Editing Northern and Southern dynasties (section)

===Liang (502–557)===
{{Main|Liang dynasty}}

[[File:Emperor Wu of Liang.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of [[Emperor Wu of Liang]]]]

Emperor Wu was economical, worked hard at governing, and cared for the common people. His early reign was known as [[Reign of Tianjian]]. The Liang dynasty's military strength gradually surpassed the strength of the Northern Wei, who suffered internal strife due to their policy of [[sinicization]]. In 503, the Northern Wei invaded but were defeated at Zhongli (modern [[Bengbu]]). Emperor Wu supported the Northern Expeditions but did not aggressively take advantage of his victory in 516 at [[Shouyang County|Shouyang]] due to heavy casualties. Given the excessive kin-slaughter in the Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties, Emperor Wu was very lenient to imperial clansmen, not even investigating them when they committed crimes. The Liang reached a cultural peak because he was very learned, supported scholars, and encouraged the flourishing education system. An avid poet, Emperor Wu was fond of gathering many literary talents at court, and even held poetry competitions with prizes of gold or silk for those considered the best.

In his later years, however, sycophants surrounded him. Three times he dedicated his life to Buddhism and tried to become a monk, but each time he was persuaded to return by extravagant court donations to Buddhism. Furthermore, since Buddhists and Daoists were exempt from taxation, nearly half of the population fraudulently named themselves as such, badly damaging state finances. Imperial clansmen and officials were also greedy and wasteful.

Emperor Wu was willing to accept generals who defected from Northern Wei.  So when Northern Wei suffered major revolts in their [[Six Frontier Towns|northern garrison towns]], he sent his general [[Chen Qingzhi]] to support the pretender [[Yuan Hao]]. Despite the fact that Chen was only given 7,000 troops, he still managed to defeat army after army and even captured Luoyang, the capital of Northern Wei. Ultimately, Chen was insufficiently supplied and was defeated by troops ten times his size. After the Northern Wei split into Eastern and Western Wei, Emperor Wu granted asylum to rebel Eastern Wei commander [[Hou Jing]], sending him on Northern Expeditions against Eastern Wei. After some initial successes, Liang forces were decisively defeated. Rumors abounded that Emperor Wu intended to give Hou as a peace offering. Despite Emperor Wu's assurances, Hou decided to rebel in the name of [[Xiao Dong]], the grandson of the former crown prince [[Xiao Tong]] who died in 531 and was removed from being crown prince because of conflicts with his father. Hou surprised Emperor Liang by besieging the Liang capital at Jiankang. Attempts by Liang forces to break the siege failed, and Emperor Wu was forced to negotiate a ceasefire and peace. However, Hou thought that peace was unsustainable, so he broke the ceasefire and captured the palace, leading to the slaughter of the nearby populace. Emperor Wu was starved to death and after the short puppet reigns of crown prince [[Emperor Jianwen of Liang|Xiao Gang]] and Xiao Dong, Hou seized power and established the Han dynasty.

In spite of conquering Jiankang, Hou essentially only controlled the nearby areas. The rest of the Liang dynasty lands were under the control of members of the imperial clan. Their squabbling amongst themselves weakened their efforts to defeat Hou. In the end, Xiao Yi, with the aid of his generals [[Wang Sengbian]] and [[Chen Baxian]], defeated Hou, crowning himself [[Emperor Yuan of Liang]]. His brother [[Xiao Ji]] based in [[Sichuan]], however, was still a major threat. Emperor Yuan asked for assistance from Western Wei to defeat Xiao Ji, but after subduing him, they kept Sichuan. Due to a diplomatic faux pas, he incited the anger of Yuwen Tai, the leading general of Western Wei, which resulted in him being deposed and dying. Western Wei set up the puppet state of [[Western Liang (555–587)|Western Liang]] with capital at Jiangling. Northern Qi also had designs on the Liang throne and sent an expedition under the banner of a cousin of Emperor Yuan. Chen Baxian and Wang Sengbian set up the last surviving son of Emperor Yuan, [[Emperor Jing of Liang|Xiao Fangzhi]], as Liang ruler, but he was not given the imperial title. After some defeats to the forces of Northern Qi, Wang Sengbian allowed their pretender, [[Xiao Yuanming]] to establish himself as Emperor Min of Liang. However, Chen Baxian was displeased with the arrangements, and in a surprise move killed Wang and deposed Emperor Min in favor of Xiao Fangzhi who became Emperor Jing of Liang. After a short reign, Chen deposed Emperor Jing and took power himself as [[Emperor Wu of Chen]] in 557.