Background

It is not known when Xiao Cong was born, and his mother's name is also lost in history. All that is known about his birth is that he was either the oldest or the second son of his father Emperor Ming of Western Liang—although the fact that he was initially created the Prince of Dongyang, rather than crown prince, by his father suggests that he was the second son, not the oldest. (If that were the case, his older brother's name is lost to history.) In his youth, he was considered knowledgeable and free-spirited.

It is not known when Xiao Cong was created crown prince, but it must be before 583, when Emperor Ming sent him, as Western Liang's crown prince, to congratulate his suzerain Emperor Wen of Sui on moving his capital from the old city Chang'an to the nearby new capital of Daxing (大興). In 585, Emperor Ming died, and Xiao Cong succeeded to the throne (as Emperor Jing).

Reign

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 (Sui had withdrawn troops from Jiangling in 582, giving Emperor Ming more autonomy than before.)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.

Under Sui Dynasty

Just two years later, in 589, Sui conquered Chen, unifying China. In 594, Emperor Wen, citing the fact that the emperors of Northern Qi, Western Liang, and Chen were not being sacrificed, ordered that the former Northern Qi prince Gao Renying (高仁英), Chen Shubao, and Xiao Cong be given regular supplies so that they could make periodic sacrifices to their ancestors.

In 604, Emperor Wen died, and his son Yang Guang succeeded him (as Emperor Yang). As Emperor Yang's wife Empress Xiao was Xiao Cong's younger sister, Emperor Yang afforded Xiao Cong greater respect and changed his title from Duke of Ju to Duke of Liang. He also commissioned a number of Xiao Cong's relatives as officials. Xiao Cong himself was made a high-level official, but rarely carried out the duties of his office. When Emperor Yang sent the official Yang Yue (楊約), brother of the chancellor Yang Su, to try to encourage Xiao Cong to change his ways, Xiao Cong explained to Yang Yue, in veiled terms, that he did not want to draw attention to himself. Xiao Cong was also known for maintaining his own self-respect, and while he was living away from his ancestral lands, he refused to yield to the great clans of the north, and therefore offended a good number of northern nobles.

In 607, Emperor Yang killed a number of high-level officials—Gao Jiong, Heruo Bi (賀若弼), and Yuwen Bi (宇文弼), for criticizing his large rewards to the submissive Qimin Khan of Tujue. Xiao Cong had a deep friendship with Heruo, and therefore drew Emperor Yang's suspicions, and at the time, there was a popular song which included, in its lyrics, the line, "Xiao Xiao will rise again!" (The lyrics might have meant, "the recession will end.") This caused the superstitious Emperor Yang to suspect Xiao Cong further, and Xiao Cong was removed from his post and died without any offices. His year of death is not known. He might have been sonless, as his nephew Xiao Ju (蕭鉅) inherited the title of Duke of Liang. While it would be customary for dukes to receive posthumous names, Xiao Cong, if he received one from Sui, did not have one recorded in history. In 617, when Xiao Yan's grandson Xiao Xian rebelled against Sui rule and briefly reestablished Liang, he honored Xiao Cong as Emperor Jing.

Era name

• Guangyun (廣運 guǎng yùn) 586-587

Footnotes

生平

蕭琮最早封東陽王，後被立為皇太子。蕭琮博學有才，善於弓馬，個性倜儻不羈。585年即位為西梁皇帝，改年號為廣運。蕭琮即位之後，隋文帝設立江陵總管監視蕭琮的行為；587年，因蕭琮的叔父蕭巖等人帶了一部分居民逃入陳朝，隋文帝徵召蕭琮入朝，當年10月26日廢除西梁國，蕭琮亦被廢為莒國公。西梁也因此滅亡。

蕭琮在隋朝時仍然受到器重，隋煬帝即位後，因為蕭琮是自己的妻兄，對蕭琮更厚待，又封蕭琮為梁公、內史令，蕭琮的親族也有不少被提拔入朝廷為官。當時有童謠說：「蕭蕭亦復起」，導致隋煬帝對蕭琮的猜忌，最後蕭琮被免職，不久後在家中過世。蕭琮死後被贈左光祿大夫，侄蕭鉅續封為梁公。

隋末割據勢力之一的蕭銑，為蕭琮之堂姪，並在稱帝之後追諡蕭琮為孝靖皇帝。

家族

妻

• 夫人蔡氏，貞觀十三年五月四日（639年6月10日）卒

後世

• 蕭鉉，襄城通守。

　• 蕭儀，太子僕。

　　• 蕭慥

　　　• 蕭貝娘（676年—708年4月10日），唐洛州合宮縣丞魏承休妻。