Xiao didn't "marry five emperors for a woman": she wrote a euphemistic letter to persuade the emperor.

Compared with the controversial emperor, Xiao is not well-known in history. In later plays and novels, Hou Yaozong was implicated by Emperor Yang Di and was described as a "female curse" with no talent, no virtue and disloyalty. In real history, Hou Yaozong is a traditional woman with soft temperament and high cultural accomplishment. She is neither a femme fatale nor a woman who plays politics.

Xiao Hou was the daughter of Xiao Kui, Ming Di in the Southern Dynasties. Born in February, Jiangnan customs were regarded as ominous, so I was fostered in my uncle's house and lived in poverty for a period of time. Emperor Wendi of Sui Dynasty wanted to choose a concubine for Yang Guang from the nobles of Liang Dynasty. After divination, among many women, only she was a good omen, so he named her a princess. In Sui Shu and Northern History, it is said that Xiao Hou is gentle, intelligent, knowledgeable, literate and knows the art of divination. Before he began to reign, Yang Guang was inseparable from Hou Yaozong in order to please his mother, Queen Dugu. Since he acceded to the throne, he has always had a good relationship with Hou Yaozong, and he has always taken Hou Yaozong with him when traveling around the world.

As the queen of Yang Guang, Hou Yaozong has a strong sense of hardship. She once wrote a book "Narrating Zhi Fu" and gently persuaded Yang Di. In the article, there is no lack of "if you are in a boudoir, your heart is chilling." The epigram that there is danger in a husband's height is full and prevents overflow. When Yang Di went to Jiangdu, there were peasant uprisings everywhere, and the guards plotted to rebel. But Yang Di closed his eyes and put the person who reported the rebellion to death. Later, someone wanted to report it, but Hou Yaozong stopped him, saying too much would only worry the emperor. From then on, the husband and wife were trapped and worried about the city until Yang-ti was killed by Yu Wenhuaji. After Xiao, the maid-in-waiting hurriedly buried Yang-ti with a drawing board and was taken back all the way. On the way, Yu Wenhuaji was killed by Dou Jiande, and Hou Yaozong became a prisoner. At this time, the emperor's sister, Princess Yicheng, who married the Turks, sent someone to meet Xiao, and spent 1 1 year in Saibei, until the fourth year of Tang Zhenguan (630), when Tang Jun defeated the Turks and Xiao returned to Chang 'an. 17 years later, Hou Yaozong died. Emperor Taizong sent someone to send her body to Yangzhou to be buried with Emperor Yang, and posthumous title called it "mourning", which means pity and sadness.

Xiao spent the rest of her life wandering around, which became the material for unofficial history's novels to vilify her "one woman marries five emperors", but these have no historical basis, especially when she returned to Chang 'an, she was over 60 years old and was an aunt of Emperor Taizong, and there was almost no possibility that they had an affair.

20 13 tomb buried with Xiao Hou was discovered in Yangzhou. Emperor Yang Di has only two teeth left, but Hou Yaozong's bones still exist. According to the appraisal, Hou Yaozong is about 1.5 meters tall, and rockhopper, chime, pottery figurines and porcelain have also been unearthed in the tomb.