Empress Yang (楊皇后, personal name unknown) (died 401), formally Empress Mu (穆皇后, literally "the solemn empress"), was an empress of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

/ Di state Later Liang. Her husband was

Lü Zuan Lü Zuan (; died 401), courtesy name Yongxu (永緒), formally Emperor Ling of (Later) Liang ((後)涼靈帝), was an emperor of the Di-led Later Liang dynasty of China. He was the oldest son of the founding emperor Lü Guang (Emperor Yiwu), b ...

(Emperor Ling).

Life

She was the daughter of the Later Liang official Yang Huan (楊桓), who was likely ethnically

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

, and was described to be very beautiful. It is not known when she married Lü Zuan. When he was assassinated by his cousin

Lü Chao Lü Chao (March 9, 1890 July 20, 1951), born in Xuzhou Fu, Yibin County, Sichuan, was a military and political figure in the early Republic of China's Warlord Era, active in his home province of Sichuan. He is known for fighting against Liu C ...

(呂超) in 401, she initially tried to organize the palace guards to resist Lü Chao and his brother

Lü Long Lü Long (; died 416), courtesy name Yongji (永基), was the last emperor of the Di-led Chinese Later Liang dynasty. He was the nephew of the founding emperor Lü Guang (Emperor Yiwu), and he took the throne after his brother Lü Chao (呂超) ...

, but after the official Du Shang (杜尚) urged them to stop, they deserted her. Lü Chao's subordinate, the general Wei Yiduo (魏益多) then entered the palace and cut off the head from Lü Zuan's body. She commented, "When a man is dead, he is like dirt and stones and no longer has any feelings. Why do you wish to destroy his form as well?" Wei then cursed at her. Lü Chao demanded that she turn over the imperial seal, but she responded that she had already destroyed it. She subsequently left the palace, and as she was leaving, Lü Chao, believing that she might leave with treasures, tried to intercept her, and she told Lü Chao: "You and your brother unrighteously slaughtered your own clansman. I will soon be dead, and why would I want treasures?" Lü Long subsequently took the throne, and Lü Chao became his prime minister. Lü Chao wanted to marry Empress Yang because of her beauty, and he warned Yang Huan, "If the empress committed suicide, great disasters will come to your household." Yang Huan told her of the threat, but she responded, "You sold me to the Di for wealth and power. It is enough to sell me once; how can you sell me twice?" She then committed suicide. Fearful that Lü Chao might carry out his threat, Yang Huan fled to Southern Liang's prince

Tufa Lilugu Tufa Lilugu (; died April or May 402Volume 112 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'' recorded that Tufa Lilugu died in the 3rd month of the 1st year of the ''Yuanxing'' era of Sima Dezong's reign. This corresponds to 18 Apr to 17 May 402 on the Julian calendar.), ...

References

Later Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) empresses 401 deaths Year of birth unknown Suicides in Later Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) {{china-royal-stub