Yuwen Jue

Also known as Zituo Luoni

Yuwen Jue, courtesy name Tuoluoni, was the third son of the Western Wei strongman Yuwen Tai by a Wei princess and was named his heir. When Yuwen Tai died in 556, his nephew Yuwen Hu took charge as regent and forced the last Western Wei emperor to abdicate, and in the first month of 557 Yuwen Jue became Heavenly King of a new state called Zhou, counting years from his accession without a reign title. Yuwen Hu kept all power in his own hands; when the senior ministers Zhao Gui and Dugu Xin plotted against him they were killed, and when the young king himself conspired with Li Zhi and Sun Heng, Yuwen Hu deposed him in the ninth month, demoted him to Duke of Lueyang and shut him in his old mansion. He was murdered a little over a month later, aged fifteen. After Emperor Wu put Yuwen Hu to death, he restored his brother's honours with the title Emperor Xiaomin.