Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei
Tuoba Tao appears to have been separated from his mother Consort Du from a young age for an unknown reason, and was raised by his wet nurse Lady Dou instead.
When Tuoba Tao knew about the situation regarding his mother, he became very mournful, which earned him the praise of his father Emperor Mingyuan.
As a result, Northern Wei lacked a sufficient taxpaying population, leading to greater demand on those who did pay tax and provide labour.
Emperor Taiwu properly assigned the unregistered households to local tax registers, solving the issue.
(Upon recovering Daxi Jin from Xia captivity, Emperor Taiwu punished him for his failures by temporarily making him the imperial porter in charge of serving meals, but soon pardoned him and restored him to his princely title.)
(Emperor Taiwu, in another action typical of him, rewarded the Liu Song general Zhu Xiuzhi (朱脩之), who had held Huatai for months faithfully, by giving him a daughter of an imperial clan member in marriage.)
Emperor Taiwu granted the soldiers who partook in these campaigns a ten-year exemption from taxes and government service.
He also granted the conquered people of Xia a seven-year exemption from taxes and government service in order to appease them.
(Based on subsequent events, it appeared to be a proposal of marriage between a son of his and a daughter of Emperor Wen's, but by this point it was not completely clear.)
He also created one of Helian Bobo's daughters as his empress, and his oldest son Tuoba Huang, by his deceased concubine Consort Helan, crown prince.
In spring 434, Helian Chang, for reasons lost to history, fled out of Pingcheng and apparently tried to start a rebellion.
Emperor Taiwu, not believing in Feng Hong's offer, refused, and prepared a final assault.
Goguryeo's King Jangsu refused, albeit humbly requesting to serve Emperor Taiwu together with Feng Hong.
Emperor Taiwu, at the suggestion of his brother Tuoba Pi (拓拔丕) the Prince of Leping, did not immediately carry out a campaign against Goguryeo.
At Cui Hao's insistence, however, Emperor Taiwu believed that he could conquer Northern Liang, and he launched the campaign.
He quickly reached the Northern Liang capital Guzang (姑臧, in modern Wuwei, Gansu) in the fall, capturing it after a short siege.
After the conquest of Northern Liang, the scholar Chang Shuang (常爽) established an academy and attracted students.
An anti Buddhist plan was concocted by the Celestial Masters under Kou Qianzhi along with Cui Hao under the Taiwu Emperor.
[11] There was no ban on the Celestial Masters despite the nofullfilment of Cui Hao and Kou Qianzhi's agenda in their anti Buddhist campaign.
From that point on, Emperor Taiwu began to listen to Crown Prince Huang's advice in earnest, and in winter 443, he authorized Crown Prince Huang to carry out all imperial duties except the most important ones, under assistance from Qiumuling Shou (丘穆陵壽), Cui, Zhang Li (張黎), and Tuxi Bi.
Further, because Dugu implicated them while being interrogated, fellow officials Zhang Song (張嵩) and Kudi Lin (庫狄鄰) were also put to death.
In 445, with Emperor Taiwu's distant cousin Tuoba Na (拓拔那) the Prince of Gaoliang in pursuit, Murong Muliyan fled west and occupied Yutian (Khotan).
In fall 445, responding to prophecies that "Wu" would destroy Wei, a Lushuihu man, Gai Wu, started an uprising against Northern Wei at Xingcheng (杏城, in modern Yan'an, Shaanxi), and he was quickly joined by a large number of other "Hu" and Han people.
Also in 446, Emperor Taiwu began a major construction project, conscripting 100,000 labourers from four provinces to build a large enclosing wall around the capital of Pingcheng to fortify it against Rouran attacks.
In autumn 448, Emperor Taiwu ordered that all central and regional armies enforce martial law.
In winter of that year, because Emperor Taiwu considered the wedding and funerals of the time to be overly extravagant, he ordered that officials establish limits on the rites of these events.
With the popular support lost, he was unable to capture Huatai quickly, and as Emperor Taiwu arrived, the Liu Song forces collapsed.
This campaign appeared to heavily wear out both empires and demonstrated the cruel parts of Emperor Taiwu's personality well, as Sima Guang described it in this manner: Another part of Emperor Taiwu's personality that was revealed as how, even as the states were engaging wars, he was maintaining formal protocols of détente.
(How Zang aggravated him was by sending him urine when he requested wine, thus breaking the pattern of formal exchanges of gifts.)
Therefore, he ordered the officials You Ya (游雅) and Hu Fanghui (胡方回) to revise the legal code.
