Yuwen Yong

Also known as Zimi Luotu

Yuwen Yong, courtesy name Miluotu, was the fourth son of the Western Wei strongman Yuwen Tai and was made Duke of Lu under the Northern Zhou. In 560 his cousin Yuwen Hu poisoned Emperor Ming, and Yuwen Yong took the throne under Ming's dying instructions, reigning from the next year as Baoding while Yuwen Hu ran the state. In the spring of 572 he struck Yuwen Hu down with a jade tablet in the Hanren Hall, had him killed, and took power himself under the new title Jiande. In 574 he banned both Buddhism and Daoism, ordering scriptures and images destroyed and monks and priests returned to lay life, and set up an institute to study the three teachings. Leading his armies against the Northern Qi in the winter of 576, he took Jinzhou and Jinyang, and early in 577 captured Ye and the Qi ruler Gao Wei. Falling ill on a campaign against the Turks, he died in 578 aged thirty-six; his tomb, shared with his Turkish empress, was excavated at Xianyang in 1994.