Early career

Husi Chun was a Xianbeified Chile, and his ancestors were tribal chiefs under Northern Wei's predecessor state Dai. During the reign of Emperor Xiaoming, Husi Chun's father Husi Zu (斛斯足) was one of the directors of husbandry—a mid-low level office in the imperial administration. At that time, Northern Wei was greatly affected by agrarian rebellions, and Husi Chun decided to take his household to follow the general Erzhu Rong. He served with distinction under Erzhu, showing tactical talent, and Erzhu made him a close associate. He participated in Erzhu's later plot with Emperor Xiaoming to try to overthrow Emperor Xiaoming's mother and regent Empress Dowager Hu. After Emperor Xiaoming's plot was discovered by Empress Dowager Hu in 528, Empress Dowager Hu poisoned Emperor Xiaoming to death and made his distant nephew, the toddler Yuan Zhao, emperor. Erzhu, with Husi serving as one of his advisors, refused to recognize Yuan Zhao as emperor and instead marched on the capital Luoyang, capturing it. He threw Empress Dowager Hu and Yuan Zhao into the Yellow River to drown, and installed Yuan Ziyou the Prince of Changle as emperor. For Husi's contributions to the campaign, he was created the Duke of Yangqu, and later was made the governor of Eastern Xu Province (東徐州, part of modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu).

In 530, Emperor Xiaozhuang, believing that Erzhu Rong would eventually seize the throne, ambushed and killed him. The members of Erzhu Rong's clan, led by his wife the Princess Beixiang, his cousin Erzhu Shilong, and his nephew Erzhu Zhao, waged a campaign against Emperor Xiaozhuang. During this campaign, rival Liang Dynasty's Emperor Wu created the Wei prince Yuan Yue (元悅) the Prince of Ru'nan, a son of Emperor Xiaowen, the Prince of Wei, and commissioned an army to escort him back to Northern Wei to try to take the throne. Husi, who was fearful after Erzhu Rong's death, decided to surrender to Yuan Yue, and Yuan Yue made him his commander in chief. Later that year, however, after the Erzhus captured and killed Emperor Xiaozhuang, Yuan Yue believed that he would be unable to contend with them, and therefore retreated back to Liang. Instead of following Yuan Yue to Liang, Husi fled and submitted to Erzhu Zhao.

Involvement in the destruction of the Erzhus

In spring 531, Husi Chun participated in Erzhu Shilong's plot to depose Yuan Ye (a distant member of the imperial Yuan clan and Princess Beixiang's nephew, whom the Erzhus had declared emperor during the war against Emperor Xiaozhuang to compete with Emperor Xiaozhuang) and make Yuan Gong the Prince of Guangling, a grandson of Emperor Xianwen, emperor instead (as Emperor Jiemin), and for that participation was created the greater title of Duke of Chengyang. Husi, who became convinced that Erzhu Zhao was being overly violent and autocratic, tried to ask, along with Heba Sheng (賀拔勝), Erzhu Shilong to try to persuade Erzhu Zhao to change his ways. Erzhu Shilong refused and was displeased with the advice. He wanted to kill Husi, but Erzhu Tianguang, another prominent member of the Erzhu clan, interceded and saved Husi.

In summer 531, the general Gao Huan, believing the Erzhus to have lost popularity by their corruption, declared a rebellion, and when the Erzhu forces converged to fight him, Gao spread rumors effectively to cause the Erzhus to suspect each other of treachery. During an attempt by Erzhu Shilong's brother Erzhu Zhongyuan (爾朱仲遠) to try to persuade Erzhu Zhao of good faith, Erzhu Zhongyuan sent Husi and Heba to Erzhu Zhao's camp to explain, and Erzhu Zhao detained them and wanted to kill them. Only with much pleading from both did Erzhu Zhao spare them.

After Husi and Heba returned to Luoyang, however, they began to have second thoughts about continuing to follow the Erzhus. In 532, Husi and Heba planned to have the Erzhus converge, so that they could all be destroyed at the same time—and they persuaded Erzhu Shilong to demand Erzhu Tianguang (who, as of that point, had not engaged himself into the campaign against Gao) to join them in the campaign. Subsequently, Gao defeated the combined forces of the Erzhus, and after the Erzhus' defeat, Husi and the generals Jia Xiandu (賈顯度) and Jia Xianzhi (賈顯智) quickly arrived back at Luoyang first and declared a revolt against the Erzhus, killing Erzhu Shilong and Erzhu Shilong's brother Erzhu Yanbo (爾朱彥伯), while capturing Erzhu Tianguang and another brother of Erzhu Shilong's, Erzhu Dulü (爾朱度律), delivering them to Gao. Gao had them beheaded.

Gao, who had declared another distant member of the Yuan clan, Yuan Lang, emperor during his rebellion against the Erzhus, now believed that due to Yuan Lang's lineage, distant from recent emperors, he was not suitable to be emperor. He flirted with the ideas of allowing Emperor Jiemin to remain emperor or making Yue Yue, whom he welcomed back from Liang, emperor, but ultimately rejected both ideas. Instead, he had Husi seek out Emperor Xiaowen's grandson Yuan Xiu the Prince of Pingyang to offer him the throne. After some persuasion by Husi and Gao, Yuan Xiu accepted the throne (as Emperor Xiaowu).

Under Emperors Xiaowu and Wen

Emperor Xiaowu came to trust Husi Chun quickly and entrusted much governmental responsibility to him. Meanwhile, Husi Chun heard that Gao Huan executed two generals—Qiao Ning (喬寧) and Zhang Ziqi (張子期) -- accusing them of having first serving the Erzhus and then betraying them. Because he himself followed that pattern, he feared that he would be next, and therefore he, along with Emperor Xiaowu's close associate Wang Sizheng (王思政), suggested Emperor Xiaowu to try to find ways to free himself of Gao's grip on power. Under Husi's suggestion, Emperor Xiaowu tried to rebuild the imperial army, selecting the best soldiers for the army. Also under his suggestion, Emperor Xiaowu endeared himself to the general Heba Yue (賀拔岳, Heba Sheng's brother), who controlled the western provinces, and further commissioned Heba Sheng with the command of the southern provinces, intending to depend on the Hebas to resist Gao.

In spring 534, after Gao persuaded Heba Yue's lieutenant Houmochen Yue (侯莫陳悅) to assassinate Heba Yue, Heba Yue's assistant Yuwen Tai took over Heba Yue's army and defeated Houmochen Yue, who committed suicide. With Husi encouraging him, Emperor Xiaowu fostered a relationship with Yuwen, planning to attack Gao with him and Heba Sheng. Gao, hearing the news, marched on Luoyang, and initially, Husi advocated resisting Gao militarily while waiting for reinforcement from Yuwen and Heba Sheng, but Emperor Xiaowu, agreeing with Wang Sizheng that the imperial army was not strong enough to resist Gao's, chose to flee west to Yuwen's territory instead, reestablishing the imperial government at Yuwen's headquarters in Chang'an. Husi followed him. Gao declared Emperor Xiaowu's distant nephew Yuan Shanjian emperor (as Emperor Xiaojing), effectively dividing the empire into Eastern Wei (with Emperor Xiaojing as emperor) and Western Wei (with Emperor Xiaowu still ruling).

Emperor Xiaowu awarded Husi's faithfulness with the greater title of Duke of Changshan and also promoted his official rank. Soon, however, Emperor Xiaowu had a fallout with Yuwen, over Yuwen's refusal to condone his incestuous relationships with his cousins and killing of one of those cousins that he had an affair with, Yuan Mingyue (元明月) the Princess Pingyang. Around the new year 535, Yuwen poisoned him to death and declared his cousin Yuan Baoju the Prince of Nanyang (the Princess Pingyang's brother) emperor (as Emperor Wen). Husi continued to serve Emperor Wen in an honorary role, but did not appear to wield much actual power, which largely rested in Yuwen's hands. He died in 537. He was given the rare honor of having the emperor personally attend his wake, and he was posthumously awarded the title of Prince of Changshan.

家族

斛斯椿的祖父名為斛斯延，父親斛斯疋，鮮卑名貸敦，孝明帝時期擔任左牧令，後因斛斯椿貴寵而拜揚州刺史、車騎將軍、加儀同三司。

生平

斛斯椿個性善於巧言諂媚，北魏正光五年（524年）開始，六鎮、河西地區亂事紛起，斛斯椿舉家投靠爾朱榮，頗得爾朱榮的喜好，當時軍中的機密軍謀，斛斯椿皆有所籌劃，孝莊帝即位之後，擔任大將軍府司馬，封陽曲縣公，曾隨爾朱榮征討葛榮、元顥，後出任東徐州刺史、征東將軍。

永安三年（530年）九月，爾朱榮遭殺害，斛斯椿率部眾棄州歸附當時停駐在魏、梁邊境的元悅，授尚書左僕射，司空公。十二月爾朱兆攻入洛陽，又歸爾朱兆。後參與擁立節閔帝的計畫，因此拜驃騎大將軍，加開府儀同三司，封城陽郡公，爾朱氏當時專擅國權，爾朱兆、爾朱世隆、爾朱度律等人又互相猜疑，斛斯椿經常居中調解，因懼怕爾朱氏敗滅後禍及於身，便和賀拔勝共謀翦除爾朱氏，斛斯椿遊說爾朱世隆，招集爾朱天光等軍隊攻打高歡，中興二年（532年）閏三月，高歡在韓陵擊敗爾朱氏軍隊，斛斯椿對賈顯智說：「如果不先執爾朱氏，我們便死無葬身之地了。」於是和賈顯智在桑下達成協議，急速趕回洛陽北中城，收捕爾朱部曲盡殺之，並俘虜爾朱天光、爾朱度律。又命其弟斛斯元壽、長孫承業、張歡、賈顯智等人收爾朱世隆、彥伯兄弟，斬於洛陽閶闔門外，後執送天光、度律以及世隆兄弟首級予高歡。在殺了爾朱世隆兄弟後斛斯椿將他們的首級懸掛在自家樹上，父親斛斯足看到，對斛斯椿說：「你和爾朱氏們約為兄弟，今天何以忍心將他們的首級懸掛在家門口？難道不愧對天地！」

中興二年（532年）四月，高歡入洛陽，斛斯椿曾與賀拔勝討論圖謀高歡，但被賀拔勝制止。由於斛斯椿先前曾數次反叛，又聽聞爾朱仲遠的部下橋寧、張子期在投降之後被高歡處死，內心不安，在孝武帝即位之後，與南陽王元寶炬、王思政等人密勸元修對付高歡，開始增加禁衛武官和禁軍的人數，當時朝廷的軍謀朝政，皆取決於斛斯椿。

永熙三年（534年），元修和高歡決裂，六月，高歡率兵自晉陽南下，當年七月，元修率十萬軍隊屯於河橋，以斛斯椿為前鋒，列陣於邙山之北。斛斯椿請兵精騎兩千夜渡河流掩襲高歡，但元修害怕斛斯椿事成後會成為高歡第二，拒絕了這個建議，斛斯椿嘆息說：「近來火星入於南斗，陛下又聽信左右的間言，不採用我的計策，這難道是天意嗎？」元修派斛斯椿、長孫稚、潁川王元斌之鎮守虎牢，長孫子彥鎮守陝，賈顯智、斛斯元壽鎮守滑台。賈顯智卻投降高歡，大都督侯幾紹戰死，東面部隊混亂，高歡趁機領軍渡河。元斌之先是與斛斯椿不和，於是引兵回河橋並欺騙說：「高歡兵已至！」孝武帝急命斛斯椿撤退，一同出逃投奔宇文泰。宇文泰護送元修至長安，斛斯椿跟隨之。入長安後，拜官尚書令、侍中、封常山郡公。

西魏大統元年（535年），斛斯椿解尚書令，轉為太保，此為宇文泰架空斛斯椿權力的手段，隔年（536年）又升為太傅，大統三年（537年）去世，享年四十三歲。元寶炬曾賜予斛斯椿數間店鋪與耕牛，斛斯椿當時認為國難未平，不可與百姓爭利，只接受耕牛，宰殺來犒饗將士。斛斯椿過世的時候，家無餘財。

家庭

兄弟

• 斛斯元壽，豫州刺史，封桑乾縣公。

兒子

• 斛斯悅，太中大夫。

• 斛斯恢，北周散騎常侍，封新蔡郡公。

• 斛斯徵，北周大宗伯，上大將軍，封岐國公。

• 斛斯演，被高歡殺害。

注釋