Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Tuoba Gui
Founder of the Northern Wei who revived the Tuoba state at fifteen, crushed the Later Yan at Canhepo, made Pingcheng his capital and was murdered by his own son
In a side chamber of a palace, a yellow ceremonial robe embroidered with a dragon hangs on a wooden stand, its hem worked with waves and rocks, before a carved folding screen, while a black lacquer chest sits on a low table by a lattice window and no person is in view.
Also known as Daowu Di
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
Tuoba Gui, grandson of Shiyijian, king of Dai, was born in 371. When Former Qin destroyed Dai in 376 his mother took him among the Dugu and Helan tribes. After Qin's collapse he was proclaimed king of Dai at Niuchuan early in 386, taking the reign title Dengguo, and soon renamed his state Wei. In 395 he crushed the Later Yan heir Murong Bao at Canhepo and buried tens of thousands of prisoners alive; under the title Huangshi he went on to take Bing province and the Yan capital Zhongshan. In 398 he made Pingcheng his capital, settled the tribes as households and declared himself emperor, later adopting the title Tianci. Grown suspicious and violent, he was murdered in 409 by his second son Tuoba Shao; first named Xuanwu with the temple name Liezu, he was renamed Daowu and Taizu under Emperor Xiaowen. Before naming Tuoba Si his heir he had the boy's mother put to death, a rule the Northern Wei court went on following.
Life and times
Dates 371 CE–409 CE