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Mu Tipo (; died November 577), né Luo Tipo (), was an ethnic
Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were an ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multiling ...
official of the Chinese Northern Qi dynasty. He was a close associate of the emperor Gao Wei, and during the latter part of Gao Wei's reign controlled the political scene along with his mother Lu Lingxuan, and the other favorites of Gao Wei, Han Zhangluan and Gao Anagong. In 577, in the midst of a major attack by rival
Northern Zhou Zhou (), known in historiography as the Northern Zhou (), was a Xianbei-led Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of China that lasted from 557 to 581. One of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties of China's ...
, Mu surrendered to
Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother ( empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rul ...
and was made a provincial governor, but after Northern Zhou destroyed Northern Qi and took over its territory, Emperor Wu falsely accused Mu of conspiring with Gao Wei, and killed Mu and forced Gao Wei and other members of the Gao clan to commit suicide.


Background

It is not known when Luo Tipo was born. He was describe as "from
Hanyang Commandery Tianshui Commandery ( zh, 天水郡), known as Hanyang Commandery ( zh, 漢陽郡) during the Eastern Han dynasty, was a historical commandery of China in eastern Gansu. The modern city of Tianshui receives its name from the commandery. History Th ...
" (roughly modern
Tianshui Tianshui is a prefecture-level city in Gansu province, China, and is the province's second-largest city (behind the provincial capital Lanzhou). Located in the southeast of the province, the city strides along the upper reaches of the Wei River a ...
,
Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...
), but it is unclear whether this meant he was born there or merely that his ancestry was from there. Early in his life, his father Luo Chao () was accused of treason and executed, and both he and his mother Lu Lingxuan were seized and taken into the
Northern Qi Qi, known as the Northern Qi (), Later Qi (後齊) or Gao Qi (高齊) in historiography, was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty and one of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties during the ...
palace to be servants. Lady Lu eventually became the
wet nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeding, breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, if she is unable to nurse the child herself sufficiently or chooses not to do so. Wet-nursed children may be known a ...
to Gao Wei, the son of then-Prince of Changguang Gao Zhan, born in 557, and she became a close associate to Gao Zhan's wife Princess Hu. In 561, Gao Zhan became emperor (as Emperor Wucheng), and in 565, to deflect ill omens, he passed the throne to Gao Wei, although he retained imperial powers as '' Taishang Huang'' (retired emperor).


During Gao Wei's reign

After Gao Wei became emperor, Lady Lu, as the young emperor's wet nurse, took the opportunity to take Luo Tipo into the palace to be Gao Wei's playmate, and Gao Wei and Luo Tipo became close friends, carrying out all kinds of activities together. Gao Wei, particularly after Emperor Wucheng's death in 569, therefore continuously promoted him, eventually becoming a high-level official and being created the Prince of Chengyang. As Lady Lu wanted to flatter one of Gao Wei's favorite
concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...
s, Consort Mu Sheli, she volunteered to be Consort Mu's adoptive mother, and went as far as having Lu Tipo change his name to Mu Tipo. In 571, Mu Tipo and Empress Dowager Hu's lover He Shikai, believing that Gao Wei's younger brother Gao Yan the Prince of Langye was displeased at them for their corruption, tried to reduce Gao Yan's power by having him move out of the palace. In response, Gao Yan killed He Shikai and gathered his troops, intending to kill Mu and Lady Lu as well, although he was captured when the powerful general Hulü Guang refused to support him. At the suggestion of Lady Lu and Zu Ting, Gao Wei put Gao Yan to death later that year. By 572, both Zu and Mu were in dispute with Hulü—Zu over several instances where Hulü believed that Zu disrespected him and making disparaging remarks about Zu's being blind, and Mu over Hulü's refusal to allow him to marry one of Hulü's daughters by a concubine and Hulü's opposition to Gao Wei's granting of some public fields to Mu. That year, Zu falsely accused Hulü of treason, and Gao Wei executed Hulü and massacred almost all members of his clan. Mu's involvement in Zu's accusation is unclear, although it appeared that Mu's mother Lady Lu was involved.) After Hulü's death, Lady Lu and Mu were described as being so powerful that they were involved in all key decisions whether in government or in the palace. Mu himself was described as exceedingly corrupt and wasteful in his lifestyle, although he was also praised for being kind and not malicious to others. By 573, he, Han Zhangluan, and Gao Anagong were known as the "Three Nobles," and were in control of government. Further, by this point, Consort Mu had become empress, and she considered Lady Lu her mother and Mu Tipo her brother, making him even more honored than before. Meanwhile, Zu, trying to streamline government, was running into opposition by Mu and Lady Lu, and therefore tried to have them removed by accusing Mu's associate Wang Zichong () of corruption, hoping to drag Mu into the case. However, Lady Lu realized what was happening and therefore suppressed the case against Wang. She then worked with Han, who also despised Zu, to have Zu expelled from government. At one point, however, both Mu Tipo and Han were removed from office over their diversion of imperial construction personnel from their project of repairing the palace at the secondary capital Jinyang (, in modern
Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...
,
Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...
) to repairing their own homes, although Mu appeared to soon return to power. Also in 573, rival
Chen dynasty The Chen dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Chen (南陳 / 南朝陳) in historiography, was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty and the fourth and last of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern dynasties, ...
launched a major attack on Northern Qi, capturing the territory between the
Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
and the
Huai River The Huai River, formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in East China, about long with a drainage area of . It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins ...
. Late in 573, the important city Shouyang (, in modern Lu'an,
Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...
) fell into Chen hands. When news arrived, Mu and Han were gambling together, and they did not stop their gambling, only stating, "It was their land; let them take it back." (Northern Qi's predecessor state
Eastern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Eastern Wei (), was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei dynasty. One of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Nor ...
had seized the territory from Chen's predecessor
Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () or Xiao Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was pre ...
in 549.) Further, despite the losses, Mu Tipo and Han advocated continued epicurean lifestyle on Gao Wei's and their own parts, with Mu famously stating, "Even if we lost all territory south of the
Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...
, we can still be like Qiuzi a city state in modern Xinjiang)">Xinjiang.html" ;"title="a city state in modern Xinjiang">a city state in modern Xinjiang) But what is more piteous is that a human life is like borrowed time, and we should use all this short period to seek pleasure. Why worry about Shouyang?" Gao Wei agreed, and continued to spend his days feasting. (During the campaign, agrarian rebels seeking to join the Chen cause attacked Northern Xu Province (, roughly modern Linyi, Shandong), where Zu had been demoted to become the governor of, and Mu, still hating Zu, refused to send troops to aid him, hoping that the province would fall and Zu would be killed, but Zu was able to resist the rebel troops.) In winter 576,
Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother ( empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rul ...
launched a major attack against Northern Qi, capturing Pingyang (, in modern
Linfen Linfen () is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shanxi province, People's Republic of China, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the west. Linfen City is located in the southern part of Shanxi Province, with the remaining branches of T ...
,
Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...
). Around the new year 577, Gao Wei led an army to try to siege and recapture Pingyang, and Emperor Wu led an army to try to lift the siege. The armies engaged, but as they did, Gao Wei's then-favorite concubine Consort Feng Xiaolian panicked and stated, "We have been defeated!" This caused Mu, attending to Gao Wei, to panic as well, and he advised Gao Wei to abandon his army. Gao Wei did and fled to Jinyang, causing the army to collapse. Gao Wei then abandoned Jinyang as well and fled back to the capital Yecheng.


Death

However, instead of following Gao Wei back to Yecheng, Mu headed west and surrendered to Northern Zhou forces. When Lady Lu heard this, she committed suicide, and her family members were executed or seized as servants. Northern Zhou's Emperor Wu made Mu the governor of Yi Province (, roughly modern Tongchuan,
Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...
), and used his case as propaganda to try to get other Northern Qi officials to surrender. Later in 577, Gao Wei was captured, and Northern Qi territory was nearly all seized by Northern Zhou. Emperor Wu initially treated Gao Wei with honor and created him the Duke of Wen, taking Gao Wei and the Gao clan members back to the Northern Zhou capital
Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...
with him. However, in winter 577, apprehensive about the Gao clan, Emperor Wu falsely accused Gao Wei and Mu Tipo of conspiring. He put Mu to death and forced Gao Wei and the other Gao clan members to commit suicide.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mu, Tipo Northern Qi generals 577 deaths Northern Qi government officials Year of birth unknown People executed by Northern Zhou 6th-century executions