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Yuwen Huaji
Sui courtier, son of Yuwen Shu, who led the 618 mutiny at Jiangdu that killed Emperor Yang, proclaimed himself emperor of Xu and was executed by Dou Jiande
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.
Yuwen Huaji was the eldest son of the Sui minister Yuwen Shu; the History of the Northern Dynasties (Beishi) says the family's ancestors were named Poyetou, served a Xianbei chief and took the name Yuwen from their master. Violent and lawless, he rode through Chang'an shooting pellets and was known as a frivolous young lord, and was dismissed more than once for taking bribes. In the third month of 618, when the guard units stranded with Emperor Yang at Jiangdu longed to go home, Sima Dekan and others plotted a mutiny and made him their leader; the emperor was strangled, and Yuwen set up Yang Hao as puppet emperor and led over a hundred thousand men north. Beaten by Li Mi at Tongshan, he fell back on Weixian, saying a man must die anyway, so why not be emperor for a day, poisoned Yang Hao and proclaimed himself emperor of Xu. In 619 Dou Jiande took Liaocheng and executed him with two of his sons.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–619 CE