Renmeng of Amqi

Empress Renmeng (Sengwō Rēnmēň; 17 August 439 - 9 December 506), born Hingdow Bowu (Hiňdōw Bowū) was the 25th Crescent Empress and an Empress Consort as spouse of Emperor Rawňai. She is mostly known in the outside as Renmeng of Amqi, making reference to her province of birth and using her chosen reigning name.

Renmeng's reign spanned 16 years from 653 to 669, the longest reign of the Age of Silver. Her reign was marked by the military and territorial expansion of the Empire, taking back lands that had been taken from the Crescent Empire by the Boyyin in the First Saffron War. She is known for being the first Crescent Sovereign not to be born into the Clan of Ath; she belonged to an important clan in the Amqi province, the Clan of Hingdow. She ascended the throne as the widow of Emperor Rawngai, instead of having her son, Crown Prince Gwoci ascend to the throne and rule herself as a regent.

Early life
Hingdow Bowu was born in the summer of 624. She was the daughter of Hingdow Bogengbai and his wife Mailur. Bogengbai was the Court Secretary of the Dai of Amqi, Cawluw of Singpaw. The ruling Singpaw clan and the Hingdow clan were closely related; the founder of the Singpaw clan, Senyuwo, was the brother of the founder of the Haiyidaw clan, Bowu, whom Renmeng was named after. At a very young age she exhibited talent at the arts of poetry and recitation, and in 634 she was sent to Rimeng to study at the Imperial Wezi Academy. There, she became acquaintanced with the court affairs behind the Imperial City walls through gossip.

In 635 while she was attending the marriage of a fellow academy student, she met Crown Prince Husuyuwō, who was attending the ceremony to pay respects to the bride's parents, important court officers. The two chatted for a while, against the Crown Prince's guards' wishes, and upon learning of Bowu's family name and status, he promised he would propose her to her aunt, the Empress Gōryuwō, as a court lady.

After receiving confirmation from her parents, the Empress allowed Bowu to become a low-rank court lady, serving as a handmaiden for Princess Erengshu, cousin of the Crown Prince. Bowu was an exceptional handmaiden, and with the Crown Prince's favour, she escalated the palace serf's hierarchy quickly. In 628 she became lady-in-waiting to the Empress herself. During this time, she got to know the Empress personally, though partially, and her friendship with the Crown Prince deepened as well, to the point of becoming a romantic, albeit platonic, relationship. In 639, after rejecting his fifth marriage proposal, the Crown Prince asked her aunt to allow him to marry Bowu. Originally, the Empress refused, citing Bowu's low social rank and their young ages. However, after Husuyuwō threatened to step down from his position as heir of the Empire if Gōryuwō didn't let him marry Bowu, the monarch gave the prince permission.

Empress Gōryuwō died in 638, and Husuyuwō was proclaimed Emperor aged 13. Husuyuwō chose to combine the ceremonies of his coronation and his marriage to Bowu, and so he was publicly proclaimed as the 24th Crescent Emperor, chosing the reigning name of Rawňai and alongside him, Bowu was proclaimed as the Empress Consort.

Empress Consort
Her time as Empress Consort was characterized by a continuous rivalry with Princess Awsol, younger sister of the now defunct Empress Gōryuwō, who tried to maintain her power over the court. In the end, although respect for the Princess remained uniform among court officials, it was Bowu who gained their ultimate favour. To avoid another such power struggle in future generations, Bowu persuaded Rawňai to pass the Orders of the Palace Edict, which established the order of precedence among all Imperial Family members within the Imperial City and replaced the former order of precedence that had been in use since the reign of Empress Sendu.

Bowu bore Rawňai six children: Gwoci, Saimengseng, Roshwe, Samguyel and the twins Dingawru and Buyairu; the first birth of twins in the Imperial Family in seven generations. Bowu broke the tradition of letting the reigning monarch choose the names of his or her children by naming Gwoci and Samguyel herself, while Rawňai named the rest. Gwoci became Crown Prince upon birth, and he would become the Emperor Āwňmēň, posthumously known as Emperor Wamwuwl..

Crescent Empress
On 20 February 653, Emperor Rawňai died aged 34. The Emperor had been sick for months, the Imperial Doctors claimed the monarch suffered of the jade sickness, though for years Bowu was certain her husband had been poisoned. Since the Crown Prince was but thirteen at the time, Bowu was in position to assume the role of regent for her son until he was old enough to rule himself. However, Bowu stated she wouldn't be a simple ruler, and on 8 July she received approval from the Heavenly Council to ascend the throne as the 25th Crescent Empress. She was crowned on 16 July, in a lavish ceremony at the Red Moon's Square (as opposed to the Golden Crescent Palace, where it was customary) witnessed by the capital's aristocracy and common folk. She was thenceforth known as the "Empress of the Square" (Cwenshīsengwō). She took on the reigning name of Renmēň, "Three Lakes", a phrase from the Werhawtrangzi referring to the three aspects of the heavenly order in Trangism.

Renmeng inherited the Empire at a perilous moment in history. Religious-based revolts in Amgwai and Wath were close to expulse the imperial forces from the major cities in those provinces, and the Anzar Lamrate in the north threatened to completely take Fawlai. In spring of 657 she began the campaign to tame the Lamrate and take back the lands that had been taken by the Qojj, a conflict which would be later known as the First Saffron War, for the important saffron-trading cities that were taken back by the Empire from the Qojj. She organized pawshedu cavalry-based armies to take on the Qojj troops. The Citrang forces led by General Buyaihing Nuizi came out victorious in the first conflict of the campaign, the Battle of Angmutraw, which was followed by the Siege of Welizan, another victory to the Crescent armies. By 661 the Empire had recovered all of the territory that had been taken by the Qojj and some more. The impact of the war on the internal politics of the Amzar Lamrate led the state to dissolve into several minor states in 663, some of which were later conquered by the Empire, allowing it to reach its maximum territorial extension by 665.

Locally, she continued the tradition of ostracizing religious minorities that her husband had begun (on her advice). She managed to surpress the religious insurgencies by staring a mass persecution of non-Bwequnyel minorities, mostly Boyyin communities in the eastern provinces. Those who were suspected to practice beliefs other than bwequnyel trengism were imprisoned and in many cases publicly or secretly executed. This was publicized at court as the "Restoration of the Kingdom of the Faithful" (Wūňgog Yelfīwllī), and most court officials remained ignorant of the brutal measures being taken against those who were deemed "infidels" in the eastern provinces. However, those who did and outside the Imperial City, the "restoration" was known as the "great terror" and many, even within the Imperial City walls called Renmeng the "Queen Monster" (Pawshēdai).

In 665, envoys from the Zatay Atalik kingdom arrived at the imperial court. They requested help from the Nine Provinces to repel the Sasak invaders led by King Lugnaburud who had taken over the royal capital of Mushari. Renmeng decided to deploy imperial troops to Atalik, and in the summer of 497, after months of sieging Mushari, the Sasak surrendered and King Lugnaburud was killed. Since that moment, the Citrang influence over Zatay territories increased, with the Atalik kingdom becoming a tributary state of the Empire. The Warrior Prince of the Atalik, Musharana, converted to Trangism shortly after the victory of the joint Citrang-Zatay campaign, and the religion spread like wildfire over the entire Zatay peninsula. Majesty'' The 25th Crescent Empress, Ernimcaw.