Lun and Xiao Dalian came to harbor deep resentment toward each other. Xiao Dalian also had a rift with Xiao Huo, and the various troops envied and obstructed one another, and they had no intention of fighting. When the relief force first arrived, the scholars and common people of Jiankang supported the elderly and led the young children, awaiting them; but once they had barely crossed the Huai River, they immediately released the troops to threaten and plunder. As a result, the scholars and common people were disappointed, and among Hou Jing's men there were those who had planned to respond to the government forces, but upon hearing this news, they also stopped.
On the 15th day of the 2nd lunar month, the Emperor appointed Xiao Lun Minister of Works (司空). At that time Hou Jing wanted to make peace with the court, and on the 16th he submitted a memorial to the Emperor, using as a pretext that Xiao Lun's relief force was on the southern bank, and requested that he be allowed to cross the Yangtze from Jingkou. On the 24th, Hou Jing again submitted a memorial saying that Xiao Huo and the others were ultimately intent on defeating him, and requested that they be admitted; the Emperor summoned Xiao Huo and the others. When Xiao Huo let the others enter the palace city, he then intended to flee south himself, and Xiao Lun, weeping, tried to speak to Xiao Huo and have him enter; but as Xiao Huo still firmly refused, Xiao Lun became greatly angry and ordered Zhao Bochao to behead Xiao Huo and take his head to order the others to enter; Xiao Huo then finally entered the city weeping.
Afterwards Hou Jing broke his promise to withdraw, but the hearts of the troops still hoped for outside relief. Liu Zhongli only gathered courtesans and concubines and enjoyed himself with pine-tree play, and when the generals requested every day to go out and fight, he did not permit it. Xiao Jun, Marquis of Annan, persuaded Xiao Lun to divide the army into three routes and advance and attack where the enemy did not expect, but he did not follow. Furthermore, Liu Zhongli's father Liu Jin (柳津) climbed the city wall and spoke words rebuking Liu Zhongli, but Liu Zhongli also paid no heed. When the Emperor asked Liu Jin for a plan, he replied that Your Majesty has the Duke of Shaoling, and among the ministers there is Liu Zhongli, yet they do not practice loyalty and filial piety, so how can the bandits be pacified? On the 12th, the city of Jiankang finally fell, and on the 14th Hou Jing dispatched Xiao Dakuan to issue an edict ordering the outside relief forces to disband. When Liu Zhongli consulted the generals about this, Xiao Lun said that today's orders are entrusted to the general. In the end the troops scattered each in the direction from which they had come. Xiao Lun fled to Kuaiji (會稽), and Liu Zhongli and others opened their camps and surrendered, entering the city.
After the Emperor died, Hou Jing valued the bravery of Xiao Huo and always kept him at his side. In the 6th lunar month, Xiao Lun secretly sent people to summon him, and he replied that he was seeking an opportunity to kill Hou Jing and that Xiao Lun should not worry. However, when Xiao Huo went hunting with Hou Jing and drew his bow to kill him, the string snapped and the shot failed, and Hou Jing noticed and killed him. Afterwards, Sima Song Zixian (司徒宋子仙), one of Hou Jing's men, in order to exterminate the remnants of the surviving government forces, first aimed at Xiao Lun and advanced; in the 11th lunar month he defeated Qiantang (錢塘) ahead, crossed the Zhejiang (浙江) River, and reached Kuaiji. Xiao Lun, hearing that Qiantang had already been defeated, came out and fled to Poyang (鄱陽), but Xiao Fan (蕭蕃), Marquis of Kaijian (開建侯) and Inner Historian of Poyang, blocked him with troops, and Xiao Lun advanced, attacked him, and defeated him.
On the 20th day of the 1st lunar month of 550, Xiao Lun arrived at Jiangxia (江夏), and Xiao Ke (蕭恪), Prince of Nanping (南平王) and Governor of Yingzhou (郢州刺史), welcomed him in the suburbs and offered Yingzhou to Xiao Lun, but Xiao Lun did not accept it. Xiao Ke then recommended Xiao Lun for appointment as Holder of the Provisional Yellow Axe and Commander-in-Chief of All Military Affairs Inside and Outside (都督中外諸軍事), and, exercising the authority to act as sovereign's proxy (承制), established the hundred officials. In the 4th lunar month, while Xiao Lun was at Yingzhou, he named the hall of his office the Hall of Proper Sunlight (正陽殿), and all the inner and outer studies (齋閤) were given names. Xiao Lun's subordinates looked down on the military headquarters and committed acts of violence, and among the generals and soldiers of Yingzhou there was no one who did not resent it. Jiangzhongju (江仲擧), Consultant Army Adviser (諮議參軍) and chief strategist of Prince Xiao Ke of Nanping, persuaded Xiao Ke to plot against Xiao Lun, and Xiao Ke was alarmed and said:
Jiang Zhongju did not comply, divided the generals into units, fixed a day, and was about to set out at once; but the plot leaked, and Xiao Lun suppressed and killed him. Xiao Ke, in dismay, went and apologized, and Xiao Lun said:
Afterwards, in the 7th lunar month, Xiao Lun heard that Ren Yue (任約), one of Hou Jing's men, would soon arrive with his army, and ordered Sima Jiang Si'an (蔣思安) to lead five thousand elite troops to ambush him; Ren Yue's army was routed, but afterwards Jiang Si'an did not take precautions again, so when Ren Yue gathered his troops and made a surprise attack, Jiang Si'an was defeated and fled.
Afterwards, when Xiao Yi, Governor of Xiangzhou, attacked his nephew Xiao Yu (蕭譽), Prince Xia of Dong and Governor of Jiangzhou, Xiao Lun, together with Xiao Cha (蕭察), Prince Eyang of Yong and Governor of Yongzhou, who was Xiao Yu's younger brother, sent envoys to Xiao Yi to persuade him and supported Xiao Yu in attacking Xiao Yi. Xiao Yi replied with a letter with the implication that after Xiao Yu died, Xiao Lun would be next, and in the end Xiao Yu was killed and Xiao Yi obtained Jiangzhou; overwhelmed by his power, Xiao Cha surrendered his post at Xiangyang to Western Wei, and Xiao Lun also gathered his troops and returned to his post. Xiao Yi, hearing that Xiao Lun was still powerful, feared him and sent generals and troops to threaten him. Just then Hou Jing also led his army to attack Xiao Lun, and he was finally defeated in battle and fled to Runan (汝南), which was guarded by his former subordinate Li Su (李素). However, Western Wei then launched successive attacks, and he was utterly defeated, the city fell, and he was killed without yielding; his body was abandoned on the riverbank. His nephew Xiao Cha, Prince Eyang, gathered and buried him, and Xiao Yi, who was then ruling as Regent (稱制), upon hearing this news posthumously named Xiao Lun Duke Xiu of Shaoling (邵陵携王).
In 555, after Xiao Cha ascended the throne as emperor, he posthumously conferred on Xiao Lun the title of Grand Minister (太宰), and, differently from the original posthumous name, separately posthumously named him Duke Zhuangwu of Shaoling (邵陵壯武王).
Family
Parents
Father
Mother
- Consort Chonghwa (充華) Lady Ding (丁氏)
Siblings
Elder brothers
- Xiao Tong
- Xiao Zong
- Xiao Gang
- Xiao Ji
- Xiao Su
Younger brothers
- Xiao Yi
- Xiao Ji
Sisters
- Xiao Yuyao
- Xiao Yuwan
- Xiao Yuxian
- Xiao Yuzhi
- Princess Fuyang Dao
- Xiao Yuling
Children
Sons
- Xiao Jian
- Xiao Huo
- Xiao Zhi
Notes