page_title: Xiao Cong
section_title: Reign
hierarchical_section_title: Xiao Cong / Reign
caption_attribution_description: English: Map showing Northern Qi, Northern Zhou and Chen 中文（中国大陆）‎: 南北朝：北齐、北周、陈
context_page_description: Emperor Jing of Liang, personal name Xiao Cong, courtesy name Wenwen, known during the Sui dynasty as the Duke of Ju then Duke of Liang, was the final emperor of the Chinese Western Liang dynasty. He died at an unknown date after 607, by which time he was at least into middle age. Both he and his father Emperor Ming heavily relied on the military support of the Sui. In 587, after Emperor Jing's uncle Xiao Yan and brother Xiao Huan, surrendered to Chen Dynasty after suspecting Sui intentions, Emperor Wen of Sui abolished Western Liang, seized the Western Liang territory, and made Emperor Jing one of his officials, ending Western Liang.
context_section_description: In 585, Emperor Jing sent his general Qi Xin (戚昕) to attack Chen Dynasty's city of Gong'an (公安, in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), but Qi was unable to capture Gong'an and forced to withdraw.
  Also in 585, Sui's Emperor Wen, upon hearing that Emperor Jing's uncle Xiao Cen (蕭岑) the Prince of Wu Commandery was relying on his honored position and difficult to control, summoned Xiao Cen to Daxing and detained him there, although creating him the Duke of Huaiyi.  Thereafter, Emperor Wen also reestablished the post of the Commandant of Jiangling (Western Liang's capital) and posted troops at Jiangling, effectively reasserting control over Western Liang.  (Sui had withdrawn troops from Jiangling in 582, giving Emperor Ming more autonomy than before.)  Perhaps because of this, Emperor Jing's general Xu Shiwu (許世武) secretly offered to submit to the Chen general Chen Huiji (陳慧紀) the Marquess of Yihuang (the cousin to Chen's emperor Chen Shubao), but Emperor Jing discovered Xu's plot and executed him.
  In 587, Emperor Wen summoned Emperor Jing to Daxing to visit him.  Emperor Jing led a train of some 200 officials, but as he was departing Jiangling, the people of Jiangling, believing that he would be detained and not be able to return, wept bitterly.  Emperor Wen, claiming that he feared for Jiangling's safety in Emperor Jing's absence, sent his general Cui Hongdu (崔弘度) the Duke of Wuxiang to Jiangling.  When Cui arrived in the nearby Ruo Province (鄀州, roughly modern Yichang, Hubei), Emperor Jing's uncle Xiao Yan and brother Xiao Huan, suspicious that Cui was instead planning to attack, sent the official Shen Jungong (沈君公, uncle of Chen Shubao's Empress Shen Wuhua) to Chen Huiji, offering to surrender.  Chen Huiji quickly arrived at Jiangling, and Xiao Yan and Xiao Huan led the people of Jiangling in leaving the city and fleeing into Chen territory.
  When Emperor Wen heard of this, he issued an edict abolishing Western Liang.  He sent his official Gao Jiong to Jiangling to pacify the people who remained and to post guards to tend to the tombs of Emperor Ming and Emperor Ming's father Emperor Xuan.  The former Emperor Jing was created the Duke of Ju.
caption: Map showing the location of Western Liang in 570
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