be plain. That year, he ordered that imperial textile factories not weave gods and animals on clothes, because when the clothes undergo further manufacturing, the patterns might be damaged, showing disrespect to the gods and hurtfulness to the animals. In a further break from Confucian tradition, he considered making sacrifices to imperial ancestors vegetarian, instead of traditional animal sacrifices of goats, pigs, and cows, and the sacrifices were first changed to using dried meat, and then eventually to mock animals made from flour, vegetables, and fruits, and this change was despite popular opinion that this would bring displeasure from the ancestors. Middle Reign In 522, Emperor Wu's nephew Xiao Zhengde—whom he had previously adopted but then unadopted when Xiao Tong was born—resentful that he was not created crown prince, fled to Northern Wei, claiming to be the deposed crown prince and requesting Northern Wei aid. However, Northern Wei did not take his claim seriously, and in 523 Xiao Zhengde fled back to Liang. Instead of punishing Xiao Zhengde, however, Emperor Wu merely rebuked him tearfully, and in fact restored him to his title of Marquess of Xifeng. In winter 523, with his state plagued by forgeries of its copper coins, Emperor Wu abolished copper coins and started minting iron coins. (The actual fiscal impact of this act was unclear, but traditional Chinese historians generally considered iron to be unsuitable to use for coinage.) In 524, Emperor Wu launched a number of attacks on Northern Wei's southern territory, with Northern Wei forces occupied with fighting agrarian rebellions to the north and west. Liang forces largely met little resistance. Further, in spring 525, the Northern Wei general Yuan Faseng (元法僧) surrendered the key city of Pengcheng (彭城, in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) to Liang. However, in summer 525, Emperor Wu's son Xiao Zong (蕭綜), who suspected that he was actually the son of Southern Qi's emperor Xiao Baojuan (because his mother Consort Wu was formerly Xiao Baojuan's concubine and had given birth to him only seven months after she became Emperor Wu's concubine), in turn surrendered Pengcheng to Northern Wei, ending Liang's advances in the northeast, although in summer 526, Shouyang fell to Liang troops after Emperor Wu successfully reemployed the damming strategy. For the next several years, Liang continued to make minor gains on the borders with Northern Wei. Over the years, Emperor Wu had increasingly given additional authorities to Xiao Tong